Business value of it: The case of e-justice in Singapore

Abstract

Over the years, countries around the world have been rapidly moving from the industrial economy to one that is heavily based on information and knowledge. In this information society, IT is being increasingly recognized as a key factor that will change the way countries as well as individual firms compete. An example of a country rising fast into the information age is Singapore. In less than forty years, Singapore has transformed herself into a fully developed nation with an advanced eGovernment agenda. A well structured IS leadership has been at the heart of this success and has enabled Singapore to adopt a drive towards continuous innovation. In this study, we explore the influence of leadership in first appreciating the potential value of IT in Singapore's legal system, and then realizing this potential value. In particular, we are interested in the concept of distributed leadership. Compared to a traditional model of leadership where power is usually concentrated in a single individual, distributed leadership is one where more than one individual or organization takes the lead, by virtue of their knowledge, skill or ability. Based on empirical data collected on the implementation of the electronic litigation system in Singapore, we find that such distributed leadership occurs in layers, at the different levels, in impacting the business value of IT.