The Institutional Effects on the Evolvement of e-Government Online Service Delivery

Under the federalism system, local governments have discretions and responsibilities prescribed by the state governments in matters under their jurisdiction including the adoption of e-government initiatives. The authors take an institutional perspective to examine the current development of local e-government in the U.S. context. Specifically, the present study aims to analyze the effect of isomorphism, vicarious learning, and structural institutions on the advancement of online services, which is in the process of moving from the basic stage to the more advanced stage. The findings suggest that frequency imitation and population trait imitation are present. A city’s likelihood of expanding its service capacity is positively related to the frequency of previous adopters. The study also found that cities ’ advancement behaviors could be motivated by other ∗ The authors are grateful for the valuable comments from the two anonymous referees of PA&P on an earlier version of this paper