Conceptualizing E-Government from Local Government Perspectives

• Author: Aroon P. Manoharan,Alex Ingrams
• Date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0160323X18763964
• Published date: 01 March 2018
• Subject Matter: Reviews & Essays

Reviews & Essays

Conceptualizing E-Government

from Local Government

Perspectives

Aroon P. Manoharan

1

and Alex Ingrams

2

Abstract

Over the past two decades, governments have used information and communication technologies

(ICTs) to integrate their internal functions and improve their delivery of services. Scholars and

practitioners have conceptualized these various ICT trends and referred to them collectively as

e-government. As the number of citizens using the Internet and mobile technologies increases, the

public sector is constantly innovating to keep pace with the changing technologies and citizens’

expectations. This essay reviews the academic literature on e-government among local governments

and explores the issues related to its adoption and implementation. Adopting an e-government

stages perspective with attention to institutional capacity, the essay examines the factors and

determinants of local e-government success. The essay concludes with directions for future

research on e-government and innovation in local governments.

Keywords

e-government, local government, innovation, success factors, institutional perspective

The public sector has a long history of using

information and communication technology

(ICT) going back to mainframe operations in

the 1970s and microcomputing in the 1990s.

Through these developments, public organiza-

tions sought to gain efficiency through the

simplification and automation of service deliv-

ery (Sprecher 2000; United Nations Depart-

ment of Economic and Social Affairs 2003).

Alongside these technological developments,

e-government began to place a higher value

on the integration of legal and political systems.

The adoption of new technologies in govern-

ment was accompanied by legislative changes

to regulate their use. For example, in the United

States, the federal governmen t passed IT laws

such as the Paperwork Reductio n Act of 1980

and the Computer Security Act of 1987. The

Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 was passed to

encourage the federal government’s transition

to electronic forms through system-wide digital

modernization and strategic planning. In the

political sphere, the adoption of e-government,

and its enabling legal structure, began

1

Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs, John W.

McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies,

University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA

2

Institute of Governance, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The

Netherlands

Corresponding Author:

Aroon P. Manoharan,Department of Public Policy andPublic

Affairs, John W. McCormackGraduate School of Policy and

Global Studies, University of Massachusetts–Boston, 100

William T Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125, USA.

Email: aroon.manoharan@umb.edu

State and Local GovernmentReview

2018, Vol. 50(1) 56-66

ªThe Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X18763964

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