US-Egypt Workshop: Advancing Theory on National IT Policy, Cairo, Egypt, March 2004

Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc., Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

0322501 Sevcik Description: This project supports a US-Egypt Workshop on Advancing Theory on National IT Policy, Cairo, Egypt, March 2004. The U.S. organizers are lead by Dr. Galen Sevcik, College of Business at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. The Egyptian co-organizer is Dr. Sherif Kamel, Institute of Management Development at the American University of Cairo. The two-day workshop is planned to develop theory in the area of national IT policy initiatives. The workshop will bring together a group of experts to discuss how to formulate IT policy on the national level and to how develop new directions for this research. The importance of government policies in the diffusion of IT at the national level will be assessed. The major findings of a research project funded by NSF grant IIS-0082473 "IT Transfer in Egypt: Process Model for Developing Countries" will be presented. International experts on IT policy will frame what is known about the role of policy in shaping economic prosperity, and the role of effective execution of these national efforts. The participants will try to develop a defined research output. Groups will specify constructs and identify strong theoretical linkages between them. Reports will be written on the key findings with the goal of publishing these macro-level findings in highly visible venues. The mechanisms that can help to educate stakeholders in the most relevant features of the policies and how they need to be actualized will be discussed, as well as any theoretical links between formulation of policy and dissemination mechanisms. Scope: Awareness of policies is a crucial aspect of policy development and implementation. Any countrywide strategies for disseminating IT needs to be well supported, both by the business community and by the citizenry. But without publicizing these efforts, it is not clear how these stakeholders can be aware of policies, let alone support them. Bringing together international experts in this area will have the effect of concentrating domain knowledge and inspiring innovation. The results of the two-day activities will also be shared with the scientific community, the effect of which should be to direct and foment new work in this vein. The attendees will be participants in the creation of this knowledge, and will likely transfer the knowledge to others once they return home. The impact of the effort should go well beyond those who are attending. One result of the workshop will be the articulation of a theoretical framework, or, possibly, several competing frameworks. Constructs, with their own theoretical underpinnings, will be specified and possible measurement approaches may also be enumerated. These concepts will be written up in reports and disseminated through scientific journals and conferences.