Evaluating e-governemnt implementation using an institutioal perspective: a case study of oman

Electronic government has been established as an effective mechanism for increasing government productivity and efficiency as well as a key enabler for citizen-centric services. Although egovernment efforts in most developing countries started in the early 2000’s and huge investments have been made by respective governments, implementation and diffusion has been extremely laggard compared to Western nations. However, there has been no universal model for evaluating the effectiveness of e-government implementation and adoption. From an institutional perspective though, economic, political and social as well as technological issues signify the most fundamental pressures that organisations face when implementing change. Using institutional theory as conceptual lens, this paper aims to provide a better understanding of the pressures that influence the success of egovernment projects. This is achieved using an empirical study in a large ministry in Oman by reflecting on their e-government implementation efforts.