Addressing the challenges of e-Government: learning from the IT industry

Purpose - This study aims to identify the challenges in current government organizations while providing services that require a collaborative effort. It also identifies the ways through which government organizations can address the collaboration challenges in ways such as those adopted by leading information technology organizations. Finally, this research also aims to identify the obstacles in government organizations, which could prevent them from successfully adopting new technologies. Design/methodology/approach - The research was conducted in three phases. In the first phase, a case study was conducted on a government organization identifying the challenges in delivering services that require collaboration among different stake holders. In the second phase, multiple case studies were performed on three leading organizations who have successfully implemented the Web 2.0 technologies to address collaboration challenges while providing efficient service deliveries. In the third phase of the research, a case study was conducted on a government organization to identify the obstacles faced while implementing the identified solution(s). Findings - Identification of existing problems while providing efficient service deliveries was possible using a case study approach. This research also finds that Web 2.0-based knowledge management tools can be very effective in addressing the existing challenges in the current state of e-Government. Finally, the research also finds that realization by the upper management, technology adoption cost, adoption of new work paradigm and time to create an effective repository are some of the major obstacles faced by the government organization while trying to adopt the proposed solution. Originality/value - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is the first to conduct rigorous case studies on three different leading information technology organizations simultaneously to address a challenge in the current state of e-Government. This research also provides implications for practitioners as, based on the findings, they can implement the Web 2.0 technologies to address challenges in government organizations while providing efficient service deliveries. Furthermore, the research provides implications for further research to analyze the performance of the government organizations after they adopt these technologies.