Managing e-Government system implementation: a resource enactment perspective

The research presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of an e-Government system implementation. The resource-based view and the enactment concept were leveraged as a theoretical sense-making lens to study the system through its planning, development and operation phases. Consequently, a process model of resource enactment was developed to theorize how organizational resources were mobilized for successful implementation. It was found that the environmental climate at each phase gave rise to a particular focal capability. This was developed through the symbiotic enactment of a focal resource in conjunction with other complementary resources. Specifically, knowledge, social and leadership resources were found to be pertinently enacted in developing the focal capabilities. When observed across the phases, such symbiotic enactment of complementary resources followed a co-evolutionary path. The empirical research was conducted through a qualitative case analysis. This research would therefore be of interest to both academics and practitioners as it contributes to cumulative theoretical development and provides practical grounded insights to inform and advance e-Government system implementation. European Journal of Information Systems (2011) 20, 529-541. doi:10.1057/ejis.2011.19; published online 26 April 2011