Enacting State Websites: A Mixed Method Study Exploring E-Government Success in Multi-Organizational Settings

E-government is increasingly been used for government administrative reform. In fact, spending in e-government initiatives continues to rise and, among these projects, Internet-based applications are increasingly important. Using a nested research design, this study explores the complex relationships among the relative success of state websites and certain organizational, institutional, and contextual factors¹. Based on a PLS analysis involving all 50 states and two rich case studies, this paper identifies several generalizable relationships and case-specific differences. For instance, organizational factors such as size of the IT organization, budget structure, IT training, in-house development, outsourcing, and marketing strategy were found to significantly affect the functionality of state websites. However, some of these factors play different roles in different contexts, their relevance is affected by state-specific environmental conditions, and the reasons why they are important also differ from setting to setting.