Constructing Electronic Government: The Case of the UK Inland Review

The term electronic government (e-Government) generally refers to the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to change the structures and processes of government organisations. Many governments world-wide have invested heavily in this agenda but there is a lack of clear case material which describes the potentialities and pitfalls experienced by organisations at the forefront of this change. The department of the Inland Revenue has been at the forefront of this electronic government e- Government vision in the UK. The department has undertaken major attempts to re-engineer its interface with the UK citizen and other stakeholders. It has also suffered a number of highly publicised failures in delivering its services electronically. This paper presents a case study of the process of ‘constructing’ e-Government experienced by this organisation. We place this organisation’s attempts at ICT innovation within the context for e- Government within the UK. We also use a model developed as part of our research - the electronic government organisation - to help explain some of the potentialities and pitfalls in this area. In terms of this analysis we review definitions of e-government and call for a more holistic use of the term in the development of future strategy