Federated Enterprise Architecture for Value Co-Creation in Smart City Information System: An Empirical Study

Abstract

City information systems are steadily relying on various stakeholders, heterogeneous resources, and interrelated digital services. Nevertheless, many initiatives still face difficulties in aligning actors, business processes, data, and technological resources within a unified information systems architecture. Accordingly, this study presents and evaluates a federated enterprise architecture-based model for value co-creation in city information systems. The studied model investigates how strategy and capture, relationship management, and community context contribute to federated enterprise architecture, and how the architecture structuring supports service value co-creation, continuous improvement, and global impact. To validate the research model, data were gathered using a structured questionnaire that was administered to actors involved in information system initiatives. The studied hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The main findings demonstrate that community context has a positive influence on enterprise architecture structuring, which, in turn, supports service value co-creation through the alignment of stakeholders, processes, data, and digital services. Service value co-creation then contributes to continuous improvement and ecosystem global impact, acting as a mediating mechanism between information system to city service findings. Thus, the research contributes to the information systems literature by highlighting how federated architecture contributes positively to digital service in a multi-actor ecosystem and supports value co-creation in the city information system.