Abstract:

With the large-scale promotion of integrated reforms such as“One Network for All” and “One thing at a time Efficiently,” digital technology empowering cross departmental collaboration has become a new paradigm of governmental operations. It is a new practice for promoting institutional remodeling and governance model changes. This study constructs a three-dimensional analysis framework comprised of “institution absorbing technology-technological empowerment of organizations-technological institutionalized operation” which provide the mutual construction of technology and institutions. Taking the “Full Life Cycle Safety Online” of hazardous chemicals in Zhejiang Province as a case study, this paper explores the cross departmental collaborative mechanisms of the interactions between technology and institutions. It shows that the institutional self-regulation and absorption of technology are prerequisites for digital empowerment. Digital technology empowers organizational collaboration through collaborative technology architecture design and business process reengineering. The institutionalized operation of cross collaboration scenarios become self-organizing and collaborate between departments and across levels and systems. The experiences of the “Full Life Cycle Safety Online” of hazardous chemicals in Zhejiang Province present a pathway to accelerating some new thinking. This includes reshaping the institutional environment for digital empowerment, empowering changes to the organizational structure through collaborative technology diffusion and applications, deepening the institutionalized operation of digital collaborative business processes, etc.

Key words: digital empowerment, cross departmental collaboration, the mutual construction of technology and institution, “Full Life Cycle Safety Online”