Problems of Enterprise Architecture Adoption in the Public Sector: Root Causes and Some Solutions

Abstract

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a comprehensive approach aimed at understanding and aligning an organization’s business strategy and processes, information resources, and information technologies. However, implementing this approach in an organization is not an easy task as organizations have their preexisting siloes and fragmented procedures and departments. Comprehensive, inter-organizational practices, such as EA, usually break old procedures and habits, shift decision-making power, and challenge old values. This makes EA endeavors extremely difficult. In this paper, we conduct a qualitative multiple-case study. We use institutional theory to identify problems and their root causes in EA adoption in three cases. We also discuss possible solutions—by identifying eight root causes and several examples, both successful and not-so-successful—to mitigate or overcome these problems. We also argue that institutional theory and its three pillars provide a usable lens to analyze EA adoption.