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How smart can government be? Exploring barriers to the adoption of smart government

Published: 01 January 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Smart information and communication technologies (ICTs) are finding their ways into public administration, and numerous smart government efforts are marking the start of a new digitalization wave in the public sector. Despite being in the early stages of development, these initiatives promise a new model for the provision of public services: smart government. Because past technical innovations in the public sector did not reach their full potential, it is crucial to know the difficulties if one is to successfully address them. We explore the perceived barriers to the adoption of smart government in an early phase of implementation. We analyzed barriers, utilizing 32 interviews with actors involved in smart government initiatives. Cluster analysis helped us to identify six barrier groups: a lack of legitimacy, a lack of legal foundations, a lack of policy coherence, a lack of technical infrastructure, cost-benefit considerations, and a lack of innovation capacity. We distinguish between organizational and institutional barriers, and discuss restrictions and implications for praxis and future research.

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  • (2024)Exploring Barriers to Innovation in Public AdministrationInternational Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age10.4018/IJPADA.36101111:1(1-23)Online publication date: 4-Dec-2024
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Published In

cover image Information Polity
Information Polity  Volume 24, Issue 1
2019
92 pages
This article is published online with Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

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IOS Press

Netherlands

Publication History

Published: 01 January 2019

Author Tags

  1. Smart government
  2. digitalization
  3. adoption
  4. barriers
  5. cluster analysis
  6. public sector

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  • (2024)Exploring Barriers to Innovation in Public AdministrationInternational Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age10.4018/IJPADA.36101111:1(1-23)Online publication date: 4-Dec-2024
  • (2024)Transparency in Open Government Data Portals: An Assessment of Web Tracking Practices Across EuropeElectronic Participation10.1007/978-3-031-70804-6_14(209-222)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2024
  • (2023)Exploration of metaphors as a way to understand socio-technical phenomenaInformation Polity10.3233/IP-21153428:3(317-340)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2023
  • (2023)Digital transformation success in the public sectorInformation Polity10.3233/IP-21151828:1(61-81)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2023
  • (2022)Smart criminal justice: exploring the use of algorithms in the Swiss criminal justice systemArtificial Intelligence and Law10.1007/s10506-022-09310-131:2(213-237)Online publication date: 14-Mar-2022
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  • (2020)The use of AI in public servicesProceedings of the 13th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance10.1145/3428502.3428513(90-99)Online publication date: 23-Sep-2020

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