Electronic Government

After more than a decade of research in the field of e-government, it is now timely and appropriate to reflect upon the overall developmental directions in the area. The purpose of this paper is to explore research progress to date by systematically analysing the existing body of knowledge on e-government related issues. Usable data relating to e-government research currently available were collected from 434 research articles. Based on the investigation of the various studies, our findings reveal that survey was the most utilised research method, and the Technology Acceptance Model was the most utilised theory to explain research models. Although a large number of theories and theoretical constructs were borrowed from the reference disciplines, their exploitation by e-government researchers appears largely random in approach. The paper also presents limitations and further research directions.

The success of the electronic governance (EGOV) benchmarking has been limited so far. Lacking a theory to integrate existing conceptualizations has made the acquisition and sharing of knowledge produced by different benchmarking exercises difficult. In order to address this problem, this paper: 1) explains the nature of the EGOV benchmarking activity though a wellestablished theoretical framework - Activity Theory, 2) applies the framework to carry out a mapping between a number of existing EGOV benchmarking conceptualizations, 3) develops an unified conceptualization based on these mappings and 4) validates the resulting model though a real-life national EGOV strategy development project. The use of the Activity Theory in the paper has enabled defining and relating initial dimensions of the EGOV benchmarking activity, and mapping the dimensions present in existing conceptualizations. This not only created a unifying theoretical basis for conceptualizing the EGOV benchmarking activity but allowed learning from and integrating existing conceptualizations. The work impacts on the EGOV benchmarking practice by enabling a logical design of the activity, and contextually correct understanding of existing EGOV benchmarking results with respect to their intended usage.

eGovernment rankings are increasingly important as they guide countries’ focus of their efforts. Hence indexes must not just measure features of web sites but also accurately indicate underlying government processes. eGovernment rankings are in a process of maturation in that direction, moving from purely measuring web sites to assessing use and government qualities. One such measurement is the UN eParticipation index, intended to measure how well governments connect to their citizens. This paper analyzes the quality of the index by validating it against other indexes of government-citizen relations qualities, democracy, internet filtering, and transparency. Results: The relation between the index and democracy and participation is non-existent. Countries which are authoritarian or obstruct citizen internet use by filtering can score high on eParticipation by window-dressing their webs. We suggest that the eParticipation index includes an element of reality check and propose ways to do that.

The paper proposes an analytical framework to explain history of e-Government implementation over a certain period of time in the context of developing countries. The framework is built upon General Systems Theory (GST) and Institutional Theory enriched with literature from organizational changes, and information systems/e-Government implementation. Three scenarios of implementation are proposed, each with its own departing worldview (i.e., mechanistic, organic, and colonial systems), isomorphic mechanism, implementation model, and possible impact.

In light of the contemporary societal challenges and the current technological trends that have revolutionized collaboration and creativity, ICT for Governance and Policy Modelling has recently emerged to achieve a better, participative, evidence-based and timely governance. Bringing together two separate worlds, i.e. the mathematical and complex systems background of Policy Modelling with the service provision, participation and open data aspects in Governance, it has recently gathered significant attention by researchers and practitioners. This paper presents the grand challenges that will inspire research in the domain in the next years, as well as the track from the state of play study, the visionary scenarios building and the gap analysis that has eventually led to their recognition. The specific research challenges target at achieving a collaborative, model-based governance with a strong scientific basis, empowered with data in order to reach collective intelligence, and providing public services as a utility.

Although Gulf countries have invested large sums of money in implementing e-government services, adoption rates have been low due to various social, political and demographic reasons. This study aims to provide a better understanding to citizens’ adoption of e-government services through conceptualizing the role of intermediary organisations within e-government. In particular, this paper examines the importance of intermediaries in the adoption of e-government from a citizens’ perspective and the potential influence they have on bridging digital divide in societies. Following previous studies on e-government adoption, the study employs the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to examine the influence of intermediaries on citizens’ adoption of e-government services in the context of Madinah city in Saudi Arabia. The results in this study indicates that the citizens’ efforts towards using e-government services, their trust of the Internet and their trust of intermediary organisations contribute significantly towards their e-government adoption behaviour. Further, the facilitating conditions the intermediary organisations offer have a significant impact on the usage of e-government services.

Delivering public services through the SMS channel is becoming popular and has demonstrated its benefits. Some of the initiatives involved big investment. However, citizens’ acceptance of the services is still an issue. This paper presents a study on user acceptance of SMS-based e-government services. It assesses the adequacy of four prominent models of technology adoption (TRA, TAM, TPB, and DTPB) to explain intention to use SMS-based egovernment services and proposes a generic model of individual acceptance of SMS-based e-government services. Constructs of the proposed model were derived from a survey on citizens’ motivations for using SMS-based egovernment services, theories on individual acceptance of technologies, and user acceptance determinants of SMS and e-government services. Data for validating the models were collected from 589 citizens in three cities in Indonesia. The proposed model may explain why individuals accept or reject SMS-based e-government services and how user acceptance is influenced by the service characteristics.

User acceptance plays a pivotal role in success of all IS projects. Yet, most of the e-government endeavors worldwide have fallen short of their potential. Online transactions with public administrations are plagued with concerns of data protection and privacy resulting in reluctance to engage in egovernment. Although trust is confirmed to be an effective instrument for dealing with the anxiety of the faceless transactions, the majority of trust studies have been conducted in the context of e-commerce. Until now, relatively little research has focused on the role of trust influencing willingness of citizens to use e-government services. Based on a nationwide representative survey, our study contributes to prior literature by delivering the empirically-validated components of trust influencing the adoption of e-government in Germany. Enhanced with a research model of trust, this paper promotes a better understanding of the factors that halt or slow down e-government adoption in the German household.

Online applications and processing of tax forms, driver licenses, and construction permits are examples of where policy attention and research have been united in efforts aiming to categorize the maturity level of e-services. Less attention has been attributed to policy areas with continuous online citizen-public interaction, such as in public education. In this paper we use a revised version of the Public Sector Process Rebuilding (PPR) maturity model for mapping 200 websites of public primary schools in Denmark. Findings reveal a much less favorable picture of the digitization of the Danish public sector compared to the high ranking it has received in the international benchmark studies. This paper aims at closing the gap between the predominant scope of maturity models and the frequency of citizen-public sector interaction, and calls for increased attention to the activities of government where the scale and frequency of the interaction between citizens and government will challenge our concepts of maturity.

In order to increase usage of e-government services, there is a need for better understanding of factors driving citizens’ use of such services. This study addresses the following research problem: How do trust, perceived sacrifice, and optimism bias influence citizens’ intentions to use public e-services? A model of e-service adoption is proposed and tested on a random sample of Swedish citizens. The model confirms the influence of trust and optimism bias, and the results also suggest that perceived sacrifice in terms of time and effort can be a strong predictor of behavioral intentions.

The invoice is an important business document. Despite a large number of convincing arguments, overall adoption rates of electronic invoicing disappoint. Several European countries try to accelerate diffusion speed, some by law, others by stimulating market drivers. This paper focuses on the question whether the government can make a difference as a launching customer of eInvoicing. Results from a large scale survey show that both organisational and situational factors explain the adoption of eInvoicing. Companies that conduct business with governmental organisations are more prone to start implementing eInvoicing. Consequently, this group of suppliers is the obvious target group to launch this innovation. By doing so, government could accelerate the diffusion of eInvoicing.

Despite the need expressed in the literature for shedding light upon the mechanisms that underpin the transformational process of t-Government, there is still research to be conducted regarding the critical factors that affect the citizens’ adoption of local government transformational services. To address this gap, this research reports on the findings of the use of the structured-case approach and suggests a framework to investigate the success factors for t-Gov in a Greek context. The paper reveals that transformational government is not a state, but a process entailing experiential judgement. Existing acceptance theories, hence, need to be complemented by additional variables that affect citizens’ adoption of transformational services.

This paper focuses on factors associated with the development of e-government services by local public administrations (PAs) in Italy. Using data from 1,176 municipalities in 2005, we show that the combination of internal competencies and context-specific factors is different when explaining decisions to start e-government activities vs. the intensity of such activities. Local PAs involved in e-government are larger, carry out more in-house ICT activities and are more likely to have intra-net infrastructures than PAs offering no digitized services. They are also located in regions having large shares of firms using or producing ICTs, where many other municipalities offer digitized services, and where population density is low. The range and quality of e-gov services increase with their stock of ICT competencies, their efforts to train workers, and their ability to organise interfaces with end-users. Moreover, the range and quality of services is correlated with the broadband infrastructure development of regions.

The aim of this article is to analyze IT governance practices in the Norwegian government ministries. We seek to identify the ministries IT governance regimes, and, more specifically, the different government sectors policies and principles regarding the use of ICTs. Moreover, we seek to explain differences in IT governance regimes across ministries.

The empirical evidence has been collected from policy documents, budget proposals and other document. These data have been supplemented by qualitative interviews with key civil servants in the various government ministries. The analysis of the data is based on a theoretical framework consisting of four IT governance models and a classification of the functions that ICTs fulfill within the various government sectors. Our findings indicate that there is some correlation between IT governance models and ICT functions.

This empirical study explores the information-based strategies that EU Regions and Member States are implementing when publishing public data on the web. Cohesion Policy and its Structural Funds, which involve all EU Regions and Member States, are the ideal context to verify the presence of different approaches to the publication of government data. Therefore, 434 datasets on beneficiaries of EU Structural Funds are analysed with multivariate statistical techniques and classified into three clusters according to their characteristics. Two pro-active information strategies are identified, which are consistent with the theoretical framework based on the complementary principles of ”stewardship” and ”usefulness”. The analysis of current practice also reveals that there is still much to be done in order to find the right balance between these two principles.

Both financial pressure and customer and service-quality orientation force governments to “innovate their processes.” With governmental processes affecting a large variety of stakeholders both inside and outside the government sector, involving these stakeholders in process innovation becomes an important means of increasing know-how, capacity, and ultimately ensure the legitimacy and acceptance of reform efforts. We contribute to the study of collaborative process innovation by applying a governance theory perspective, in order to understand the factors that impact on collaboration. Our quantitative study of 357 local governments reveals that, with an increasing maturity in process innovation, all types of collaboration (market, network, hierarchy) are increasing in importance. Moreover, we find that, under financial stress, governments tend to involve network partners (e.g. other local governments) in process innovation, while a lack of process management knowledge leads to market-oriented collaboration with consultants. We derive implications for management practice and discuss how the study enhances our understanding of process innovation and collaboration in the public sector.

This paper reports on a research effort designed to begin to systematically identify the most critical computing and information technology-related challenges facing financial market regulation activities. Computing and information technology adaptation in financial markets create a paradox. Information technology is needed for effective governing of financial markets, yet advances in information technology and the increasingly complex adaptations of that technology make it more difficult for regulators to have a clear picture of what is actually happening. Drawing on in-depth interviews with professionals from the financial market community, this paper outlines three primary challenges facing regulation efforts: 1) information sharing and integration, 2) mediating interrelationship among financial market constituents, 3) data-driven decision making. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research about the challenges and

Integrating Web 2.0 technologies in e-government opens up new opportunities for improving the quality of online public services and developing new ones, and can potentially contribute in achieving e-government strategic objectives. This paper presents and analyzes the result of an exploratory field study conducted recently with a group of e-government experts in France. Our objective is to identify e-government development trends, and to assess the transformation potential associated with Web 2.0 and Open Innovation (OI). We have adopted an enriched Delphi method, and used a GSS (Group Support System) to facilitate brainstorming and idea generation. Preliminary results are analyzed from two perspectives: Their contribution to e-government 2.0 and to open government, and their differences and complementarities with a recent governmental report on the future of public e-services in France. This work is a first step in a comprehensive research whose purpose is the study of public organizations’ transformation and the emergence of the government 2.0 concept. It is a contribution to a better understanding of e-government future.

In the context of current increasing variety, interconnectivity and alteration, many methods and tools for planning and decision-making such as time series analysis and trend extrapolation do not longer work out. Along the demands for good governance and open government, policy-makers need concise, reliable and up-to-date information to manage society’s problems and affairs in an efficient and effective way. Likewise, stakeholders affected by a particular policy demand transparency, accountability and trustworthiness in political decision-making. Along the increasing digitisation of the Information Society, citizens are more and more requesting direct involvement in policymaking. The implementation of good governance principles as already defined a decade ago by OECD or the European Commission become predominant in societal evolution. In this contribution, a novel approach to policy development through collaborative scenario building via online means and formal modelling and simulation of policy is introduced. The approach adds value to current policy discussions by facilitating the understanding and assessment of specific policy issues, letting stakeholders express their views and concerns on a policy via collaborative scenarios and e-participation tools, and providing means to better understand consequences of policy choices.

Public sector information constitutes a valuable primary material for added-value services and products, which however remains unexploited. Recently, Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives emerged worldwide aiming to make public data freely available to everyone, without limiting restrictions. Despite its potential however there is currently a lack of roadmaps, guidelines and benchmarking frameworks to drive and measure OGD progress. This is particularly true as proposed stage models for measuring eGovernment progress focus on services and do not sufficiently consider data. In this paper, we capitalize on literature on eGovernment stage models and OGD initiatives to propose a stage model for OGD. The proposed model has two main dimensions, namely organizational & technological complexity and added value for data consumers. We anticipate the proposed model will open up a scientific discussion on OGD stage models and will be used by practitioners for constructing roadmaps and for benchmarking just like the European Union stage model is currently used for measuring public service online sophistication.

This paper focuses on the seemingly routine but essential aspects of network formation by actors in an E-government context. A qualitative case study is used to explore portal development in public healthcare. The theoretical framework applied is Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The research question is: What factors contribute to the enrolment of strategic local actors in technology development in E-government? The results of the study show that the basic functionalities are of strategic importance for the enrolment of local actors in the portal development and its use. These functionalities act as

enrolment devices

. In complex environments, critical success factors for network formation require local support based on present usefulness of the functionalities and on long-term project organization that safeguards their future development.

In Switzerland inter-organizational cooperation is a cornerstone of the national e-government strategy. Based on existing frameworks, the authors examine different stakeholder’s perspectives towards cooperative e-government within the Swiss federal system. The discussion of pronounced barriers and enablers is based on various sets of data: A document analysis and interviews with the program office on the national level, data from surveys among e-government officers across federal levels and a case study conducted at the concrete operative level. The analysis aims at reflecting the relevance of different aspects of cooperation for the development of e-government, contributes to validating existing analytical approaches and provides suggestions for further research.

This paper examines if, and how, the manner in which the state is viewed changes when an e-government system is implemented. The motivation for this paper lies in the fact that the nature of the state is under-theorised in e-government literature. The state, in a developing country context, is formulated as being scarce, presenting choices of exit and voice to citizens, and of having authority over violence. A specific grievance registration system from India, called Lokvani, is used as an example to show the effect of the system on how residents of that region view the state. Field data collected from participant interviews of those interacting with the system is analysed. The results show that the nature of the state changes when the system is used, however, for some aspects it remains the same. Further, the paper concludes that it is imperative to have a formal theory of the state for evaluating and designing e-government systems.

This paper proposes a conceptual model that groups different factors that can influence relationships between government agencies. The model is based on a systematic literature review of published papers related to Government-to-Government (G2G) relationships. Through analysis of selected papers, we identified, classified, and organized factors that may impact relationships between government agencies. The proposed model may help government managers to improve their G2G policies.

Public administrations have introduced eGovernment systems for many years. However, citizens’ willingness to use these applications is still rather small. As proved by surveys, one major reason for this lacking acceptance is security concerns. In this paper, we investigate the role of mass media in this process of creating mistrust towards eGovernment. In doing so, we analyse three different newspapers concerning their way of reporting on IT risks and security issues in eGovernment systems using the method of content analysis. It shows that their news coverage is indeed quite biased and emotional possibly influencing the readers’ attitudes towards eGovernment systems. Different media effect theories predict various models of affecting the recipients’ stance, some of which are applied in our analysis. The outcome of this research is a set of assumptions stating in which way the communication of security issues in eGovernment systems in mass media influences the audience’s attitudes.

In international trade, there are a number of aspects that influence the interactive relationships between business organizations and governmental organizations, which makes it difficult to regulate the business processes in an integrated way. Modeling such kinds of organizational interactions requires a mechanism to differentiate interactive environments and elaborate regulations according to their characteristics. For this purpose, a context-aware inter-organizational modeling approach is proposed in this paper. The approach analyzes organizational interactions through three phases from abstract to concrete: (1) general specifications which describe organizations in terms of atomic roles with intellectual objectives, (2) contextual specifications which extend general specifications by applying contexts to derive composite roles with details on how to accomplish the objectives, and (3) operational specifications which construct a set of complete models of an inter-organizational collaboration by assembling contextual specifications according to the run-time environment. An example consisting of two scenarios of direct control and self-regulation in international trade is used to illustrate our model.

A comprehensive model for the management, monitoring and assessment of the innovation projects implemented by the local government is presented. The model is based on the classic Deming PDCA quality-oriented process. It is defined in collaboration with our local government partner in order to measure the effective impact of the innovation policies developed by the public administrations. An “eGovernment Intelligence” framework has been designed and is currently being developed and tested. The main features are: (a) the qualification of the policies/projects and the definition of innovation targets, (b) a systematic and staggered measurement of the relevant innovation, economic and social indicators at the needed scale, (c) a detailed, geo-referentiated analysis of the territorial evolution pattern of the indicators, (d) the re-assessment of policies and projects against the results obtained.

Digital Preservation has been recognized as a key challenge in providing trusted information and sustainable eGovernment services. However, there has been little convergence on aligning the technically oriented approaches to provide longevity of information in ever-changing technology environments, and the organizational problems that public bodies are facing, through a systematic framework that aligns organizational and technological issues in the social domain of eGovernment.

In this paper, we discuss the relevance of Enterprise Architecture and IT Governance for digital preservation and analyze key frameworks for digital preservation from this viewpoint. We assess the coverage of the leading criteria catalog for trustworthy repositories in terms of Enterprise Architecture dimensions and in how far these criteria align with established Enterprise Architecture and IT Governance frameworks. We discuss the analysis process we were following and present key observations that result from our work. These point to a number of steps that should be taken in order to consolidate digital preservation approaches and frameworks and align them with established frameworks and best practice models in Enterprise Architecture and IT Governance.

Government represents a unique, and also uniquely complex, environment for interoperation of information systems as well as for integration of workflows and processes across governmental levels and branches. While private-sector organizations by and large have the capacity to implement “enterprise architectures” in a relatively straightforward fashion, for notable reasons governments do not enjoy such luxury. For this study, we evaluated 77 successful projects of government interoperation and integration from across Europe and found that the governance of highly interoperated information systems needs very close attention not only from a functional point of view, but also from a more general-policy perspective. If unchecked, interoperation and integration in government might have the potential to offset or neutralize important safeguards put in place by the constitutional design of separated powers and checks and balances. We found that IT governance might play a more important role than commonly acknowledged and could even provide important clues for informing potential changes in the model of democratic governance in the 21

st

century.

Joining up service delivery of multiple organizations often requires public organizations to exchange citizens’ information. To ensure their privacy and realize information security, controlling data access is paramount. However, limited research was found on issues that emerge when realizing data access control in inter-organizational collaboration. Security is typically achieved by implementing security patterns, which are proven technical solutions. This paper explores data control issues for realizing information security by looking at the application of security patterns in practice. By investigating a case study of inter-organizational collaboration in the Netherlands we explore the use of two security patterns that control access to information: Extended Role-Based Access Control (ERBAC) and Single Access Point/Check Point. We investigated whether those patterns were implemented in the right way and whether they were sufficient for guaranteeing access control. We found issues related to access control to be crucial in realizing information security, which can only be realized by implementing organizational arrangements in addition to technical solutions. Therefore, we recommend development of a framework for information security in interorganizational collaboration including technical and organizational aspects.

In recent years the development of eGovernment has increasingly gone from service provision to striving for an interoperable public sector, with Enterprise Architectures being an increasingly popular approach. However, a central issue is the coordination of work, due to differing perceptions among involved actors. This paper provides a deepened understanding of this by addressing the question of how differing interpretations of interoperability benefits affect the coordination in the early stages of implementing a public sector Enterprise Architecture. As a case-study, the interoperability efforts in Swedish eHealth are examined by interviews with key-actors. The theoretical framework is a maturity model with five levels of interoperability issues and benefits. The findings highlight the need to clarify decision-making roles, ambiguities concerning jurisdictions between authorities and that differing perceptions of IT-infrastructure is connected to overall goals. The paper also suggests a re-conceptualization of eGovernment maturity by moving away from sequential models.

We discuss a reference model for security measures to preserve integrity of information. Unlike traditional approaches which focus on an defensive approach to preserving integrity, we also present offensive measures to stimulate integrity of information, by providing feedback from usage. The reference model is used to analyze the security measures proposed in the design of the Dutch national Electronic Patient Dossier (EPD), in particular the projected application for medication records. We conclude that much of the defensive measures were covered, but that some offensive measures are lacking, in particular measures related to trust. This may have harmed adoption.

The ongoing financial crisis is forcing governments to consider leaner (less resource intensive) forms of public service delivery. This is a difficult process, especially since recent private sector scandals demand that governments become more vigilant. Public-private collaboration (PPC) needs to address this ‘lean yet vigilant’ challenge. However, PPCs have proven to take a long time to establish and bring to fruition. Hurdles that delay the achievement of goals include the need to agree on standards in an environment with heterogeneous interests, changing laws and unclear revenue models. While literature on managing PPC hints towards the need for both compulsory measures (plan-driven, restrictive) and adaptive measures (learning-driven, leeway), case studies illustrating how these measures can be integrated in practice are scarce. Drawing on the Standard Business Reporting case in the Netherlands, this paper shows that both compulsory and adaptive measures are necessary to advance in multi-actor standardization processes. Our findings indicate that PPC managers need to impose with leeway by taking an engineering approach to architecture development yet providing leeway in the details.

Public procurement of information systems (IS) and IS services provides several challenges to the stakeholders involved in the procurement processes. This paper reports initial results from a Delphi study, which involved 46 experienced procurement managers, chief information officers, and vendor representatives in the Norwegian public sector. The participants identified altogether 98 challenges related to IS procurement, divided further into 13 categories: requirements specification, change management, cooperation among stakeholders, competence, competition, contracting, inter-municipal cooperation, governmental management, procurement process, rules and regulations, technology and infrastructure, vendors, and IT governance. The results contribute by supporting a few previous findings from conceptual and case-based studies, and by suggesting additional issues which deserve both further research and managerial and governmental attention. As such, the results provide altogether a rich overview of the IS procurement challenges in the Norwegian public context.

Over the last decade the diffusion of Information Technologies has represented one of the main drivers of government reform. The adoption process of such technologies has posed significant challenges for public organizations. The aim of this paper is thus to look into the process of organizational change that public agencies have undergone, in order to single out its most salient characteristics, such as understanding changes in the adoption of technologies, in organizational choices, in skill needs and in customer-public administrations relationship. On the one hand, organizations are gradually opening up their institutional boundaries in order to proactively answer to environmental changes. On the other hand, citizens play an increasing role in the context of e-Government, since their suggestions and contributions may considerably influence decisions taken by public administrations. Specifically, we attempt to answer this research question: What are e-Government organizational implications in the back office and in the interaction with citizens due to Information Technologies diffusion? Using data from a survey on 1,206 Italian public administrations, we show how organizational changes are emerging, based on the overcoming of traditional bureaucratic organizational forms. The implications of these findings are also discussed.

This paper assesses the role of e-government service quality in the creation of public value from the citizen perspective. By assessing the added value of e-government services through a public value lens we aim to explore more deeply how e-government service quality impacts on public value creation. We propose a conceptual framework based on the theoretical perspectives of public value and e-service quality to support the examination of e-government service quality from the citizens’ viewpoint. An exploration of the literature on public value, e-service quality, and e-government indicates that the creation of public value is highly dependent on the level of quality of a service delivered by a public organization. The framework draws together the elements of public value as determined by Moore [1] and Kelly [2], and quality dimensions from the updated IS success model by DeLone and McLean [3].

Intermediary service providers are important users and actors of eGovernment. This paper explores future longer-term collaborative models and partnerships between the public sector and divers new intermediaries. Four distinguished and logical scenarios of public-private cooperation around 2015 have been developed. Each ‘extrema’ presents a plausible future and specific implications and effects regarding the future role and position of the intermediary (e-)service providers. Whereas the current state-of-the-art shows a wide variety of intermediate roles, each of the future scenarios tends to stress one specific role. Being prepared for these futures is a major competitive advantage. The scenarios present the framework for assessing the impact of societal trends and present a test bed for the design of future-proof eGovernment strategies.

Relationship between technology and organisational changes in public sector has become the subject of increasingly intensive research within the last decade. Studies dealing such relationship could be divided in two major groups - first group regards ICT in the e-government period as the key factor of organizational transformation and the second group regards ICT as an equal and co-dependent element in relation to other organizational factors. These two groups of studies could be further classified within two organizational theories -

Technological Determinism

and

Socio-Technical Theory

. The aim of this paper is to critically analyse those theories in the sense of formal theoretical framework to explain relationship between ICT and other organisational factors through the lens of Leavitt’s diamond. On the basis of critical analysis and synthesis of available literature the draft of a new conceptual model for explaining such relationship will be proposed.