Persuasive Pressures in the Adoption of E-Government

Abstract

In many countries, municipalities are becoming increasingly important as providers of electronic public services to their citizens. One of the horizons for further expansion is the delivery of personalized electronic services. In this paper, we describe the diffusion of personalized services in the Netherlands over the period 2006-2010 and investigate how and why various municipalities adopted personalized electronic services. In this paper, we present an analysis of data that were gathered during interviews with fifty key stakeholders in ten selected Dutch municipalities. We synthesize the findings in an explanatory model of personalized electronic service delivery diffusion. The model emphasizes persuasive pressures that are channeled to potential adopters of personalized services. Furthermore, the model shows how persuasive pressure (as perceived by adopters) is followed-up by organizational search activities, and how, in various circumstances, the idea of personalized services is ‘framed’ by innovation champions, knowledge brokers and new members of staff as to appeal to specific organizational priorities and ambitions. In doing so, this article contributes to an institutional view on adoption and diffusion of innovations, in which (1) horizontal and vertical channels of persuasion and (2) human agency, rather than technological opportunity and rational cost-benefit considerations, account for actual diffusion of innovations.