Interdisciplinary application of structuration theory for e-government: A case study of an IT-enabled budget reform
e-Government projects might fail when neglecting their multidisciplinary, complex and unstructured reality. Interdisciplinary interaction of actors and integration of multiple structures during e-government adoption have made difficult for both practitioners in practice and scholars in theory. Different structuration theory (ST) models have contributed to understand this phenomenon. This article proposed an interdisciplinary structuration theory (IST) by integrating relevant structures based on a better understanding of the interacting disciplines of the e-government initiative. The IST has advantages over other models because it provides a detailed description of the case; integrates relevant structures and multiple actors' views; incorporates an alternative methodological bracketing of practices; and operationalizes the discursive consciousness. This study examines the model by using the case of an IT-enabled budget reform in Mexico as a contemporary case of e-government. An embedded case study design was employed using interviews of actors and analysis of official documents. Results show a broader set of interacting structures not just technology that were possible to identify and examine by considering other disciplines. Only a subset of formal practices prescribed for systems and policy was effectively adopted while new informal practices were enacted. Among all, practices of collaboration, knowledge and trust were the most critical practices in the case. Several outcomes of interaction were identified. From these findings, practical recommendations are advised in the modalities of communication, power, and sanction.
interdisciplinary structuration theory electronic government