Electronic government strategic alignment: a case study within New Zealand's public sector

Abstract

Electronic Government (eGovernment) strategic alignment is the fit between a public sector agency's business strategy and their electronic strategy, and their electronic strategy and the overarching eGovernment strategy. This is becoming increasingly significant as eGovernment continues to grow in both importance and in its effect on not only the internal operations of government, but also on the ways in which both citizens and businesses interact with the public sector. This exploratory study assesses the extent to, and ways in which, five public sector agencies within New Zealand have achieved eGovernment strategic alignment. Data was gathered through ten interviews with senior managers operating in both business and information management related roles. The study concluded that eGovernment strategic alignment was positively affected by four factors: the presence of an informal electronic direction, an active participation in eGovernment programmes, an electronically minded future and a competitive public sector environment, and was inhibited by five factors: a low level of enthusiasm, a silo mentality, a lack of strategic documentation, a lack of sufficient resources and the infancy of the eGovernment phenomenon in New Zealand.