Investigating the Role of Project Champions in e- Government Integration Initiatives in Local Government Domain

The realisation of technological innovations has often been associated with the presence of a champion who performs the imperative functions of transformational leadership, facilitation, and endorsement of different technical projects. This study investigates the role of project champions in electronic Government (e-Government) integration initiatives in local government domain. In this context, governments across the globe are reforming their e-Government initiatives and progressing towards more integrated transformational Government (t-Government) (e.g. the cases of UK, Norway, and Sweden are a manifestation of such reforms). It is highly acknowledged in the normative literature that integration (i.e. at the data, object and process levels) is a core objective and a critical success factor for achieving a mature level of government – horizontally and vertically. While, there is a surfeit of literature that have outlined the various organisational and technical challenges posed during the implementation of e-Government integration initiatives, the research that examines the role of project champions during such initiatives is rather deficient. The shortage of such research studies presents a knowledge gap that needs to be sanctioned. Project champions possess specific domain knowledge and expertise that are crucial to the success of e-Government integration initiatives. In this regard, the authors empirically examine the dynamic nature and importance of their role, and comprehend why their domain knowledge and expertise are vital for e-Government integration initiatives; from an in-depth multiple case study based research in the local government domain.