Journal of Public Affairs Education

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A Conceptual Model of Information Technology

Competence for Public Managers: Designing
Relevant MPA Curricula for Effective Public Service

Anna Ya Ni & Yu-Che Chen

To cite this article: Anna Ya Ni & Yu-Che Chen (2016) A Conceptual Model of Information
Technology Competence for Public Managers: Designing Relevant MPA Curricula for Effective
Public Service, Journal of Public Affairs Education, 22:2, 193-212

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15236803.2016.12002241

Published online: 18 Apr 2018.

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 A Conceptual Model of Information
Technology Competence for Public
Managers: Designing Relevant MPA
Curricula for Effective Public Service
Anna Ya Ni
California State University, San Bernardino

Yu-Che Chen
University of Nebraska, Omaha

ABSTRACT
This study aims to conceptualize and propose information technology (IT) competence for training
Master of Public Administration (MPA) students to succeed in the production and delivery of
public service. Defining and assessing student competence is a central challenge to the relevance
and accountability of public administration education. This study draws from the literature of
psychology, IT management, technology education, and public administration, as well as from
practitioners in the public sector, to develop a construct of IT competence for public managers,
including general public managers and public IT managers. This conceptualization regards IT
competence as multidimensional, encompassing knowledge, skills, and personal attributes that
enable public managers be effective. Moreover, this conceptualization articulates the knowledge,
skills, and personal attributes relevant to achieving effectiveness at individual, organizational, and
professional levels. Emphasizing the perspective of employers of MPA graduates, we also discuss the
conceptualization’s implications for MPA curricula and recommend curricular changes.

KEYWORDS
Information technology, public manager competence, MPA curriculum, competence model

The definition and assessment of student com­
petence is a central challenge to the relevance
and accountability of public administration
education. In response, the Master of Public
Administration (MPA) accrediting institution,
the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs,
and Administration (NASPAA), has urged
MPA programs to define and assess student
competence. In 2009, NASPAA adopted new
accreditation standards, demanding perform­
ance measurement throughout the public
administration curriculum. These standards
now require programs to “engage in ongoing
assessment of student learning for all univer­-
sal required competencies, all mission-specific
required competencies, and all elective (option,
track, specialization, or concentration) com­ -
pe­tencies” (NASPAA, Commission on Peer
Review and Accreditation, 2014, p. 29). The
goal is to engage faculty and educational
programs in a conscious, calculated, continuous
process to improve learning outcomes.

JPAE 22 (2), 193–212 Journal of Public Affairs Education 193

A. Y. Ni & Y-C. Chen
With widespread technology innovations in the
public sector, public managers are increasingly
required to be competent in utilizing and
managing information technologies effectively.
The context of public service has also been
modified by technology advancement. For
example, Bowman, West, and Beck (2014)
contend that IT, new media, and cybersecurity
concerns have changed the way public servants
work and have raised new and confounding
technical and ethical dilemmas for public
management. Emergent technologies have
constantly redefined ways of organizing work
and means of delivering services and, therefore,
have redefined the nature of public service.
Meeting all these challenges requires a unique
combination of values, knowledge, skills, abil­
ities, traits, and behaviors, as well as effective
training and educational programs to nurture
those competencies.
Although NASPAA has emphasized teaching
IT and many MPA programs have incorporat­
ed IT training into their curricula, the public
sector lacks a conceptual understanding of what
constitutes IT competence for general mana­
gers and IT managers. Previous studies have
arti­cu­lated the core technical and management
knowledge required (Rocheleau, 1998), the need
for strategic information resource plan­ ning
(Brown & Brudney, 1998), the importance of
skills in operating in a networked environment
(Kim & Layne, 2001), and the need for a
more comprehensive “information strategy
and management” curriculum (Dawes, 2004).
However, the confluence of advancements in
technologies, pervasive use of IT in public
service, and the focus on public values demands
a renewed effort to conceptualize IT compe­
tence to deliver on performance in the digital
age (Mergel, 2012).
To fill this gap, this research attempts to
conceptualize the IT competence for public
managers, including general public managers
and public IT managers. Defining IT com­­-
pe­tence demands specificity, especially with
NASPAA having removed IT competence from
its accreditation standards to focus on five
194 Journal of Public Affairs Education
broad universal competencies. Uniquely, our
conceptualization addresses (1) IT-related
values and attitudes; (2) the ability to operate
at organizational and professional levels; and
(3) multilevel and multicomponent specifics
for training public managers and public IT
managers. Our primary focus is on IT com­
petence for public managers, as they constitute
the vast majority of MPA students. The
distinction of IT competence for public man­
agers versus public IT managers aims to
delineate what IT topics should be covered in
the MPA curriculum.
We start by presenting the analytical approach
we used to develop the conceptual model of
IT competence. Then we discuss the general
notion of competence and IT competence
relevant to MPA education. The subsequent
section develops the conceptual framework of
IT competence, drawing on the literature of
psychology, IT management, technology edu­­­ca­
tion, and public administration, as well as on
the experiences of practitioners in the public
sector. This conceptualization em­pha­sizes the
perspective of employers of MPA graduates.
Lastly, based on this conceptual­i­zation, we dis­
cuss implications for MPA curri­ cula and
present recommendations both for up­dating IT
competence in MPA programs and for im­prov­
ing IT curriculum design and implementation.
ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO DEVELOPING
A MODEL OF IT COMPETENCE
This research is intended to build a conceptual
model of IT competence for public managers
that is grounded both in theory and practice.
To that end, we divided our research into two
phases: (1) developing a broad conceptual
framework based on reviewing the theoretical
literature and (2) enriching and refining the
conceptual model by drawing on empirical
(practical) literature as well as insights
from practitioners.
To inform our construction of a valid theoretical
framework, we started with an analysis of
literature in the disciplines—including psych­
ology, business management, education, and
public administration—that had studied

managerial competence. We then specifically
focused on the literature of IT competence and
its relationship to public management. This
phase led to our definition of IT competence
for public managers and major dimensions of
that competence.
In our second phase, we integrated the
theoretical and empirical literature of IT
competence and public management, as well as
practitioner insights, to finalize the IT com­
petence conceptual model. Empirical studies
not only validate the structure of the conceptual
framework but also provide additional com­
ponents to competence model.
Though we identified these two phases, the
process of literature review and intellectual
con­struction was more iterative than sequential.
Especially in our second phase, based on the
feedback from practitioners, we constantly
revisited competence literature to sharpen our
theoretical thinking and expand and refine
the discussion.
It is critical to note that our purpose is to define
a competence model and its subcomponents
with content validity. We intend to ensure that
our model demonstrates an appropriate cov­
erage of the content. Although the resulting
model may provide guidance for assessing IT
competence, our model is not intended to be
a comprehensive measurement instrument for
evaluating IT competence in MPA programs.
COMPETENCE AND IT COMPETENCE
FOR PUBLIC MANAGERS
The Study of “Competence”
The concept of “competence” was first
introduced in the 1970s to refer to a person’s
particular set of skills and/or qualities that
could be used by the discipline of psychology
as better job-performance indicators than
standard intelligence tests (McClelland, 1973).
It is worth noting that competence enables
performance but does not necessarily imply
performance, since factors beyond competence
(such as effort and supporting resources
and conditions) may also affect performance
IT Competence in Public Managers
(Bassellier, Reich, & Benbasat, 2001; Klemp,
1979; Schambach, 1994).
Drawing from psychological studies, recent
management studies emphasize that compe­
tence is inherent in character, which underpins
the concept of virtue. As virtue often suggests a
trait or quality that promotes moral good,
competence encompasses a number of domains
—intellectual knowledge, practical skills,
personality traits, attitudes, behaviors, values,
beliefs, motivations, and social capability—
that enable work-related effectiveness. In the
field of public administration, virtue has tradi­
tionally been a central principle in public service.
The emphasis on competence in recent decades
marks a theoretical convergence between the
academic fields of moral philosophy and man­
agement development (Macaulay & Lawton
2006). The idea of occupational competence
has been applied since the U.S. State De­
partment started to require Certificates of
Competence under the Foreign Service Act of
1980. Today, almost every public agency has
developed various job-specific competencies
to guide training, hiring, and evaluation of
employee performance. Such occupational
competence has an ethical component that
speaks to the importance of virtue and morality
(Bowman, West, & Beck, 2014; Virtanen, 2000).
IT Competence for Public Managers
Scholarship in business literature on IT com­
petence has a long history. Research efforts
studied both the competence of IT professionals
(e.g., Bassellier & Benbasat, 2004; Schambach,
1994) and the IT competence of operational
managers. For example, Sambamurthy and
Zmud (1994, 1997) emphasize the importance
of, and offer guidelines for, assessing managerial
IT competence in an organization. Moreover,
such competence should contain two domains
—explicit and tacit IT knowledge, which lead
to increased willingness to work with IT people
and to lead and participate in IT projects
(Bassellier et al., 2001, p. 159).
As early as the 1970s, IT became indispensable
to public managers. For example, using a
Journal of Public Affairs Education 195
A. Y. Ni & Y-C. Chen
longitudinal study of computer use from 1976
to 1988, Kraemer, Danziger, Dunkle, and King
(1993) identified that public managers are
extremely dependent on IT, and a manager’s
style of use is particularly important in
accounting for differences in usefulness of
computer-based information. Kraemer and
Northrop (1989) urged public management
programs to include computing curriculum.
Recognizing IT as a catalyst for organizational
change, Seneviratne (1999) called for “a fund­
amental restructuring of the public sector to
reflect the value systems of the information
age” (p. 41) and suggested that public mana-
gers needed to become agents of change and
to manage the change process by managing
technology. The U.S. Government Accounta­
bility Office (GAO) (2004a) reported that the
federal government faces human capital chal­
lenges “in the information technology area,
where widespread shortfalls in human capital
have contributed to demonstrable shortfalls in
agency and program performance” (p. 1). The
importance of IT and the need for IT com­pe­
tence have been also stressed in nonprofit organ­
izations (e.g., Hackler & Saxto, 2007).
Despite the enthusiasm about IT, studies also
reveal that the majority of information systems
developments in the public sector have been
unsuccessful (Bussen & Myers, 1997; Collins,
1997; Goldfinch, 2007; Heeks, 2002, 2004;
Heeks & Bhatnagar, 1999; Norris & Moon
2005), pointing to special implications for IT
competence. For example, Goldfinch (2007)
urged public managers to be “a recalcitrant,
suspicious, and skeptical adopter of IT” (p.
917). Dawes (2004) argued that today’s public
managers need an area of core knowledge, such
as information strategy and management, in
addition to traditional public administration
core competencies.
Responding to the growing importance of IT
in government operation, NASPAA (1986)
recognized IT as a critical skill/knowledge
component in the MPA curriculum. Such
recognition occurred against a backdrop of
conflicting opinion: many public administration
196 Journal of Public Affairs Education
faculty rejected information systems coursework
as necessary for MPA programs (Kiel, 1986),
while another group of concerned faculty made
a conscious effort to elevate the teaching of
public management information systems to
a required component for accreditation. In
2001, NASPAA’s own technology committee
recommended inclusion of IT education as a
core component accreditation (Dawes, 2004,
p.7). In 2004, NASPAA expanded its IT
standard to cover the managerial and policy
implications of IT (Park & Park, 2006, p. 1).
More specifically, this IT standard (Standard
4.21) designated “information management,
technology applications, and policy” as a core
curriculum standard for managing public
service organizations (NASPAA, Commission
on Peer Review and Accreditation, 2008, p.9).
However, the implementation of an IT
curriculum has faced many challenges. Studies
have found that the pace of IT curriculum
development has been very slow, indicating a
limited impact of NASPAA standards and
guidelines in the United States through the
1990s (Kiel, 1986; Park & Park, 2006).
Schools have devoted insufficient educational
resources to meeting the challenges of teaching
IT use and management (Lan & Cayer, 1994).
More­ over, schools have not articulated the
specific knowledge and skills needed for
meeting NASPAA’s former curriculum standard
on information management, technology ap­
plications, and policy (Dawes, 2004).
NASPAA’s complete removal of an IT stand­ard
in favor of universal required competencies in
2009 leaves a major void in providing guide-
lines for MPA programs as they attempt to
develop their IT competence. The new
NASPAA standards require each program to
define the five universal competencies based on
the program’s mission and context, with no
mention of the role of IT in such standards as
“to lead and manage in public governance” or
“to communicate and interact productively
with a diverse and changing workforce and
citizenry” (NASPAA, Commission on Peer
Review and Accreditation, 2009, pp. 7–8).
In addition, NASPAA also removed accredi­

tation-based incentives for MPA programs to
devote time and resources to sustain IT com-
petence education.
The gap seems to have widened between the
demand for an articulation of IT competence
in response to the growing use of IT in the
public sector and NASPAA’s removal of any
such specific standard. Over the last decade, the
use of IT in government has continued to grow.
Such use includes, but is not limited to, social
media (e.g., Twitter for emergency notification),
311 systems (which provide one-stop city infor­
mation), mobile device apps (e.g., for traffic
updates), data analytic tools to analyze public
service issues, and big data for predictive
modeling of public service issues (e.g., crime
and public health). Moreover, IT functions in
government and strategic use of IT have grown
and diversified. Individual MPA faculty mem­
bers have tried to narrow the gap by including
up-to-date components in their curricula, such
as courses that focus on social media (e.g., Mer­
gel, 2012). Additionally, interest has recently
grown in developing a data science track in
MPA curricula and offering relevant IT courses
in public administration and public policy.
Nonetheless, the United States still lacks an
articulation of IT competence that could drive
and inform MPA program curricula.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
FOR IT COMPETENCE
Numerous studies across various disciplines
re­veal that competence is a complex multi­
dimen­sional concept that encompasses “almost
anything that might directly or indirectly affect
job per­formance” (Woodruffe, 1993, p. 29).
For the purpose of this research, we define IT
com­­petence for public managers as the know­
ledge, skills, and personal attributes of a public
man­ager that enables him/her to achieve IT
ef­fec­tiveness in fulfilling his/her public service
du­ties. This definition of IT competence im­
plies three dimensions: (1) com­ponents, (2) per­
­form­ance levels, and (3) public service duties.
Components of IT Competence
There are three components of IT compe­te­ nce:
knowledge, skills, and personal attributes. The
IT Competence in Public Managers
knowledge component is of particular in­ter­est
to public administration educators and research-
­ers. Bassellier, Reich, and Benbasat (2001) differ­
entiate IT-related knowledge into both “explicit
knowledge of technologies, applica­tions, systems
development, and manage­ment of IT” and tacit
knowledge, “a combination of exper­ience and
cog­nition” (p. 159).
Skills often imply practiced facility in doing
something and are largely job-specific. Skills
include both abilities, which are IT-specific
skills acquired over time, as well as aptitudes, a
person’s capacity to obtain additional abilities
(Dunnette, 1976). IT skills of managers can be
further differentiated into technical skills and
managerial skills. While the technical skills
refer to the manager’s ability and aptitude
acquired through learning and practicing IT in
performing a specific job or task, the managerial
skills indicate his/her ability and aptitude to
make IT-related business decisions and lead
subordinates in an organization or in a parti­
cular sector to accomplish predetermined goals.
Personal attributes cover a wide range of factors;
however, with a specific emphasis on virtue in
public administration, here the term refers to
an individual’s internalized values, norms, and
beliefs about, as well as the person’s manifested
attitudes toward, IT and public service. A pub­
lic manager’s internalized values related to IT
com­petence consist of at least three sub­com­
ponents: (1) general public service values perti­
nent to information and technology use, such as
transparency, accountability, demo­cratic govern-
ance, privacy, equity, and so on; (2) ethics about
IT, the moral principles that guide the use of
information technologies in the public sector,
which include an individual’s own personal code,
any informal code of ethical conduct that exists
in the workplace, and exposure to formal pro­
fessional codes of conduct (Aldridge & Stoker,
2002; Pierce & Henry, 1996); and (3) a world­
view concerned with technology and society,
esp­e­cially an individual’s perspective on the role
of IT in the welfare of individuals, organizations,
and society (Garson, 2006).
Journal of Public Affairs Education 197
A. Y. Ni & Y-C. Chen
The recent emphasis on aligning IT projects
with public values has further underscored the
importance of the intrinsic values of public
managers. The fundamental difference between
public sector and private sector IT is the value
system (Bretschneider, 1990). As a result, one
of the first questions about IT projects should
be about the values that such projects are going
to create, such as efficiency, effectiveness, trans­
parency, and so on. In addition, such value pro­
positions should guide the design and imple­
mentation of public sector IT projects and their
evaluation (Cresswell, Burke, & Pardo, 2006).
Internalizing these values as part of IT com­
petence fosters alignment of in­div­idual public
service motivations and the pro­ duction and
delivery of public service to create public values.
Attitudes are feelings, beliefs, and behavior
tendencies, which often manifest a person’s
internalized values. Attitudes always embody
both positive and negative elements, and when
a person holds a certain attitude, he/she will
demonstrate a tendency to behave in a certain
way. A public manager’s attitudes toward IT
can include his/her willingness or resistance to
learn, acquire IT skills, embrace technical
innovation, and debate and advocate for IT-
related policies.
Performance Levels of IT Competence
Acknowledging IT competence as an enabler of
performance, the performance levels (or foci)
of IT competence examine the potential in­flu­
ence of such competence at the individual,
organizational, and professional levels. Such dis­
tinctions are useful for linking IT com­pe­tence
to performance at various levels and for con­
sidering the interactions between factors at
these levels.
The individual level of IT competence refers to
the personal competence elements that enable a
public manager to accomplish his/her assigned
duty, including his/her IT-related education
and personal experience, technical knowledge
and skills for day-to-day tasks, and ability and
willingness to overcome personal incompetency
(such as resistance to IT and knowledge gaps).
198 Journal of Public Affairs Education
The organizational level of IT competence
involves effectiveness in achieving organi­ za­
tional performance goals in any public sector
organizational context. The term organization
here refers to a large array of organizational
forms; these go beyond the traditional
hier­archical or silo-structure bureaucracy to
in­clude process- or service-oriented enterprise
or network-structure entities, such as 311
enterprise systems, public management net­
works, and virtual organizations. This broad
definition reflects the need for information
sharing and service integration across juris­
dictional boundaries to provide citizen- and
customer-centric personalized service. Such
competence elements include, but are not
limited to, knowledge of the values and impacts
of IT on an organization, ability to strategically
deploy IT to achieve organizational purposes,
and willingness to champion IT innovations to
lead organizational change.
The professional level of IT competence focuses
on elements that affect the field of public ad­
ministration in terms of exhibiting leadership
in IT-related public policy and management
practices. An IT-competent public manager
may demonstrate leadership in the profession
by providing service to IT-related national
associations, advocating IT public policy, and
leading IT-related public sector innovation and
practices. An example of this could be the
leadership provided by a state’s chief infor­
mation officer (CIO) to establish a consortium
for interstate cybersecurity information exchange.
Public Service Duties
Public service duties encompass a wide range of
job titles, roles, and responsibilities in public ad­
ministration. Here, we focus on public man­a­gers
generally and public IT managers specifically.
Public managers are middle- or upper-level
executives in public organizations. These people
can be division heads, department chairs, or
administrators (elected or appointed) at all
levels of government. Although the acquisition,
implementation, and maintenance of infor­ma­
tion systems are usually the responsibility of IT
departments, the management of IT in public
 IT Competence in Public Managers

FIGURE 1.
A Multidimensional Conceptual Model of IT Competence for Public Managers

Dimension 3 Public IT Manager

Public service Public Manager
duties

Professional

Dimension 2
Performance
foci of IT Organizational
competence

Individual

Knowledge Skills Abilities

explicit abilities values
tacit aptitudes attitudes

Dimension 1
Components of IT competence

sector organizations is often shared between IT
professionals and public managers; some func­
tional department managers may even oversee
IT professionals. Public managers are expected
to communicate their needs to and develop a
partnership with IT professionals, to deploy IT
strategies, and to assume leadership in IT projects.
Public IT managers are specifically responsible
for the IT systems within a public agency. Their
responsibilities often involve purchasing hard­
ware and software, overseeing installation,
operating backup systems, providing IT infra­
structure, and contributing to organiza­tional
policy regarding quality standards and strategic
planning. Their duties ultimately depend on
the organization and how complex its infor­ma­
tion systems are. A large governmental agency
could designate a CIO who has an enterprise
and information-resource manage­ment per­spec­
tive, supported by a lower-level operational IT
manager and staff members. In a smaller
organization, public IT managers can be the
director of an IT department or a manager of a
small technology office. The relevant titles have
continued to expand and include CIO, IT
director, IT manager, geographical information
system (GIS) director, information system (IS)
department head, chief knowledge officer, chief
data officer, social media director, and so on.
IT COMPETENCE MODEL
IT Competence for Public Managers
Given the complexity of the public admini­stra­
tion environment, our multidirectional concep­
tual model goes beyond a typical focus on
technical skills or specific job responsibilities to
address the increasing importance of IT in
organ­izations, including a broad and holistic
view of competence. Table 1 summarizes the
components of a public manager’s IT com­
petence based on the conceptual model.
As public sector organizations continuously
strive for performance outcomes, public mana­
gers are generally expected to be competent as
effective workers, managers, and professionals.

Journal of Public Affairs Education 199

A. Y. Ni & Y-C. Chen

TABLE 1.
Components of IT Competence for Public Managers

Performance Foci

Components Knowledge Skills Personal Attributes

Individual Explicit knowledge: Basic computer skills; Personal computer ethics;

Technical fundamentals; ability to use specific
current and emerging computer applications
technologies and appli- required by the job
cations in the job area
Aptitude for additional IT
Tacit knowledge: knowledge and skills for the
Personal use of computers job; adaptiveness to work-
related technical changes
valuing IT-competence
for work
Sensitivity to personal work-
related technical needs;
recognition of personal limits
in competence and exper-
tise; willingness to acquire IT
knowledge and skills; com-
fort with technical changes

Organizational Explicit knowledge: Ability to manage IT pro- IT-related business ethi-

System development grams; ability to lead IT-re-
methods and practices; lated organizational chang-
management of IT; es; ability to formulate
knowledge management IT-related organizational
standards and policies; abil-
Tacit knowledge:
ity to develop IT strategies
IT project experience;
and relocate IT resources;
management of IT;
ability to articulate IT vision
process view of
organizational activities; Aptitude for additional
vision of IT in IT management knowl-
the organization edge and skills in the
organizational context
cal codes of conduct;
valuing IT competence
for the organization
Sensitivity to organizational
technical needs; recogni-
tion of IT implication to
organization; willingness to
champion/lead technical
innovations; submissiveness
to elected officials’ or con-
stituents’ worldviews of IT

Professional Explicit knowledge: Ability to formulate IT-related public-service

Peer organizations’ IT-related professional values; IT-related profes-
use of IT; best IT standards and policies; sional ethical codes of
practices in the field ability to advocate or conduct; valuing IT com-
lead IT-related innova- petence for public service
Tacit knowledge:
tions in the profession
Experience of Striving for leadership
inter-organizational IT Aptitude for additional of IT innovation in the
projects/management; IT leadership knowledge profession; advocacy
experience of IT leader- and skills in the profession of IT-related policies
ship in the public sector

As individual workers, IT-competent public software, personal com­puters, client/server com­

managers are expected to go beyond their man­
dated job responsibilities to possess both explicit
and tacit knowledge of information tech­no­
logies for their daily work assignments. Explicit
knowledge refers to formal knowledge that can
be readily articulated, codified, access­ed, and
verbalized; such knowledge enables public
managers to communicate with IT professionals.
Competent public managers also need to under­
stand technical fundamentals (such as hardware,
puting, the Internet, multimedia, etc.; (Bassellier
et al., 2001)) as well as technical concepts (such
as information systems, networking, databases,
etc.; Dawes, 2004). They are also expected to
keep up with current and emerging technologies
and applications related to their jobs. Simply
knowing of these technologies (know-what) is
not sufficient; a public manager also needs to
practice or experience them, which constitutes
his/her tacit knowledge (know-how). Unlike

200 Journal of Public Affairs Education


explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge is difficult
to transfer to a person by means of writing it
down or verbalizing it. Tacit knowledge is often
acquired through practice or experience. The
practice of explicit and tacit knowledge, over
time, builds a manager’s IT skills.
At the individual performance level, these skills
are generally technical, including both basic com­
puter skills (such as e-mail, word pro­ces­sing,
spreadsheets, databases, PowerPoint, telecom­
muni­cations, etc.; Kraemer et al., 1986) and
job-specific computer skills (such as the ability
to use the financial management system for
public financial managers, the procurement
system for procurement officers, GIS for public
planners, etc.) Equally important skills include
the capacity to acquire additional knowledge
and skills and the capability to adapt to future
technological changes during a career.
Through the practice of IT knowledge and
skills, public managers are expected to form
their own worldviews, values, norms, and
beliefs about IT, which are externalized in their
attitudes and actions toward IT. Competent
managers should possess personal IT ethics—
for example, respecting proprietary software
and protecting information privacy (Henderson
& Snyder 1999). These managers would value
IT for their jobs, be aware of work-related tech­
nical needs, recognize personal limits in com­
petence and expertise, be willing to acquire IT
knowledge and skills, and be comfortable with
technical changes.
At the organizational level, a competent man­
ager “appreciates technology’s capabilities and
uses technology as a lever to deliver outstanding
business results” (Smith 1996, p. 39). Explicit
knowledge at this level includes system dev­
elopment methods and practices, management
of IT, and access to knowledge; tacit knowledge
consists of both experience, especially of IT
project and management, and cognition, esp­
ecially of the process view of organizational
activities and the vision of IT in the organization
(Bassellier et al., 2001). Such explicit and tacit
IT knowledge should be integrated with mana­
gers’ working knowledge of agency goals, major
IT Competence in Public Managers
strategies, priorities, and significant threats and
challenges, so as to maintain perspective while
developing and framing IT solutions.
Public managers are expected to be able to man­
age IT programs, lead IT-enabled organi­za­tional
changes, formulate IT-related organi­ zational
standards and policies, develop IT strategies
and relocate IT resources, articulate IT vision
for the organization, and especially important,
align IT vision to organizational mission (Boyn­
ton, Zmud, & Jacobs, 1994; Dawes, 2004; Kim
& Layne, 2001; Kraemer et al., 1986; U.S.
Gov­ ernment Accountability Office [GAO],
1994, 2004a). Dawes (2004) spec­i­fically em­pha­
­sizes analytical skills (such as stake­holder analy­
sis, user needs analysis, business process analy­
sis, information policy analysis, infor­ ma­tion
and work-flow analysis, modeling techni­ques,
risk assessment, etc.) and skills for man­aging
com­plex projects (such as communication and
pre­sent­ation, negotiation, intra- and intera­gen­cy
coordination, inter­govern­mental coordi­nation,
risk management, etc.). Mean­while, pub­lic man­
agers are supposed to possess the capacity to
acquire IT manage­ment know­ledge and skills
in the organizational context. Skills at the organ­
izational level are largely managerial in nature.
In practicing such knowledge and skills, public
managers are also expected to follow ethical
codes of business conduct—for example,
providing quality e-services to the citizenry.
They would recognize the role of IT in public
organizations (Fountain, 2001) and value IT
competence accordingly (Armstrong & Sam­
bamurthy, 1996). Such business ethics and
values are revealed by managers’ sensitivity to
organizational technical needs, recognition of
IT implications to the organization, and
willingness to champion/lead technical inno­
vation (GAO, 1994). Being responsive to their
constituents and the elected officials overseeing
their organizations, public managers are also
expected to submit to the worldviews and
values of those key stakeholders (even if these
worldviews and values are different from their
own) who create (or destroy) the organizational
culture that defines the use of IT and its ulti­
mate benefit to constituents. An IT-competent
Journal of Public Affairs Education 201
A. Y. Ni & Y-C. Chen
public manager should be invested in (or toler­
­ant of ) the organizational culture and stake­
holders and work effectively with them to achieve
organizational purposes.
At the professional level, an IT-competent man­­
ager is expected to positively affect the IT prac­
tices and policies in public service, which goes
beyond the sphere of a specific organization or
program. To achieve this goal, such managers
are expected to know peer organizations’ use of
IT and best IT practices in the field (GAO 1994,
2004b). Experiences of interorganiza­tional or
intersectoral IT projects and management are
deemed valuable (Dawes 2004). For example,
previous experience in private sector IT projects
may enable a public manager to launch a public
sector IT innovation. In addition, experience of
IT leadership in the field, such as heading a
national IT special task force, is an important
tacit aspect of professional IT knowledge.
Through practicing professional knowledge,
public managers are expected to be able to
formulate IT-related professional standards and
policies and to advocate or lead IT-related
innovations in the profession. They should also
possess the capability to acquire additional IT
leadership knowledge and skills.
As a public sector professional, an IT-competent
manager is expected to recognize and appreciate
public service values (such as efficiency, trans­
parency, democracy, accountability, equity, etc.)
enabled by IT (Bertot, Jaeger, & Grimes, 2010;
Cresswell et al., 2006; Davis, 1999; Dawes, 2010;
Dervin, 1994; Hindman, 2008; Jorgensen &
Bozeman 2007; Osborne & Gaebler, 1992;
Public CIO, 2009; West, 2004) as well as the
impact of IT on public service ethics and values
(Kernaghan, 2014; Ottensmeyer & Heroux,
1991; Roman, 2013). These managers should
consider IT competence valuable to public
service and strive for leadership in IT innovation
within their profession. In addition, they should
advocate for (or be willing to provide expertise
to) IT-related policies. For example, these man­
agers may push for IT policy reform or be willing
to provide expert opinions on IT policy issues.
202 Journal of Public Affairs Education
IT Competence for Public IT Managers
Unlike for general public managers, IT know­
ledge, skills, and attributes are considered public
IT managers’ core competence. However, this
does not imply fundamental distinctions in IT
competence between the two types of public
service duties. Sometimes, rotation of managers
at the senior level in different functional
departments is possible. For example, the Seoul
city government of South Korea requires that
all chief department managers move to a
different department, including the IT depart­
ment, every two years. Such practices can help
managers think of their organization as a set of
processes rather than as functional silos, enab­
ling them to understand the transforma­tional
power of IT (Bassellier et al., 2001; Layne &
Lee, 2001). Some organizations always select
their senior IT managers from the ranks of the
operational personnel. For example, IT mana­
gers in the FBI and other law enforcement
agencies are commonly special agents who have
acquired some technology background, which
demonstrates the preference for legitimization
over technical competence. However, for lower-
rank IT managers, their careers may follow a
different path—they often enter the industry
in technical roles and work up to management
positions after several years’ experience or
training in system administration, project
management, or team leadership.
Researchers have studied the IT competence of
public IT managers, especially that of public
CIOs, since the establishment of federal agency
CIOs by the Information Technology Man-
age­ment Reform Act (Clinger-Cohen Act) of
1996. The E-Government Act of 2002
strengthened the role of CIOs. While 20 years
ago technical expertise was the critical variable
for a competent CIO, today’s CIO must possess
much broader knowledge and skills to be
effective (General Services Administration
[GSA], 2008). For example, Sharon Dawes
comments that the position of “CIO is not a
single role but a combination of roles. It
demands a set of competencies that cover more
territory than we demand from most other
leadership positions” (quoted in GSA, 2008, p.
9). Subsequently, she developed a list of CIO

TABLE 2.
Components of IT Competence for Public IT Managers
Components Knowledge
Individual Explicit knowledge:
Advanced knowledge of
IT; current and emerging
technologies and appli-
cations in the job area
Tacit knowledge:
Personal use of com-
puters; experience of
information systems
Organizational Explicit knowledge:
Current and emerging
technologies and applica-
tions in the organizational
business area; system de-
velopment methods and
practices; management of
IT access to IT knowledge
Tacit knowledge:
IT project experience;
management of IT; pro-
cess view of organizational
activities; vision of IT in the
organization; insights of
organizational IT capacity
Professional Explicit knowledge:
Current and emerging
technologies and applica-
tions in public sector; peer
organizations’ use of IT; best
IT practices in the field
Tacit knowledge:
Experience of interorgani-
zational/sectoral IT projects; profession
experience of core IT leader-
ship in the public sector
Note. Boldface indicates the different competencies required of public IT managers versus general public managers.
competencies that consists of five components:
strategic thinking and evaluation, systems orient­
ation, appreciation for complexity, infor­mation
stewardship, and technical leadership (Dawes,
2004; GSA, 2008). In 2012, the federal CIO
Council published its Clinger-Cohen Core
Competencies and Learning Objectives, which
IT Competence in Public Managers
Performance Foci
Skills Personal Attributes
Professional computer skills Personal computer ethics
(skills to resolve job-related
Sensitivity to emerging tech-
technical problems); ability
nical innovation; recogni-
to use specific technologies
tion of personal limits in
and applications required
competence and expertise;
by the job; adaptiveness
willingness to acquire IT
to work-related technical
knowledge and skills; will-
changes; ability to com-
ingness to provide technical
municate IT concepts to
consultation and support to
nontechnical colleagues
nontechnical colleagues
Aptitude for IT knowledge
and skills for the job
Ability to manage IT pro- IT-related business ethi-
grams as a core man- cal codes of conduct
ager; ability to coordi- Sensitivity to organiza-
nate/facilitate IT-related tional technical needs;
organizational changes; recognition of IT implication
ability to formulate IT- to organization; willing-
related policies; ability to ness to provide technical
develop IT strategies and consultation and support
relocate IT resources; abil- to other functional units;
ity to articulate IT vision willingness to champion/
facilitate technical innova-
Aptitude for IT management
tion; submissiveness to
knowledge and skills in the
elected officials’ or con-
organizational context
stituents’ worldviews of IT
Ability to formulate IT- Public service values;
related professional stan- professional ethical codes
dards and policies; ability of conduct; valuing IT com-
to advocate or lead (as a petence for public service
critical player); IT-related
Striving for core leader-
innovations in the profession
ship of IT innovation in the
Aptitude for IT leadership profession; advocacy of
knowledge and skills in the IT-related public policies
encompasses 12 areas: policy and organization,
leadership and human capital management,
process and change management, information
resources strategy and planning, IT performance
assessment, IT project and program manage­
ment, capital planning and investment control,
acquisition, information and knowledge man­
Journal of Public Affairs Education 203
A. Y. Ni & Y-C. Chen
age­ment, cybersecurity/information assurance,
enterprise architecture, and technology man­
agement and assessment (CIO Council, 2012).
These competence models indicate that CIOs
share many core competencies with other
leaders in the public sector.
Although the general framework, as well as the
primary elements, of IT competence for public
managers essentially apply to public IT man­
agers, there are substantively higher expectations
for the latter regarding IT knowledge, skills,
and personal attributes as defined by their job
responsibilities, especially at the individual and
organizational performance foci (see Table 2;
boldface indicates the differences). These pub­
lic IT managers should have much more in-
depth knowledge about technical specifics and
implementation details of strategic information
resource use and cybersecurity issues as well as
other areas identified in the most up-to-date
Clinger-Cohen training document (CIO Coun­
cil, 2012).
Perhaps the most significant variation in com­
petence between public IT managers and general
public managers is at the individual level. Be­
cause technology is essential in IT managers’
routine work responsibilities, these managers
are expected to go beyond technical funda­men­
tals to possess a professional-level know­ledge of
IT (such as IT infrastructure, architecture,
system security, application development, etc.;
Dawes, 2008) as well as knowledge of current
and emerging technologies and applications in
their job areas. For example, GIS managers’
know­ledge scope may encompass the domains
of management sciences, engineering, geo­
graphy, information systems, cartography, city
planning, and so on. They are also expected to
have relevant system administration experience,
which is often beyond the scope of an
operational manager. They need to possess
professional IT skills and be able to resolve job-
related technical problems. More importantly,
they are also expected to be able to communicate
technical concepts and be willing to provide
technical consultation and support to non­tech­
nical colleagues. They are “likeable,” someone
with whom operational managers and staff
204 Journal of Public Affairs Education
enjoy working. Compared to operational man­
agers, they are more sensitive to emerging
innovations and eager to stay up-to-date on
new developments in technology.
At the organizational level, IT managers in
public sector organizations have traditionally
been placed lower in the organizational struc­
ture, assuming supporting roles (Bretschneider,
1990); however, with the rise in the importance
of IT for public organizations, especially
through the advancement of public CIOs,
public IT managers are also expected to play
strategic roles, although such strategic roles are
often underplayed or underappreciated (Press,
2015). Compared to operational managers,
public IT managers are expected to remain
knowledgeable about current and emerging
technologies and applications relevant to the
organization’s business. In addition to the IT
vision of the organization, IT managers should
also possess insights into the true capabilities of
their organization, knowing what is possible or
not possible given the organizational purpose,
culture, and resources. IT managers are
expected to be able to coordinate and facilitate
IT-related organizational changes and play a
key role in IT project management. In doing
so, they need to be able to demonstrate their
understanding of the operational mission,
strategies, priorities, and cultures. They should
be considered an integral part of the
organizational management team by the
management, workforce, and stakeholders,
fully participating and engaging in most issues
that affect the whole organization, not just IT
issues. To be competent in doing so, IT
managers’ managerial skills must range from
project management, analytical acumen,
problem solving, organizational strengths, and
time management to interpersonal, leadership,
and communication skills. IT managers should
be more sensitive to organizational technical
needs and to IT implications for organizations
than operational managers and be willing to
provide technical consultation and support to
other functional units as well as to champion
and/or facilitate technical innovations. On one
hand, IT managers see the values of innovative
solutions and are willing to take risks and push

the organization forward; on the other hand,
they are tolerant of more cautious approaches,
maintaining an acceptable performance level
and accepting slow evolution in response to
new products and concepts. Overall, a com­pe­
tent IT manager is expected to be relevant to,
supportive of, and accepting of operational
agendas and to equate IT success with the
success of operational managers.
At the professional level, the difference in IT
competence between public managers and IT
managers is less conspicuous. To be competent,
IT managers need to go beyond knowledge of
current technologies and applications and cap­
ture the trends of technology development, re­
maining visionary and proactive toward tech­
nical innovations. They should be able and
will­ing to assume core responsibilities in lead­
ing and advocating public sector innova­tions
and policies.
TABLE 3.
An Example of IT Course Learning Objectives and Assessment Tools
Knowledge
Learning Knowledge of informa-
Individual
objectives tion system concepts
Assessment Quizzes, case analyses
methods
Learning Knowledge of
Organizational
objectives IT-enabled organi-
zational change
Assessment Case analyses, prac-
methods tice-based projects
Learning Knowledge of public
objectives sector innovation
Professional
Assessment Case analyses,
methods large-scope service-
learning projects
IT Competence in Public Managers
IMPLICATIONS FOR MPA CURRICULA
The proposed IT competence model for
managers in the public sector, while gaining
much credence from practice, has several far-
reaching implications for MPA curricula. First,
the model underscores IT competence as an
integral element to public managerial com­
petency. Public organizations have been increas­
ingly relying on managers as co-leaders of IT
projects and as cross-functional partners to
design and implement them (Chan & Reich,
1999). MPA programs that neglect the im­
portance of IT competence for public managers
may fail to prepare students for the practical
reality of IT as an integral and strategic element
of public service. Although IT competence has
been previously articulated for private sector
managers (e.g., Bassellier & Benbasat, 2001) and
for public sector IT managers (e.g., Dawes,
2008), this research effort calls for (1) re­eval­
uat­ing the role of IT competence in public
Skill Value/attitude
Use of computer Articulation/applica-
applications tion of IT ethics
Exercises, hands- Problem analyses,
on projects self-reflection essays
Development/ Articulation/application of IT-
implementation enabled organization theories
of IT/IS strategies and public service values
Practice-based Practice-based IT project
projects analyses, self-reflection essays
Development/ Articulation/application
implementation of relevant social theories,
of information worldviews, and public values
and/or technol-
ogy policies
Service-learning IT policy analyses, self-refection
projects essays, program study portfolios
Journal of Public Affairs Education 205
A. Y. Ni & Y-C. Chen
affairs education and (2) reexamining MPA
curricula to meet the challenges facing public
managers today.
Second, because MPA programs are required to
“engage in ongoing assessment of student learn­
ing” (NASPAA, Commission on Peer Review
and Accreditation, 2014, p. 29), our holistic IT
competence framework provides guidance for
designing learning objectives and assessment
tools to equip public managers with IT com­
petence (e.g., see Table 3).
Third, the proposed model can be integrated
into an existing MPA curricula in various ways.
Individual MPA programs can use the proposed
model to evaluate their needs for IT competence
training and choose the relevant emphasis for
their respective student populations. The pro­
posed emphasizes the importance of IT know­
ledge as well as the value of differentiating
various performance levels in designing IT
curri­cula for public managers and public IT
man­agers. Public service values such as equity,
transparency, and accountability, as well as con­
cerns about privacy, security, and ethics, should
be integral to any IT curriculum. It is critical
that MPA curricula emphasize the de­velopment
of IT competence attributes, such as values and
attitudes. There are ample exam­ples of well-
trained public managers producing devastating
results for communities and for society when
they are motivated by distorted values and
beliefs (Adams & Balfour, 2009; Keeley, 1983).
Because values in the practice of public
administration have real consequences for
individuals and communities, MPA programs
should not neglect IT-related ethics, values,
and attitudes for future public managers.
A graduate IT curriculum may consider in­clud­
ing modules that systematically introduce IT
ethics for individuals and businesses, public
service values in relation to IT, and implications
of IT for society. Although such a curriculum
may not be sufficient to fundamentally establish
or transform people’s worldview, values, or
attributes, it can at least improve students’
knowledge and awareness of professional ethics,
values, and responsibilities. Constant practice
206 Journal of Public Affairs Education
and reinforcement of such knowledge in both
educational and practical settings will eventually
affect students’ beliefs and behavior systems.
The proposed IT competence model also helps
address the gap in tacit knowledge and
computing aptitude. Most MPA curricula have
focused on developing explicit IT knowledge
and computer skills and have tended to neglect
developing tacit IT knowledge and aptitude as
well as IT values and attitudes. Our proposed
model is important for MPA curriculum design
and related career training because it points to
neglected areas.
If tacit knowledge is equally important to
explicit knowledge, as the model suggests,
MPA curricula need to systematically plan for
students’ direct engagement in practical IT
projects for both experience and cognition. It is
important for students to acquire and practice
their knowledge and skills through mechanisms
such as real case scenarios, community-based
projects, service-learning programs, and so on.
Perhaps even more critical in curriculum design
is building students’ IT aptitudes—their capa­
city to obtain additional abilities in their future
careers. This requires that MPA curricula help
students lay a solid foundation of IT knowledge
as well as develop their learning capabilities for
career-long benefits. For exam­ ple, computer
programming knowledge and skills may not be
relevant to a non-IT public manager’s job;
however, public managers, if equipped with such
knowledge and skill, will be able to better
understand computer appli­cations and more
easily adapt to IT innovations. In addition,
knowledge and training from other courses in
MPA curricula can enhance IT apti­tude. For
example, research skills from research methods
classes will enable students to search for
knowledge of and solutions to IT problems.
MPA programs should design specific curri­
culum components (such as research projects,
comprehensive exams, service learning projects,
etc.) to encourage students to synthesize and
integrate their knowledge and skills across
different courses. Such components will en­
hance students’ experiences through learning

by doing, which will benefit their future careers,
as they will be able to learn continuously in
their jobs.
Moreover, the proposed IT competence model
can guide MPA programs’ choice of what to
em­phasize, depending on each program’s stu­
dent population and target audience. If an
MPA program primarily serves students pur­
suing general public management positions,
Table 1’s emphasis for public managers would
be more applicable. A more specialized course
or module could be developed for students
pursuing careers in public IT management
(see Table 2).
The fourth implication of the proposed IT
competence model for MPA curricula is the
most far-reaching. For most MPA programs
without an IT concentration or specialization,
a core required course laying the foundation for
IT competence for general public managers
would be productive. The proposed model can
guide the development and implementation of
such a course. More specifically, this course
should articulate public service values and
ethics for public managers with regard to
information management and deployment of
IT. Such articulation should be part of the
evaluation framework for making IT decisions
throughout the entire course. A discussion about
the publicness of public management infor­ma­
tion systems would be a requirement. Such
articulation and discussions could propel pub­
lic managers to champion IT-enabled innovation
to improve public service. In addition, the course
should teach ethical principles such as pro­
tection of privacy and equity, both of which
are likely to guide the development and imple­
mentation of government IT projects.
In this course, the technical skills should cover
all three performance foci. At the individual
level of performance, the course should teach
basic computer, network, and applications skills.
Students should have opportunities to apply
these skills in their course-related assignments
and projects. At the organizational level, the
course should introduce strategic considerations
of the use of information and communication
IT Competence in Public Managers
technologies. At the same time, the question of
governance and standards should be part of the
discussion. A standard management infor­ma­
tion system (MIS) textbook for business school
students can cover these skill areas at both
individual and organizational levels. At the
professional level, skills to be taught involve
articulating public service values and developing
policies/standards for managing IT in govern­
ment. Such policies and standards could be
for online privacy, cybersecurity, online trans­
parency, and e-participation.
In addition, this course should build tacit
knowledge in addition to explicit knowledge.
Explicit IT knowledge concerns both current
and emerging technologies as well as metho­
dologies for information system develop­ment.
A standard MIS text can cover explicit know­
ledge at the individual and organizational levels.
An e-government textbook should supplement
the explicit knowledge, focusing on the use of
IT for public service and IT leadership in the
public sector. The use of public sector cases and
the inclusion of best practices and experiences
of government technology are a formal way of
introducing some tacit knowledge. In addition,
engaging students with real projects in the field
as part of service learning and pairing them
with mentors are ways to create and share tacit
knowledge. Moreover, given the rapid develop­
ment of information technologies, the course
focus should be on building the aptitude for
lifelong learning of IT knowledge and skills.
This course should support the integration of
IT competence into other core courses to
achieve universal competence. One of the crit­
ical pieces of knowledge for managing 21st
cen­tury public service organizations is to
under­stand the implications of emerging tech­
nologies and the possible ways of leverag­ -
ing these technologies. For instance, a public
finance and budgeting course can highlight
the role of information and communication
technologies for online financial transparency.
An organizational theory core course should
dis­
cuss the implications of communication
technologies for decision making and organi­
zational structure.
Journal of Public Affairs Education 207
A. Y. Ni & Y-C. Chen
For MPA programs with an IT specialization or
concentration, the IT curriculum should be
composed of several courses, both required and
elective. There should also be a course that
introduces various aspects of an IT competence
model for all MPA students. For those students
who choose an IT concentration, there should
be more in-depth coverage of technical know­
ledge and skills. Such coverage should go beyond
the individual level to the organizational and
professional levels. The specifics, however, will
be mostly driven by the strengths and emphases
of any one MPA program (these specifics are
beyond the scope of this research).
One strategy for enabling MPA programs to
offer an IT concentration with the requisite
technical knowledge and scope is to partner
with other departments, schools, and colleges.
The top-ranked universities in information and
technology management, according to U.S. News
and World Report, all partner with other units
(e.g., the Information School, University Tech­
nology Research Center, College of Business,
and Department of Geography). The proposed
IT competence model is more concerned with
whether students have the requisite knowledge,
skills, and attributes on all three performance
levels rather than with what unit provides the
training. The home unit of MPA, however, is in
a critical position to put all technical knowledge
and skills in the public context, articulating
public values and advancing public admini­
stration professional ethics.
CONCLUSION
This research proposes a definition and con­
ceptual model of IT competence for public
managers. Our definition and model are based
on an extensive review of the literature, both
in the domains of public manager competence
and IT-specific knowledge, skills, values, and
ethics. Our resulting three-dimensional IT com­
­petence model contains IT knowledge, skills,
and personal attributes of different per­form-
ance levels for public managers with var­ious
service duties.
In addition to the implications for MPA
programs detailed above, the proposed model
208 Journal of Public Affairs Education
possesses several potentially useful attributes
for management. First, it allows identification
of the domain of public service duties in IT
competence, namely duty-universal and duty-
specific IT competence. For example, based on
the model, we can easily construct IT com­
petencies for public financial managers, police
chiefs, human service officials, and so on that
are either unique or common across various
functions. Second, the model helps minimize
potential misunderstandings likely to arise
when people do not clarify the different
performance foci in relation to IT competence.
For example, a highly competent manager at
the individual level (e.g., excellent in using a
computer for his/her job) may not be competent
at the organizational level (e.g., successful in
leading IT-enabled organizational change).
Therefore, those of us in the field should not
only customize our learning or training pro­
grams to address specific needs but also design
valid and reliable performance appraisal systems
for effective public service. Finally, the model
indicates that the path to IT competence
requires a broad and integrated approach.
Traditionally, public sector management, espe­
cially in human resources, emphasizes the in­
dividual level of competence in terms of hiring,
training, evaluating, and retaining; but this has
been insufficient in developing more systematic,
large-scale, outcome-oriented IT-enabled change
strategies. Concentrating efforts at the indiv­
idual level and neglecting the organizational
and professional ones fails to recognize the inter­
relationship, interaction, and inter­de­pendence
among the three levels.
We have attempted to create a construct with
high content validity, drawing on both theor­
etical and empirical literature as well as expert
comments. Yet, further empirical investigation
of the model’s validity will require more
extensive data collection in the field and data
analysis. Further refinement of this theoretical
construct and the operationalization of IT
competence for public managers are necessary.
Public manager IT competence is a complex
construct. We hope our model will lead to a
better understanding of IT in public sector
 IT Competence in Public Managers

organizations as well as the development of Bretschneider, S. (1990). Management information

appropriate curricula for public admini­stration sys­
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educational and training programs. empir­ical test. Public Administration Review, 50(5),
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Bowman, J. S., West, J. P., & Beck, M.A. (2014).

Achieving competencies in public service: The profes­
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Boynton, A. C., Zmud, R. W., & Jacobs, G. C. (1994).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The influence of IT management practice on IT
use in large organizations. MIS Quarterly, 18(3),
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Thomas McWeeney, our practitioner review­-
Brown, M. M., & Brudney, J. L. (1998). Public sector
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Anna Ya Ni is an associate professor of public

administration at California State University,
San Bernardino. Her research and teaching
interests are digital governance, public manage­
ment information systems, cybersecurity, and
government-business relations.

Yu-Che Chen is an associate professor of digital

governance in the School of Public Admin­
istration at University of Nebraska at Omaha.
His research and teaching interests are digital
governance, e-government, cross-boundary colla­
boration, smart cities, open data, and big data.

212 Journal of Public Affairs Education