Understanding Strategy For E-Government Development Using Actor-Network Theory

Abstract

The potential benefits of e-government are not easily manifested due to its high implementation failures. These failures partly come from inappropriate assumptions used to conceptualize its nature and implement it as a socio-technical entity. Using two cases of e-government development in a developing country, the paper argues that Actor Network Theory (ANT) offers framework and ontological foundations to formulate strategy for developing e-government. The strategy flows from its four moments of translation framework and its assumption about the relationship of social and technical entity, agency, and power. The proposed strategy is directed to help decision and policy makers as well as developers of e-government to better implement it. Keywords- e-government; Actor Network Theory; strategy; developing country.