This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Norris, D. F. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Building the Virtual State... or Not?

A Critical Appraisal

University of Maryland Baltimore County, norris{at}umbc.edu

In this article, the author advances four arguments about Building the Virtual State. First, it is a historical and fails to take into account the rich and rewarding literature about information technology (IT) and government developed over the past 3 decades. Second, its theory of IT enactment is little more than a repackaging of the dominant extant theory in the field, sociotechnical systems theory. Third, evidence provided from the three case studies in the book is insufficient to test enactment (or any other) theory of IT and government. Finally, although the book claims to be about the virtual state, only one of the case studies addresses the movement of government services onto the Internet (the author's definition of the virtual state), and the other two cases do not address it at all. For these reasons, Building the Virtual State is a disappointment, and it delivers a good bit less than it promises.

Key Words: electronic government • information technology • computers • organizations

Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 21, No. 4, 417-424 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0894439303256728


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?