Rethinking e-government research: The 'ideology-artefact complex'

Abstract

The authors present a framework for e-govemraent research that draws heavily on lacono and Kling's work on computerization movements. They build on this work by appropriating cognate studies of organizational informatics by Kling and his colleagues, and socio-technical research in the UK. From this blend, they derive a construct, the 'ideology-artefact complex'. Using empirical work (including recent case studies of their own), they indicate how this may inform e-government research. They discuss ways in which the construct may act as a bridge between two traditions of UK/European social informatics and US socio-technical research. They discuss a potential research agenda for computerization movements in egovernment that focuses on three main problem areas: macro level social order, counter-movements and material realisation.