Determinants of Information and Communication Technology Adoption in Municipalities

Local governments use various technologies to enhance responsiveness to citizens’ demands and to improve efficiency. However, the determinants for technology adoption may vary by the type of technology used. We separately examine the adoption of two different types of information and communication technologies (ICTs): intranet, which increases efficiencies within an organization, and e-services, which aim to increase efficiencies for the public and government agencies. Using 2012 data collected from a national random survey of the managers in 500 municipal governments with populations ranging from 25,000 to 250,000, we find that organizational centralization, work routineness, and personnel constraints are related to the adoption of both intranet and e-services, but that these relationships are mediated by an organization’s risk-taking culture. We also find that external stakeholder influence is positively related to ICT use. Governmental stakeholder influence is related to intranet adoption, and non-governmental stakeholder influence is related to the adoption of e-services. Our study highlights the importance of understanding the dynamics by which different ICTs are adopted. A main contribution lies in the finding that risk-taking culture mediates the relationship between structural constraints and ICT adoption in municipal governments.