چارچوبی برای قیمت گذاری خدمات الکترونیکی دولتی

Governments are in the early stages of providing constituents with information and services online over the Internet. E-government service decisions should be rooted in solid finance principles, such as efficiency, equity and revenue adequacy. Pricing decisions should be tailored to meet the demands of particular constituent groups and the revenue needs of government. By so doing, governments can more quickly and broadly expand online service delivery and increase the net benefits to stakeholders. By segmenting e-services into government-to-citizen (G2C) and government-to-business (G2B) transactions and applying different pricing schedules for e-services with different demand elasticity’s, governments can increase overall consumer surplus, while generating additional revenue.

Most state and local governments in the United States of America have completed the first stage of e-government by enabling constituents to search for, view and download information over the Internet. Now governments are developing the next stage of e-government by establishing the electronic service (e-service) infrastructure and organizational capacity for constituents to transact official business online. E-government research has now expanded to include the financial management dimensions of paying for and delivering online services [6] and [10]. One area of controversy left unexplored is the additional price often charged to constituents – usually referred to as a “convenience fee” – for engaging in a service transaction over the Internet. Governments are struggling to come up with pricing models that: (1) generate enough revenue to finance the capital and operating costs of providing information and services online; (2) constituents perceive as fair; and (3) provide incentives for constituents to use e-services regularly and adopt as a preferred method of receiving information and services. This paper seeks to further our understanding of government e-services by using a finance framework to analyze the pricing of government online services. This decision-making framework expands e-commerce models to include the field of public finance, which involves the economics of financing government expenditures. Government officials can use this comprehensive finance framework to develop and price a bundle of e-services that increases overall consumer surplus, as well as enhances revenue. We begin by providing some background on the e-services currently being provided by governments over the Internet. We then develop some of the important theoretical aspects of a framework for understanding the pricing of government e-service, and analyze specific e-commerce pricing strategies that are being applied to government e-service. Finally, we conclude by discussing some implications for the future of e-government service.

In developing new information-based digital services, governments should establish pricing approaches that are economically sound, equitable, and that help generate substantial social benefits. A step in this direction is for government officials to adopt G2C and G2B pricing structures that increase consumer surplus. To facilitate this strategy, government officials must understand the distinct demand structures for G2C and G2B services. Future researchers should help develop a body of literature that provides an empirically-based understanding of the constituent-specific demand for particular e-services so that government’s can tailor their e-service offerings and pricing schedules to meet specific stakeholder demands, while fulfilling the revenue needs of government. A two-part pricing structure for G2B services makes sense in terms of cost recovery and creating robust revenue structures based on flexible pricing strategies, as well as furthering optimal product development and service provision. A fixed price for each distinct consumer or consumer group is better than a single fixed price. But a package of fixed and variable prices for distinct market segments is even better. In addition, properly planned and implemented convenience discount programs for on-line services with an elastic demand can translate into long-term administrative savings and significant social benefits.