Recent progress of factors influencing information technology adoption in local government context

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) adoption is increasingly being studied in many different contexts, both in public and private sectors. However, there are not many review papers published on IT adoption specifically in a local government context. Local governments have unique characteristics in terms of the organization’s structure, the power of authority, norms and culture. Hence, the primary aim of this study was to review recent literature from the year 2013 to 2017 on IT adoption at the organizational level in a local government context. We strategized our review methods through utilizing relevant keyword search in Scopus, Web of Science, Emerald and Springer Link databases which include journals, proceedings, books and book chapters. The search identified 715 publications during the initial stage using the snowballing technique. Thereafter, 22 relevant publications were filtered out during the quality assessment stage. Within the context of local government, this review presented the analyses of IT adoption research progress, the research domains, research methodology and the factors influencing IT adoption. This study identified 37 factors of IT adoption in local government context which have been categorized into four main dimensions which are Technological, Organizational, Individual and Environmental (T-O-I-E). Surprisingly, policy and regulations, top management support, relative advantage, cost, governance, personnel skills and citizen demand emerged as among the most influential factors for IT adoption in the context of local governments. The results from this study will help other researchers to understand the current stage of IT adoption in local government context in terms of research domains, research methodology, and the factors influencing IT adoption.