2011 Hossain

Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 10 (2011) 576–594
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecra
Impacts of organizational assimilation of e-government systems on business

value creation: A structuration theory approach
Md. Dulal Hossain a,1, Junghoon Moon b,⇑, Jin Ki Kim c,2, Young Chan Choe d
a
Global Information & Telecommunication Technology Program, School of Innovation, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 373-1 Guseong-dong,
Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea
b
Program in Regional Information, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, San 56-1 Sillim-dong, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea
c
Department of Business Administration, Korea Aerospace University, 100 Hanggongdae-gil Hwajeon-dong, Deogyang-gu, Goyang-City, Gyeonggi-do 412-791, Republic of Korea
d
Research Institute for Agriculture & Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Gwanak-599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Governments worldwide are eagerly anticipating a digital future with the proliferation of information
Received 8 June 2010 system applications, but assimilation of such enterprises could be a potentially formidable challenge.
Received in revised form 13 December 2010 Assimilation of e-government systems by organizations is important for business value creation. Despite
Accepted 13 December 2010
significant investments in e-government systems, the extent to which organizations have been able to
Available online 23 December 2010
assimilate and leverage these systems varies widely. We develop a theoretical model grounded upon
structuration theory and the literature on organizational information systems assimilation to investigate
Keywords:
the impact of organizational assimilation of e-government systems on business value creation by
Assimilation
Domination
conceptualizing the notions of IS in organizations. Based on our model, we argue that the organizational
E-government systems meta-structures of signification, domination, and legitimization determine aspects of organizational
Empirical research e-government systems assimilation behavior that may affect its value creation potential. We experimen-
IT value tally validate our model using a total of 367 surveys collected from public organizations currently
Legitimization utilizing an e-governmental system. Our results largely support the proposed model and shed new light
Organizational issues on the factors associated with organizational assimilation of e-government systems. Finally, we isolate
Signification the organizational, technological, and inter-organizational factors that shape the meta-structures for
Structuration theory
the assimilation of e-government system. Our findings indicate that assimilation of e-government
Organizational meta-structure
systems has a substantial impact on business value creation. We conclude by discussing the theoretical
and practical implications of our findings.
Ó 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction of the mission of e-government, it is important to assess the effec-

tiveness of e-government and to take necessary actions based on
Since the late 1990s, governments at all levels have launched e- these assessments (Gupta and Jana 2003). The key objective during
government systems with the objective of providing quality elec- the post-implementation stage is to assimilate the outcomes of
tronic information and services to citizens and businesses (Torres integration of information systems into business routines so that
et al. 2005). New technologies in the government sector have not the expected benefits can be realized (Liang et al. 2007). Assimila-
only helped to improve service delivery and increase democratiza- tion is an important construct in the causal chain of influence from
tion (West 2004), but have also helped to reduce corruption and en- the organizational adoption of an information technology to the
hance transparency (Haldenwang 2004) as well as increase national evidence of its impacts on business performance (DeLone and
business competitiveness (Srivastava and Teo 2006). The manage- McLean 2003). However, little is known about the factors that
ment of e-government systems is thus becoming an essential ele- determine the assimilation of e-government systems in organiza-
ment of modern governments’ (Torres et al. 2005) support of the tions and the impact of assimilation on value creation. The prime
transition from administration-oriented organizations towards ser- motivators for the research we present in this paper are these gaps.
vice-oriented organizations (Guo et al. 2009). To ensure fulfillment Past studies have overlooked the fact that technology assimila-
tion is an ongoing process by focusing on one stage of the assimi-
lation life cycle, such as the decision to adopt a specific IS
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 10 4582 4345, fax: +82 2 873 5080.
innovation. Furthermore, the majority of past studies on IS innova-
E-mail addresses: edhossain@kaist.ac.kr (M.D. Hossain), moonj@snu.ac.kr (J.
tion have been anecdotal (Rai et al. 2009). Previous researchers
Moon), kimjk@kau.ac.kr (J.K. Kim), aggi@snu.ac.kr (Y.C. Choe).
1
Mobile: +82 (0) 10 8687 5571. have often approached the subject from the viewpoint of an
2
Tel.: +82 2 300 0353. applied problem, such as user acceptance of e-government systems
1567-4223/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.elerap.2010.12.003
M.D. Hossain et al. / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 10 (2011) 576–594 577
or the avoidance of resistance by users, hence few studies on the By addressing these research questions, this paper contributes
post-adoption environment are present in the literature (Ahuja to e-government system assimilation theory by isolating a parsi-
and Thatcher 2005). Most existing studies have relied on social monious set of theoretically grounded factors that affect the assim-
psychological theories that lack the ability to explain why and ilation of e-government systems in organizations. Furthermore,
how systems continue to be used after they are adopted (Guo this paper provides empirical evidence to support the large impact
et al. 2009); little attention has been paid to underlying organiza- of organizational e-government system assimilation on business
tional theories. Increasing evidence also suggests that most tradi- value creation. Understanding the key antecedents of assimilation
tional models neglect the realities of implementing technology of e-government systems in light of structuration theory will help
innovations within organizations and fall short in explaining inno- practitioners to formulate and implement appropriate strategies to
vation assimilation, and may thus require modification (Fichman cope with the challenges of implementing e-government systems.
and Kemerer 1997, Kamal 2006). Therefore, from a theoretical per- The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In the next section,
spective, a nuanced understanding of the assimilation of e-govern- we develop a theoretical framework that integrates structuration
ment systems is necessary. theory with the organizational assimilation of e-government
Past empirical studies of organizational assimilation and value systems. In subsequent sections, based on this framework, we
creation have mostly been conducted in the context of e-business consecutively develop a research model, describe instrument devel-
(Zhu et al. 2003, 2006) or manufacturing (Choi and Lee 2009), even opment and the data collection method, indicate how we analyzed
though IS has had a tremendous impact in public non-manufactur- the data, and present the results of model testing. Finally, we discuss
ing organizations. Most published e-government studies are either the theoretical and practical implications of our findings, as well as
conceptual or case studies (Srivastava and Teo 2010), only limited the limitations of our study and directions for future research.
to analyzing a particular e-government implementation (McHenry
and Borisov 2006), and highlighted the paucity of its impact study
2. Theory
(Srivastava and Teo 2010). Indeed, past studies have shown that
the transference of concepts and practices from the private to the
The foundation of our theoretical framework is built on two ele-
public sectors is problematic and does not always have the in-
ments: structuration theory and the literature on organizational IS
tended outcome (Pee and Kankanhalli 2008). This suggests that it
assimilation. We argue from the perspective of structuration the-
is important to recognize the unique aspect of e-government
ory that dynamic organizational meta-structures and patterns of
systems in contrast to e-business or manufacturing enterprises of
human actions retain their influence throughout the life cycle of
private organizations; in other words, e-government systems
e-government systems as they are adopted, and evolve continu-
should be studied in their own right.
ously. These meta-structures of signification, domination, and
Despite the potential of IS, organizations face significant chal-
legitimization reinforce established structures and patterns of ac-
lenges in assimilating these systems and in obtaining the expected
tion that reproduce established behaviors or enable the emergence
results (Brews 2000). In the case of e-government systems, one of
of new structures, and these actions generate assimilation behav-
the most important challenges faced is that the adoption and use of
iors that may affect value creation. Assimilation can be greatly im-
the implemented system does not last, and investment may also be
proved if organizations have high organizational absorptive
ineffective (Chen et al. 2007). In many cases, user acceptance of a
capacity in terms of facilitating the assimilation of external infor-
new technology is satisfactory at first when this technology is
mation and applying this external information to commercial ends
strongly promoted or its use enforced, but declines sharply after
(Cohen and Levinthal 1990). Thus, we further argue that organiza-
this initial stage is over (Zhang et al. 2010). This short life cycle
tional absorptive capacity moderates the influence of the organiza-
and under-utilization of e-government systems have raised doubts
tional meta-structural factors listed above in determining
about the value of e-government investments (Wang and Wilson
assimilation behavior (see Fig. 1).
2005). Specifically, earlier researchers have argued that not all
e-government system implementations have been successful.
Approximately 60% of e-government system implementations 2.1. Perspectives on assimilation
failed or did not yield the expected outcomes (Heeks 2003). There-
fore, the assimilation and integration of e-government systems in Assimilation is defined as the extent to which the use of tech-
organizations is a competitive necessity, and there is still much nology diffuses across organizational work processes and becomes
to learn about how best to strategically position e-government sys- routinized in the activities associated with those processes (Purvis
tems to ensure the greatest positive effect on an organization’s et al. 2001). Therefore, assimilation of e-government systems can
effectiveness. be defined as the extent to which an organization uses e-govern-
To overcome these limitations and to improve the explanatory ment systems to facilitate business strategies and activities. This
value of organizational assimilation of e-government systems for definition focuses on the relative success of an organization at
business value creation, we develop a theoretical model grounded incorporating e-government systems into its business strategies
upon structuration theory and the literature on organizational IS and activities and is consistent with earlier treatments of IT assim-
assimilation. Our goal in this paper is to synthesize the factors that ilation at the organizational level (Armstrong and Sambamurthy
affect the assimilation of e-government systems and determine 1999).
the impact of e-government systems on business value creation. We identified manifold organizational-level IT/IS adoption mod-
Specifically, we focus on identifying factors that can be general- els from the literature. Innovation diffusion theory (Rogers 1983)
ized across e-government systems and determining their assimila- was tapped by several researchers to investigate antecedents of IT
tion life cycle. Consistent with observations made in past studies adoption (Lewis et al. 2004). Taking this approach to assimilation,
of organizational systems, we consider organizational, inter- Cooper and Zmud (1990) related IT implementation with task and
organizational, and technical factors in this investigation. Research technology characteristics in the context of manufacturing firms
questions addressed in this study are: (1) What organizational, (Cooper and Zmud 1990). Researchers, by extending this theory,
technical, and inter-organizational factors shape the assimilation have also proposed that task, organizational, and environmen-
of e-government systems? (2) In turn, what is the impact of tal characteristics play important roles in technology adoption
e-government system assimilation by an organization on business (Damapour 1991). Furthermore, the technology–organization–
value creation? environment framework developed by Tornatzky and Fleischer
578 M.D. Hossain et al. / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 10 (2011) 576–594
Organizational meta-structure Assimilation behavior Value creation
Organizational Organizational IS Business Value

meta-structure absorptive
of Signification capacity
Organizational Information Information

meta-structure Systems Systems Value
of Domination Assimilation
Organizational
meta-structure
of Legitimization
Fig. 1. Conceptual framework.
(1990) states that the decision to adopt a technological innovation ment that simply acquiring or adopting a technology is not suffi-
by a firm is based not only on the technology, but also on the re- cient to realize the anticipated benefits; IT must be deployed and
lated organizational and environmental contexts. The technology used sophisticatedly by the organization and its intended users
adoption model social psychological theory (Davis 1989), the IT (Kamal 2006). Public organizations face challenges such as over-
innovation adoption research model (Agarwal and Prasad 1998), coming resistance to change, security, and possibly a lack of top
and innovation adoption and implementation model (Gallivan management support in assimilating this technology (West
2001) have also been widely used. 2004). Therefore, for government organizations to be successful
The role of top management has received significant attention in assimilating innovations, they need to have a thorough under-
in research studies on the organizational determinants of IS assim- standing of the relative advantages of the innovations as well as
ilation. Chatterjee et al. (2002) developed a model of assimilation the organization’s absorptive capacity, existing organizational
of web technologies for shaping e-commerce initiatives based on operations, managerial capabilities, and information systems busi-
the structuration theory of technology assimilation. In their model, ness standards relative to the requirements of the work processes
meta-structuring actions of top management, such as champion- (Kamal 2006).
ship, provided strategic rationale for technology investments Researchers have suggested that e-government activities spur
(Chatterjee et al. 2002). Top management’s knowledge about IT similar activities in the business sector (Cohen et al. 2002) and that
and their vision of the role of IT in a firm have been found to impact these e-government activities are a follow-on from e-business
adoption intentions and lead to successful IS assimilation (Carter and Belanger 2005). The success of e-business can motivate
(Armstrong and Sambamurthy 1999). Others have focused on the implementation of e-government, which in turn may facilitate
level of managerial IT knowledge and organizational structure as implementation of more e-business (Srivastava and Teo 2010). De-
predictors of web technology assimilation in the supply-chain spite this synergistic relationship, the current literature typically
management function (Ranganathan et al. 2004). views e-business and e-government activities as inherently differ-
According to technology assimilation theories, most ITs exhibit ent (Srivastava and Teo 2010) and they have different business
an ‘‘assimilation gap’’: their rates of organizational assimilation goals (Chircu and Lee 2003), leading to a gap between IT adoption
and use lag behind their rates of organizational adoption (Chatterjee in private and government sector organizations with regard to
et al. 2002, Fichman and Kemerer 1999). Therefore, lessons learned provisions made for its assimilation and assessment of its impact
about the assimilation of prior information technologies could be (Kamal 2006).
extended to understand how organizations promote the assimi- We posit three distinct reasons why the assimilation of e-gov-
lation of e-government systems. However, the assimilation of ernment systems deserves investigation using an e-government-
e-government systems is more challenging than assimilation of specific assimilation model. First, the dynamics of e-government
other IS in private organizations because of the different natures assimilation in an organizational are distinct, as it is a Type III inno-
and dynamics of these entities. vation that occurs at the organizational level of analysis and firm-
Consistent with Swanson’s (1994) taxonomy of IS innovation, wide actions are required to integrate IS into strategies, activities,
assimilation of e-government systems is a Type III innovation, and processes. In contrast, Types I and II IS innovations operate at
where the focus is upon the integration of IT in customer-facing different levels of analysis. In fact, limited attention has been de-
strategies and activities at the organizational level (Chatterjee voted to the assimilation of Type III IS innovations as compared
et al. 2002). The emergence of e-government requires the radical to Types I and II (Chatterjee et al. 2002). Assimilation of e-govern-
transformation of government, including profound changes in the ment systems requires the mobilization of attention and coordina-
structure, process, culture, and behavior of individuals in the tion of actions across a wider group of stakeholders and inter-
public sector (Irani et al. 2005). In e-government initiatives and organizational factors, including top management, IS executives,
e-government assimilation, these transformational efforts usually members of the IS function, and members of a work group than
encompass all the major organizational dimensions including is the case for the assimilation of individual IS innovations. The
strategy, structure, people, technology, and processes as well as intensity of the interactions and collaborations required among
the principal external forces of citizens, suppliers, partners, and these members is much more pronounced for the assimilation of
regulators (Tung and Rieck 2005). Kamal (2006) suggested through e-government systems than for the assimilation of other IS
his conceptual model of EAI adoption in an e-government environ- systems. The prevailing perspectives on technology assimilation
have two implications for our research. First, consistent with the human actors and structural features of organizations (Orlikowski
entire portfolio of IS, we conceptualize assimilation of e-govern- 1992). These structural properties consist of the rules and re-
ment systems along two dimensions: organizational strategies sources that human agents use in their everyday interactions.
and online business activities such as government to government These rules and resources mediate human action, while at the
(G2G), government to citizen (G2C), and government to business same time they are reaffirmed through being used by human ac-
(G2B) activities (Wang and Liao 2008). Higher assimilation of tors (Orlikowski 1992). In explaining the modalities of structur-
e-government systems refers to greater use of these IS in organiza- ation, structuration theory argued that all human interactions are
tional strategies and activities. Higher levels of organizational inextricably composed of the structures of meaning, power, and
assimilation will be achieved when a larger proportion of the moral frameworks, and that any interaction can be analyzed in
individual assimilation initiatives are targeted at the enterprise terms of these, as the realms of social action and social structure
business strategies and value chain activities. Therefore, orga- coexist. It recognized three modalities that link the realms of ac-
nizations can foster higher levels of technology assimilation by tion and social structure: interpretive schemes, resources, and
shaping, influencing, and motivating individual and managerial norms (see Fig. 2).
attention, cognition, and behaviors toward more assimilation Structuration theory has been used extensively in the IS field
initiatives across the enterprise (Chatterjee et al. 2002). Whereas since its development. Jones and Karsten (2008) concluded, based
assimilation itself is the cumulative result of actions by individuals on a review of 331 IS articles that have drawn on Gidden’s work,
and units within the organization, these actions are stimulated by that there are significant opportunities for IS researchers to pursue
an organizational milieu of norms, values, and rules (Chatterjee structurational research.
et al. 2002). Jones and Karsten (2008) identified three broad arenas of struc-
Second, the weak theoretical perspectives and unique aspects of turation theory application: application of structurational con-
e-government system assimilation indicate that a different investi- cepts, development and application of IS-specific versions of
gative approach is required. Heeks and Bailur (2007) pointed out structuration theory, and critical engagement with structuration
that e-government research draws mainly from a weak or confused theory. Reimers and Johnston (2008) integrated the structuration
positivism and is dominated by over-optimism, thus there is a pau- model with practice theory to investigate the adoption of inter-
city of knowledge and practical guidelines for e-government and a organizational information systems in particular industry sectors.
lack of clarity and rigor about research methods alongside poor Their model divides the structures in IS application practice into
generalizations. Furthermore, the evidence reported in the norma- ideational structures, normative structures, and material struc-
tive literature suggests that some of the assimilation factors might tures, and defines different behavior patterns to reinforce and ex-
need to be redefined because public and private organizations tend the concept of duality (Reimers and Johnston 2008).
differ in several important aspects and it is necessary to make Another theoretical paradigm influencing IS research is that of
meaningful adjustments to address the specific needs of public Poole and DeSanctis (2004). They modified Giddens’s structuration
organizations (Moon 1999). theory to address the mutual influence of technology and social
Finally, the impact of organizational assimilation of e-govern- processes; this theory is referred to as adaptive structuration theory.
ment systems on business value creation has received little atten- Orliwoski’s (1992) duality of technology has been the most
tion from researchers. We therefore identified a set of factors that influential theoretical paradigm in IS research used to investigate
have been found to influence assimilation at the organizational the relationship between information technology and the organi-
level and investigated their effects on business value creation. zation over the last decade. She developed a structural model of
We then mapped these factors through the lens of structuration information technology based on the assumption of the duality
theory to develop a model that can be used as a tool to measure of technology and applied the model to the particular case of infor-
the effects of e-government system assimilation on business mation technology. The root of the structuration theory of technol-
value creation. ogy assimilation lies in the basic institutional theory that describes
how firms act as institutions in shaping the behaviors and cogni-
2.2. Structuration theory in conceptualizing IS research tions of individuals within. Institutional theory (Orlikowski 1992,
Scott 1995) identifies three ways in which organizations influence
Structuration theory, proposed by Anthony Giddens (1979, individual cognition and behaviors: (1) structures of signification,
1984), is an attempt to reconcile theoretical dichotomies in social (2) structures of legitimization, and (3) structures of domination.
systems such as agency/structure, subjective/objective, and mi- Orlikowski et al. (1995) argued that individuals utilize these insti-
cro/macro perspectives. In this theory, structuration is conceived tutional structures of signification, legitimization, and domination
as a social process that involves the reciprocal interaction of to make sense of technology, garner the resources needed to infuse
Organizational Structure of Structure of Structure of

realm Signification Domination Legitimization
Modalities of Interpretive Resources Norms

structuration Scheme
Realm of human Meaning Power Moral Sanction

action
Fig. 2. Interaction between human action and organizational properties as mediated by the three modalities of structuration (adapted from Giddens (1984)).
technology into work processes, business activities, and strategies, provided by the meta-structures that enforce established institu-
and undertake the improvisational actions needed to assimilate tional rules to regulate the actions and behaviors of individuals.
the technology. These assimilation actions are referred to as struc- Drawing on structuration theory and based on a review of the
turing actions. They also argued that top management or organiza- literature on organizational IS assimilation, we identified the orga-
tional human resources could manipulate the institutional nizational, inter-organizational, and technological factors that rep-
structures of signification, legitimization, and domination, and resent the meta-structures of signification, legitimization, and
thereby influence, guide, motivate, or alter individual structuring domination in an e-government system assimilation context (see
actions. These organizational actions are called meta-structuring Table 1). We now elaborate on our rationale for mapping causal
actions because they either reinforce the existing institutional factors to particular meta-structures.
structures or alter those structures to create conditions more con-
ducive to technology assimilation. 2.4. Meta-structures of signification and notions of e-government
Structuration theory has also been applied to e-government re- systems
search to examine the organizational learning process during pro-
ject implementation (Phang et al. 2008), analyze the dynamics of Meta-structures for signification are provided by the strategic,
system procurement and development (Devadoss et al. 2002), ana- relational, and technological contexts in which e-government sys-
lyze the adoption and application practice of e-government systems must be interpreted and used. We identified top management
tems from an organizational level perspective (Chen et al. 2007), leadership as an organizational factor, user support from providers
analyze management accounting practices (Coad and Herbert as an inter-organizational factor, and security of the e-government
2009), perform a structural analysis of e-government initiatives system as a technological factor. Top management leadership pro-
(Devadoss et al. 2002), analyze e-government research (Heeks vides the strategic rationale for an organization’s e-government
and Bailur 2007), and analyze e-technology and the emergent e- system initiatives, while user support refers to users’ perceptions
environment (Tassabehji et al. 2007). A recent study of Meneklis of technical support from the service providers for e-government
and Douligeris (2010) extended the theoretical perspective of e- system use. Security focuses on the match between the require-
government through a structurational lens which focused both ments for safeguards and protection and the users’ perceptions of
on evaluation of the results of past implementations and on the these provided by e-government systems.
processes that enabled these implementations.
2.5. Meta-structures of domination and notions of e-government
2.3. A structuration perspective for e-government system assimilation systems
We applied the underlying duality of technology concept which Meta-structures for domination are provided by political
is based on Gidden’s duality of structure and structuration theory
support, human resources, and financial commitment to e-govern-
of technology assimilation (Orlikowski 1992, Scott 1995) to gain ment system assimilation and the extent to which IS innovative-
insight into the structuration of e-government systems so as to
ness, in general, is desirable and pursued in an organization.
understand the relationships between an organization’s attributes Accordingly, we identify top management leadership as an organi-
and its assimilation of e-government systems. The structuration
zational factor and IT sophistication and user IT competence as
theory of technology assimilation focuses on the relationship be- causal factors through which the meta-structures of domination
tween social structure and human actions and suggests that assim-
operate to validate actions and behaviors related to e-government
ilation of e-government system innovations is a cumulative system assimilation. Top management leadership directs political
consequence of individual actions, which are shaped by organiza-
support for e-government system actions, while IT sophistication
tional meta-structures (Giddens 1984). These meta-structures and user IT competence together reflect organizational readiness
reinforce established structures and patterns of action that repro-
to provide technological capabilities and human resources,
duce established behaviors or enable the emergence of new struc- especially to end-users, thereby promoting the assimilation of
tures and actions that generate innovative behavior.
e-government systems.
The structuration theory of technology assimilation has been
used to inform studies related to organizational assimilation of
2.6. Meta-structures for legitimization and notions of e-government
information technology innovations for business processes such
systems
as the assimilation of computer-aided software engineering tech-
nology (Purvis et al. 2001), Web services (Chatterjee et al. 2002),
Meta-structures for legitimization are established by top man-
and the assimilation of electronic procurement innovations (Rai
agement imperatives for e-government systems and behavioral
et al. 2006). Recently, Rai et al. (2009) used this theory to investi-
regulations associated with e-government system usage. We iden-
gate the assimilation of electronic procurement innovations and
tify top management leadership as a causal organizational factor
the impact of this assimilation on procurement productivity in
and e-government systems standards efficacy as a causal techno-
buyer organizations; they reported that assimilation of these inno-
logical factor through which the meta-structures of legitimization
vations had a substantial impact on procurement productivity (Rai
operate to regulate e-government system assimilation behaviors.
et al. 2009).
In our context, assimilation of e-government systems emerges
from the structuring actions of individuals, whose cognitions and 3. Model and hypotheses
behaviors are influenced by institutional meta-structures. The
three key meta-structures of signification, domination, and legiti- Based on our theoretical proposition that the organizational
mization (Orlikowski 1992, Scott 1995) exclusively influence the meta-structures of signification (forming through top management
cognitions and behaviors of individuals. Signification is established leadership, user support, and security), domination (forming
by meta-structures that provide meaning and promote under- through top management leadership, IT sophistication, and user IT
standing, thereby serving as cognitive guides for individual action competence), and legitimization (forming through top management
and behavior. Legitimization is established by those meta-struc- leadership and e-government systems standards efficacy) deter-
tures that validate behaviors as desirable and congruent with the mine organizational e-government system assimilation behavior.
goals and values of the organization. Finally, domination is Also, further organizational absorptive capacity moderates the
Table 1
Structuration perspective of e-government system assimilation: mapping to factors.
Definition Mapping to constructs Explanation

Structures of Meta-structures related to strategic, Top management The extent to which top management articulates the strategic
signification relational, signification, and technological leadership context for e-government system deployment, which informs
contexts yield meaning and understanding, cognition on the business needs of e-government systems
serving as cognitive guides to understand
appropriate behavior/actions with respect
to e-government system assimilation
User support Perceptions about the technical support from service providers
for e-government systems
Security Security defines the degree to which e-government systems
provide safeguards and protects users. Therefore, it reflects
perceptions about the security and protection of e-government
systems; in other words, the methods of protecting information
and information systems from unauthorized access, use,
disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction to ensure
integrity, confidentiality, and availability
Structures of domination Meta-structures related to political, Top management Top management signals political support for the initiative and
financial, and technological resources leadership legitimizes actions and behaviors related to e-government
validate behaviors associated with the system assimilation by their active involvement in the
assimilation of e-government systems as deployment of e-government systems
being appropriate and consistent with the
goals and values of the organization
IT sophistication The sophistication of IT resources and capabilities in the
organization is an aggregate signal of the desirability and
importance of IT-related innovations for core organizational
processes, in this case, e-government system assimilation to
fulfill the business mission
User IT competence The belief that one is capable of performing in a certain manner
to attain certain goals, such as the confidence to use e-
government systems
Structures of Meta-structures related to goals and Top management Top management regulates actions and behaviors for e-
legitimization organizational standards regulate actions leadership government system assimilation by establishing goals for
and behaviors for e-government system initiatives and standards to monitor them
assimilation
E-government systems Perceptions about e-government system business standards
standards efficacy relative to the requirements of the work processes of the
organization. e-government systems standards efficacy reflects
the perceptual measures of comprehensiveness, flexibility, and
enforcement. Comprehensiveness standards provide positive
feedback for broader deployment of e-government systems by
accommodating for the scope of business activities. Flexibility
standards provide positive feedback for broader deployment of
e-government systems by accommodating required deviations.
Finally, the level of enforcement of formalized tasks and work
processes provides a stronger prediction of attitudes toward
formalization than the extent of formalization itself
Organizational Organizational absorptive capacity is defined as an organization’s
absorptive capacity capability to ‘‘absorb,’’ through its prior related infrastructures to
assimilate and use new IT (Cohen and Levinthal 1990, Tippins
and Sohi 2003). Here, the related infrastructure refers to
organizational prior internal IT knowledge structures, and
organizational technological opportunism to attain e-
government systems assimilation
influence of organizational meta-structure factors such that their 2009). Top management leadership is a meta-structuring action
importance in determining assimilation behavior increases with because it defines institutional norms and values regarding how
stronger organizational absorptive capacity. We offer a new managers should engage in structuring actions related to the
research model and propose hypotheses concerning e-government technology (Chatterjee et al. 2002). As a result, actions by top
system assimilation in an organizational context (see Fig. 3). management can modify prevailing structures, introduce comple-
mentary structures to facilitate technology use, and reinforce norms
3.1. Top management leadership: a key role in all three organizational that value the use of the technology (Kwon and Zmud 1987). In the
meta-structures context of e-government system assimilation, we suggest that top
management leadership plays a key role in each of the three meta-
Information system innovations are resource-intensive and re- structuring actions of signification, domination, and legitimization.
quire substantial material and managerial resources (Chatterjee By articulating a vision and establishing a strategic plan to fulfill
et al. 2002). E-government system assimilation involves managerial the government mission of a digital future, top management can
factors (Rai et al. 2006) and in general, top management leadership is establish a context within which actions and behaviors related to
an important factor (Chatterjee et al. 2002). Top management lead- e-government system assimilation assume meaning. Further, top
ership informs cognition on the business needs of e-government management can legitimize e-government system assimilation by
systems through articulating the strategic context for e-government demonstrating their commitment and political support through
system deployment (Chatterjee et al. 2002, Liang et al. 2007, Rai et al. participation in deployment initiatives.
Fig. 3. Research model.
Finally, top management can regulate the pace of e-government cial (DeLone and McLean 2003). User support is defined as percep-
system assimilation by establishing goals and targets for assimila- tions about the technical support provided by IS service providers.
tion. Throughout the assimilation life cycle of e-government User support is an attitude as well as an overall evaluation over the
systems, if strong, continuous leadership backing from top manage- long-term, and properly implementing such service quality fea-
ment is not provided, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, for tures may increase customer satisfaction (Parasuraman et al.
organizational members to see how e-government systems are re- 1988, Zeithaml 1988). As a result, the role of user support has be-
lated to the organization’s mission and strategic goals, to allocate come critical to the success of organizations (Landrum et al. 2007).
valuable resources to support e-government systems initiatives, We expect that user support from the provider plays a key
and to overcome inertial routines and establish new ones to actually meta-structuring role in signification by shaping the cognitions,
use e-government systems in daily work. We posit the following actions, and behaviors of users with respect to their day-to-day
hypothesis: usage of e-government systems, as well as their limited and broad-
er deployment of e-government system applications. This leads to
Hypothesis 1 (The Top Management Leadership Hypothesis). Top the following hypothesis:
management leadership has a positive effect on e-government
system assimilation. Hypothesis 2a (The User Support from Providers Hypothesis). User
support from providers has a positive effect on e-government
system assimilation.
3.2. Meta-structure of signification: user support and security
Security in e-government systems refers to a set of interpretive
The meta-structure of signification comprises interpretive schemes for users to structure and understand how sensitive infor-
schemes of standardized, shared stocks of knowledge that humans mation is protected by the system itself as well as during online
draw on to interpret behavior and events, thus achieving meaning- communications and transactions. Security is a major concern for
ful interactions (Orlikowski and Robey 1991). While top manage- organizations that have an IS and internet-enabled transactions
ment articulates the strategic vision for e-government system (Cooper et al. 1996). It is commonly believed that good security im-
deployment, user support from providers and security provide proves trust, and that perceptions of good security will ultimately
the relational and technological contexts for employees to inter- increase the use of electronic commerce (Kim et al. 2010). A lack of
pret behaviors and events related to e-government system security knowledge and awareness on the part of employees is a
assimilation. major problem from an organization’s perspective. Numerous
The role of user support in shaping the cognitions and behaviors security risks, such as viruses, worms, denial-of-service attacks,
of users has received significant attention and become an impor- stolen passwords, social engineering, and authority and authoriza-
tant dimension of IS success given the importance of user support tion violations, result from a lack of security, and these risks are
in the organizational environment where customer service is cru- detrimental to the operation of an organization (Chen et al.
2006). A lack of security awareness can make an organization vul- 3.4. Meta-structure of legitimization: e-government systems standards
nerable to internal and external threats (Chen et al. 2006). efficacy
Security in our context refers to the degree to which e-govern-
ment systems provide safeguards and protect users during The meta-structure of legitimization is defined by the norms or
government business processing (Rai et al. 2006). As such, secured rules governing sanctioned or appropriate conduct. Process stan-
e-government systems ensure a reduction of risks, and the deploy- dards are formal rules or policies that govern conduct (Rai et al.
ment of countermeasures leads to greater use of e-government IS. 2009). Process standards for inter-organizational business can pro-
Thus, security is an important causal factor through which the mote business-to-business integration (Bala and Venkatesh 2007).
meta-structure of signification operates. To the extent that organi- Gil-Garcia and Martinez-Moyano (2007) analyzed the dynamics of
zations perceive e-government system processes to be safeguarded evolution of e-government. He found that public managers exerted
against key security concerns (Parker 2002), the forces of significa- pressure in an attempt to solve problems, and that citizens, busi-
tion should result in greater levels of e-government system assim- nesses, and other stakeholders exerted pressure in an attempt to
ilation. This leads to the following hypothesis: control the actions of the public managers. These forces, which
are related to performance and accountability, promote changes
Hypothesis 2b (The Security Hypothesis). Security has a positive in the system of rules governing the design, implementation, and
effect on e-government system assimilation. use of e-government initiatives. In particular, they generate a cycle
that continually increases technological and organizational sophis-
tication in e-government initiatives and also promote the episodic
3.3. Meta-structure of domination: IT sophistication and user IT
and evolving adoption of similar features across different levels of
competence
government. Finally, these two related evolutionary dynamics and
the characterization of e-government using a system of rules
The meta-structure of domination is embedded in resource
and standards have important policy implications (Gil-Garcia and
allocation, as resources are the means through which intentions
Martinez-Moyano 2007).
are realized, goals are accomplished, and power is exercised
E-government systems standards efficacy can be characterized
(Orlikowski and Robey 1991). While top management leadership
by three components: (1) comprehensiveness, which is concerned
represents the political resources associated with e-government
with the scope of user requirements for the business process; this
systems, IT sophistication and user IT competence together reflect
can be governed by process standards, (2) flexibility, which is con-
attributes such as organizational readiness that represent techno-
cerned with the range of user behaviors in business processes; this
logical and human resources. The assimilation of complex IS
can also be governed by process standards (Rai et al. 2006), (3)
usually consumes significant resources (Rai et al. 2006).
enforcement, which is concerned with the actions taken by actors
IT sophistication is a salient phenomenon in the context of
of formalized procedures to ensure compliance; this could affect
IT-based innovation behaviors and is concerned with the existing
attitudes toward formalization (Kayworth and Sambamurthy
level of IS usage in the core part of an organization (Rai et al.
2000).
2006). In other words, IT sophistication refers to the extent to
An organization, by adopting certain e-government systems
which an organization is using IT in value-adding ways. A sophis-
standards to govern the e-government business process, indicates
ticated IT infrastructure enhances the ability and willingness of
that these system standards should be used to execute tasks and
business managers to apply IT innovatively (Sambamurthy and
that compliance to these system standards is the approved mode
Zmud 1996). Therefore, IT sophistication represents the organiza-
of action (Rai et al. 2006). The routines embodied within the sys-
tional infrastructure of knowledge and information that an
tem standards thus incorporate norms about the criteria and prior-
organization can use to support decisions and actions related to
ities for conducting tasks, as well as the logic by which tasks are
IS assimilation (Rai et al. 2006). Organizations with high IT sophis-
related, which collectively comprise the meta-structure of legitimi-
tication possess superior corporate data resources, information
zation (Rai et al. 2006).
management practices, and resources for the organizational inte-
To elaborate, comprehensiveness in standards allows these
gration of IT innovations (Chwelos et al. 2001). As a result, organi-
standards to act as coordination mechanisms, and facilitates the
zations with high IT sophistication should have the capacity to
establishment of decision-making guidelines and common terms
transform business processes using IS innovations.
and languages, as well as the identification of responsibilities for
User IT competence reflects human resources, especially end-
tasks across entities (Brown and Sambamurthy 1998). Such stan-
users, who can legitimize IS and support actions related to proper
dards for organizational business operations should facilitate the
utilization and integration with existing processes (Chwelos et al.
integration of processes and technology because they detail inter-
2001) as well as make enhancements during usage. Organizations
dependent roles and actions (Kayworth and Sambamurthy 2000).
with competent human resources possess employees with high
Again, flexibility accommodates deviations from anticipated ac-
levels of IS knowledge who can contribute to best information
tion. As IT infrastructures with flexible standards allow choices to
management practices. Therefore, IT sophistication and user IT
be made from a set of options, flexibility of e-government system
competence together reflect organizational readiness, and are the
standards should extend the range of options that managers have
key causal factors of the meta-structure of domination; this
available to adapt to their organization’s needs (Kayworth and
meta-structure reflects the organization’s resources that can use
Sambamurthy 2000). Finally, sanctions are the most effective
to act on intentions, pursue goals, and exert power related to
enforcement mechanism in the e-government context (Kayworth
e-government system assimilation. This leads us to the following
and Sambamurthy 2000). Sanctions refer to specific actions taken
hypotheses:
to correct deviations in the actions of employees from those pre-
scribed by formalized procedures. Formalized procedures are likely
Hypothesis 3a (The IT Sophistication Hypothesis). IT sophistication
to be ignored or reinterpreted, particularly if they are designed
has a positive effect on e-government system assimilation.
with a coercive logic without high levels of enforcement. In con-
trast, strictly enforced standards may facilitate higher levels of
Hypothesis 3b (The User IT Competence Hypothesis). User IT compliance even if they are designed to be coercive in nature.
competence has a positive effect on e-government system Based on the above discussion, the comprehensiveness of an
assimilation. organization’s IS culture, an organization’s flexibility, and the level
of enforcement are captured by e-government systems standards 3.6. The moderating effects of organizational absorptive capacity
efficacy, and collectively define the meta-structure of legitimization,
which regulates actions and behaviors related to e-government Organizational absorptive capacity is defined as the ability of an
system assimilation. Therefore, we expect that if e-government organization to absorb, assimilate, and use new IT through its prior
standards with the above-mentioned attributes are applied, the related infrastructures (Cohen and Levinthal 1990, Tippins and
cognitions, actions, and behaviors related to e-government systems Sohi 2003). In this context, the related infrastructure refers to orga-
will be positively reinforced, thereby promoting e-government nizational prior internal IT knowledge structures and technological
system assimilation. This leads to the following hypothesis: opportunism. The ability of a firm to recognize the value of new,
external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends
Hypothesis 4 (The E-Government Systems Standards Efficacy is critical to its innovative capabilities. Cohen and Levinthal (1990)
Hypothesis). E-government systems standards efficacy has a posi- labeled this capability a firm’s absorptive capacity and suggested
tive effect on e-government system assimilation. that it is largely a function of the organization’s level of prior re-
lated knowledge. In particular, prior related knowledge and diver-
sity of managerial backgrounds could influence absorptive capacity
3.5. E-government system value at the organizational level (Tippins and Sohi 2003) as well as orga-
nizational technological opportunism, which reflects an organiza-
E-government system value is defined as the contribution of tion’s propensity to respond with agility to signals from the
e-government systems to firm performance (Tallon et al. 2000). environment, thereby reflecting the organization’s absorptive
This is consistent with e-business value, which depends on the capacity (Srinivasan et al. 2002). The basis of the notion of absorp-
extent to which e-business is used in key activities in the organiza- tive capacity is that an organization needs prior related knowledge
tion’s value chain (Zhu and Kraemer 2005). The greater the use of to assimilate and use new knowledge (Cohen and Levinthal 1990).
e-business, the more likely the firm is to develop unique capabili- In the e-government realm, certain aspects of the knowledge abil-
ties from its core IS infrastructure (Zhu et al. 2004). ity of the agents are partly manifest in the descriptions of the role
A comprehensive model developed by Mahmood and Soon that information systems have as components of the environment
(1991) to measure the potential impact of IT suggested that IT and the development decisions that are based on such descriptions
can help firms to improve performance along the value chain by (Meneklis and Douligeris 2010).
having a positive effect on downstream dimensions (e.g., by offer- Organizations high in absorptive capacity have the ability, skills,
ing better services), internal dimensions within the organization and accumulated knowledge to acquire information about techno-
(e.g., enhancing internal process efficiency and employee produc- logical opportunities, to invest resources, to exploit resources, and
tivity), and upstream dimensions (e.g., improving inter-organiza- to act proactively to innovate on a consistent basis (Srinivasan
tional efficiency and coordination with customers). Following et al. 2002). Thus, the ability to assimilate information is a function
Mahmood and Soon (1991), Tallon et al. (2000) decomposed IT of the richness of the preexisting knowledge structures. Tassabehji
business value into downstream dimensions (sales support, cus- et al. (2007) also posited that there was a need to develop suitable
tomer services, and market expansions), internal dimensions organizational forms comprising both functional and technological
(internal processes, internal operations, and staff productivity), specialists.
and upstream dimensions (coordination with suppliers and busi- Organizational absorptive capacity is widely understood to en-
ness partners). Further, Zhu et al. (2006) extended these notions hance an organization’s innovative capabilities (Liang et al. 2007).
to the e-business environment. In sum, IS leads to value creation Again, assimilation can be greatly improved if organizations have
within an organization by improving operational efficiency, oper- prior knowledge that facilitates assimilation of external informa-
ational transparency, and public satisfaction, thereby improving tion and its application to commercial ends (Cohen and Levinthal
organizational performance. The unique characteristics and the 1990).
value creation of IS are significantly different from pre-internet The theory of absorptive capacity also provide a strong basis
technologies (Zhu and Kraemer 2005). Recently, Kim et al. from which to examine the nature and importance of information
(2009) found that the use of ubiquitous computing creates value exchanges between IT managers, relationships within the firm,
by enhancing business operations, business processes, and cus- and partnerships within the firm (Boynton et al. 1994). Hence, a
tomer satisfaction. major component of an organization’s absorptive capacity regard-
These prior studies motivated us to conceptualize the ing e-government systems can be represented by the conjunction
e-government system business value using three dimensions of IS-related and business-related knowledge possessed by and
along the e-government value chain. The unique characteristics exchanged among IS managers and technical staff in an organiza-
of e-government systems allowed us to link the three ways tional business unit. Organizations with higher levels of absorptive
through which business processes may create value, such as im- capacity will tend to be more proactive, exploiting opportunities
pact on organizational efficiency, impact on operational transpar- present in the environment, independent of current performance;
ency, and impact on public satisfaction. These three dimensions in contrast, organizations that have a modest absorptive capacity
of the e-government system value are grounded in the value will tend to be reactive, searching for new alternatives in response
chain analysis of Porter (Porter 1985), which has been broadly to failure.
used in the IS literature to study the business value of IT (Zhu Collectively, these research streams and the theoretical founda-
and Kraemer 2005). tion of absorptive capacity itself suggest that knowledge structures
Given the increase in organizational efficiency, transparency, are at the heart of an organization’s ability to innovate and adapt to
and improvements in public services that should result from environmental change. It is precisely such knowledge and in-
e-government system assimilation, we posit that organizations creased absorptive capacity that enriches the dialogue among IT
with higher levels of e-government system assimilation will have managers and business units, facilitating innovative IT applications
a higher business value. This leads to the following hypothesis: (Lind and Zmud 1991). Together, the diverse studies discussed
above that support the theoretical arguments associated with
Hypothesis 5 (The E-Government System Assimilation Value Hypoth- absorptive capacity and its relationship with organization assimi-
esis). E-government system assimilation has a positive effect on lation lead us to argue that organizational absorptive capacity
e-government system value. moderates the influence of organizational meta-structure factors
such that the importance of absorptive capacity in determining 4.2.3. Measures of independent variables
assimilation behavior increases with stronger organizational These measures and their informing sources are shown in
absorptive capacity. This leads us to the following hypothesis: Appendix A. We pursued a multi-step process to obtain profes-
sional reviews of the survey instrument after the initial creation
Hypothesis 6 (The Organizational Absorptive Capacity Moderation of the survey. We received feedback about the instructions, specific
Hypothesis). The relationship between the six identified factors of items used for constructs, and the clarity of the wording used for
organizational meta-structures and e-government system assimi- items. First, three faculty members with extensive experience in
lation are moderated by organizational absorptive capacity, such survey development examined the instrument. In the next stage,
that the relationships are stronger for those factors that have five government officers associated with AgriX inspected the sur-
stronger organizational absorptive capacity. vey to comment on the clarity of questions and instructions. Final-
ly, 41 AgriX users from across Korea participated in the pilot study,
and at each stage, we used the feedback to revise and refine the
4. Methods instrument.
4.1. Instrument development 4.3. Data collection
We used a survey method to test the developed model. All Our focus was the effects of organizational assimilation of
measures for constructs were developed through the successive e-government systems on value creation through e-government
stages of literature review, theoretical modeling, and refinement. system contributions to innovation and performance of business
All constructs and measures are listed in Appendix A. Because processes at the organization level. To develop a suitable sampling
the targeted public organizations that have implemented the frame, we chose employees of public organizations in Korea that
Agriculture Integrated Information Excellent System (AgriX) are have implemented AgriX. AgriX is an integrated information sys-
in Korea, the English questionnaires were first translated into tem for efficient management of agricultural investments and
Korean and then a panel of experts in IS research examined the face was financed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF),
validity of the items. Some modifications were made to the Government of Korea. The main objectives of AgriX are to make
existing scales to make these more suitable in the context of AgriX business operations more innovative to increase the satisfaction
assimilation into the public sector. Finally, we retranslated the levels of agriculture and forestry project clients (people working
questionnaires that we used to English. All questionnaire items in agriculture, public service employees of municipal and district
used a five-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to offices, and employees of MAF) and to reduce the workload of pub-
strongly agree, except items 1 and 2 concerning e-government lic service employees. AgriX has transformed multi-layered com-
system assimilation, which solicited responses as a percentage. plex offline management of agriculture and forestry projects into
an online web format, allowing farmers to submit applications
for agriculture-related business without paper work (G2C) and
4.2. Measures helping government officials deal with a myriad of work, such as
reviewing and choosing applications, financing, and reporting
4.2.1. Measures of e-government system value through an online system (G2B). Public service employees connect
Consistent with the theoretical arguments made earlier, we to the system through an electronic authentication process (public
operationalized e-government system value as a second-order con- key infrastructure) and manage all the related tasks online and also
struct manifested in three related dimensions (Mahmood and Soon monitor progress in real time. AgriX also acts as an internal system
1991, Porter 1985, Tallon et al. 2000, Zhu and Kraemer 2005, Zhu to fulfill the objective of reducing the number of tasks government
et al. 2004). These three related dimensions are impact on organi- officials have to perform.
zational efficiency (internal processes more efficient, customer ser- The following is a summary of the major attributes of the sys-
vice improved, staff productivity increased), impact on operational tem: (1) automatic input of detailed applicant information through
transparency (openness to customers improved, user participation linking to the Government for Citizen (G4C) system (AgriX is linked
in decision-making improved, and user participation in policy- to the G4C Citizen Information Database of the Ministry of Govern-
making improved), and impact on public satisfaction (customer ment Administration and Home Affairs), (2) online qualification
visit costs decreased, and coordination with business organizations screening without the requirement for document submission; data
or customers improved). sharing with other institutions means that agricultural land re-
cords, agricultural land ledgers, and land registers are available
4.2.2. Measures of e-government system assimilation in real time, (3) fair financial execution through double-checking
Existing literature severed as a basis for the development of this in advance; many agriculture and forestry projects are in progress
scale. In particular, the three dimensions of ERP assimilation iden- simultaneously, and repeated application is automatically checked
tified by Liang et al. (2007) together with the IS assimilation in time to block repeated benefits in advance, and (4) understand-
dimensions identified by Armstrong and Sambamurthy (1999) ing of the real time progress of an application and printing of re-
and Massetti and Zmud (1996) were used as a guide to construct ports (the progress status of projects are available in real-time
a three-item scale. However, all four scale items in Massetti and regardless of time and place). Hence, the status of a project or
Zmud could not be replicated because of the differing contexts of application can be reviewed easily through inputting related infor-
e-government systems assimilation versus EDI. The volume mation into the system directly from the upper institutions or
dimension was measured by asking respondents to indicate the MAF. Consequently, transparency is assured and there is no need
percentage of a subset of business processes that were conducted to make separate reports.
using AgriX. Diversity in this context is the number of a firm’s busi- We sent survey questionnaires by e-mail to municipal, county,
ness functional areas automated by AgriX technology. To capture and district government officials who use AgriX, to cover a wide
the general deployment of AgriX, depth was measured by asking range of geographical and cultural diversity. These government
the respondents to indicate the vertical impact of the AgriX system officials were requested to complete the survey within 15 days
on their value chain activities ranging from planning to decision- and a reminder letter was emailed 10 days after the initial mailing.
making. The risk of inaccuracy in survey responses due to memory-related
Table 2 adequate convergent and discriminant validity. Therefore, our

Sample characteristics (N = 367). measurements satisfy the two criteria for discriminant validity.
Variable Title N Percentage
Gender Male 265 72 4.4.3. Validity of the second-order construct
Female 102 28 Model results for the second-order construct of e-government
Total 367 100 system value are shown in Table 5. The paths from the second-or-
Age (years) 20–29 105 28.6 der construct to the three first-order factors were significant and of
30–39 142 38.7 high magnitude, greater than the suggested cutoff of 0.7. Thus, the
40–49 101 27.5 constructs developed by this measurement model are robust and
50–59 19 5.2
Total 367 100
can be used to test the conceptual model and the associated
hypotheses proposed earlier.
Education level High School or less 64 17.4
College Graduate 45 12.3
University Graduate 243 66.2 4.4.4. Common method bias and non-response bias
Graduate School 15 4.1 One of the major concerns with self-reported data is the com-
Total 367 100 mon method bias resulting from multiple sources such as the con-
Job experience (years) 5 or less 181 49.3 sistency motif and social desirability (Podsakoff et al. 2003).
6–10 23 6.3 According to the suggestion of Podsakoff and Organ (1986), we at-
11–15 67 18.3
tempted to enforce a procedural remedy by asking the respondent
16–20 57 15.5
21–25 22 6.0 not to estimate e-government system assimilation outcome mea-
26–30 16 4.4 sures according to personal experience, but to get this information
31 or more 1 0.3 from minutes of organization meetings or documentation. Further,
Total 367 100 we statistically analyzed the severity of the common method bias.
First, a Harmon one-factor test (Podsakoff and Organ 1986) was
issues was negligible, because employees in the agriculture office conducted to mitigate the threat of the common methods bias.
interact continuously with AgriX. We entered all independent variables and dependent variables in
A total of 395 responses were received, representing a response an exploratory factor analysis. The data would have a common
rate of about 10%. This response rate is comparable to that reported methods bias problem if a single factor emerged that accounted
for other survey studies of a similar type and scale (Chatterjee et al. for a large percentage of the variance in the resulting factors. How-
2002). A total of 367 responses were utilized for the analysis ever, a single factor did not emerge in our analyses and the first
excluding 28 responses with missing values, which corresponds factor accounted for 14.2% of the total variance. All items retained
to a usable response rate of 92.9%. The characteristics of the sample in the factor analyses accounted for 72.5% of the total variance.
are summarized in Table 2. The sample covers a wide geographical These results indicate that our findings were not affected by com-
and cultural diversity and a broad range of organization sizes with mon method bias.
different public requirements, and therefore is suitable to examine Second, following Podsakoff et al. (2003), we included a com-
e-government system assimilation and its impacts. mon method factor in the PLS model. The average substantively ex-
plained variance of the indicators was 0.77, while the average
4.4. Measurement, validity and bias issues method-based variance was 0.019. The ratio of substantive vari-
ance to method variance was about 41:1. Further, most method
We assessed the research model in a holistic manner using par- factor loadings were not significant. Given the small magnitude
tial least squares (PLS) with PLS-Graph version 3.00. PLS is better and insignificance of the method variance, we did not consider
suited for explaining complex relationships in general, as it avoids method bias to be a serious concern.
two serious problems: inadmissible solutions and factor indeter- To evaluate non-response bias, respondents were classified into
minacy (Liang et al. 2007). The item product terms approach of three groups, or waves, based on when they returned the survey.
PLS, as suggested by Chin et al. (2003), was used to test the mod- Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used to evaluate if later
erating effect. respondents differed systematically from earlier respondents with
regard to the number of employees in the public organization. This
4.4.1. Measurement model: convergent validity test revealed no significant non-response bias according to organi-
In Table 3, information about the loadings of the measures of zation diversity or size.
our research model is presented. The reliability of coefficients
was greater than 0.7, and each AVE was above 0.50, indicating that 4.5. Hypothesis test results
the measurements are reliable and that the latent construct can
account for at least 50% of the variance in the items. As shown in We next examined the significance and strength of each of our
Table 3, all the individual loadings were in an acceptable range hypothesized effects; this analysis was done using two PLS models.
and the t-values indicate that they were significant at the The first model examined the main effects specified in Hypotheses
0.01 level. 1–5, while the second model added the moderating effects stated
in Hypothesis 6. The estimates obtained from PLS analysis of each
4.4.2. Measurement model: discriminant validity phase, including standardized path coefficients, path significances,
Discriminant validity was verified with the squared root of the and variance explained (R2 value) for each dependent variable, are
average variance extracted for each construct higher than the corre- presented in Fig. 4 and Table 6.
lations between it and all other constructs. Table 4 shows that each Fig. 4 shows the results obtained for the main effects model; all
construct shared greater variance with its own block of measures path coefficients were found to be significant, supporting all of the
than with the constructs of different blocks of measures, demon- hypotheses. The model explains about 43.9% of the variance in
strating sufficient discriminant validity. Further, we constructed a e-government system assimilation and 30.8% of the variance in
cross-loadings table to assess the validity of our measurement e-government system value, demonstrating that this model ex-
instruments. Each item loading in the table was much higher for plains a good amount of the variance in e-government system
its assigned construct than for other constructs, supporting assimilation and e-government system value, respectively.
Table 3
Reliability of constructs.
Constructs Item Loading St. error t-value Cronbach’s alpha Composite reliability AVEa
Top management leadership 0.949 0.967 0.907
TML1 0.954 0.006 140.742
TML2 0.949 0.007 126.566
TML3 0.955 0.005 168.054
User support 0.841 0.905 0.760
UST 1 0.875 0.017 51.051
UST 2 0.866 0.017 50.418
UST 3 0.875 0.015 60.426
Security 0.879 0.925 0.806
SCT 1 0.940 0.008 116.077
SCT 2 0.906 0.011 78.093
SCT 3 0.844 0.019 42.493
IT sophistication 0.832 0.884 0.605
ITSop1 0.817 0.022 36.620
ITSop2 0.806 0.022 35.420
ITSop3 0.835 0.017 46.867
ITSop4 0.710 0.035 19.897
ITSop5 0.711 0.032 21.599
User IT competence 0.870 0.912 0.722
UsrITCp1 0.889 0.015 58.063
UsrITCp2 0.844 0.026 32.479
UsrITCp3 0.862 0.017 49.859
UsrITCp4 0.800 0.023 33.481
E-government systems standards efficacy 0.833 0.891 0.674
eGSdEfc1 0.878 0.011 74.173
eGSdEfc2 0.871 0.014 60.896
eGSdEfc3 0.822 0.021 38.914
eGSdEfc4 0.701 0.035 19.555
Organizational absorptive capacity 0.747 0.841 0.569
OrgAc1 0.774 0.029 26.710
OrgAc2 0.794 0.028 28.019
OrgAc3 0.732 0.033 21.613
OrgAc4 0.714 0.036 19.449
E-government system assimilation 0.708 0.839 0.637
eGassm1 0.849 0.017 47.672
eGassm2 0.816 0.019 42.706
eGassm3 0.721 0.032 22.356
Impact on organizational efficiency 0.943 0.964 0.899
ImOrgEf1 0.936 0.009 102.812
ImOrgEf2 0.951 0.007 121.186
ImOrgEf3 0.958 0.008 118.704
Impact on operational transparency 0.897 0.936 0.831
ImOpTp1 0.859 0.016 53.737
ImOpTp2 0.944 0.005 160.931
ImOpTp3 0.930 0.009 98.509
Impact on public satisfaction 0.899 0.952 0.908
ImpSat1 0.953 0.007 135.488
ImpSat2 0.953 0.007 135.488
a
Average variance extracted.
Table 4
Correlations among major constructs.
Constructs TML UST SCT ITSop UsrITCp eGSdEfc OrgAc eGassm ImOrgEf ImOpTp ImpSat
TML 0.952
UST 0.353 0.872
SCT 0.441 0.657 0.898
ITSop 0.656 0.554 0.610 0.778
UsrITCp 0.228 0.146 0.232 0.365 0.850
eGSdEfc 0.315 0.631 0.578 0.486 0.197 0.821
OrgAc 0.351 0.301 0.287 0.410 0.286 0.201 0.754
eGassm 0.453 0.497 0.530 0.550 0.281 0.462 0.309 0.798
ImOrgEf 0.352 0.450 0.439 0.445 0.119 0.360 0.233 0.379 0.948
ImOpTp 0.410 0.687 0.690 0.620 0.204 0.587 0.281 0.503 0.598 0.912
ImpSat 0.312 0.554 0.523 0.524 0.206 0.527 0.221 0.476 0.516 0.662 n/a
Diagonal bold elements are the square root of AVE, and triangular elements are the construct correlations.
Table 5
Measurement model: second-order construct of e-government system value.
Second-order construct First order constructs Loadings t-statistic Composite reliability AVE Target coefficient (t-ratio)
*
E-government system value ImOrgEf 0.850 – 0.935 0.642 0.92
ImOpTp 0.893a 68.22
ImpSat 0.814a 43.30
a
Path significance: p < 0.01.
*
The loadings are specified as fixed to make the model identified.
Fig. 4. PLS analysis of main effects.
Table 6
PLS analysis of moderating effects.
Interaction terms Path coefficient t-Statistic Support

Top management leadership organizational absorptive capacity 0.934 1.695a Moderated
User support organizational absorptive capacity 0.502 0.782 NS
Security organizational absorptive capacity 0.656 0.957 NS
IT sophistication organizational absorptive capacity 0.212 0.270 NS
User IT competence organizational absorptive capacity 0.395 1.022 NS
E-government systems standards efficacy organizational absorptive capacity 0.964 1.718a Moderated
NS = not significant.
a
Path significance: p < 0.05.
Top management leadership, which plays a key role in all three effect on e-government system assimilation, supporting the IT
organizational meta-structures, had a strong and significant effect Sophistication Hypothesis (H3a) and the User IT Competence
on e-government system assimilation, thereby supporting the Top Hypothesis (H3b), respectively.
Management Leadership Hypothesis (H1). User support and secu- E-government systems standards efficacy had a significant ef-
rity both had significant effects on e-government system assimila- fect on e-government systems assimilation, demonstrating support
tion, demonstrating support for the User Support from Providers for the E-Government Systems Standards Efficacy Hypothesis (H4).
Hypothesis (H2a) and the Security Hypothesis (H2b), respectively. Finally, e-government system value was influenced significantly by
IT sophistication and user IT competence both had a significant e-government system assimilation as expected, demonstrating
support for the E-Government System Assimilation Value Hypoth- Thus, by shaping the structures for signification, legitimization,
esis (H5). Collectively, the above results demonstrate that the orga- and domination, top management support has a significant effect
nizational meta-structures of signification, domination, and on e-government system assimilation. This influence mechanism
legitimization determine organizational e-government system shapes the business value of e-government systems by modifying
assimilation behaviors that affect the value creation potential of key perceptions salient to its business value, such as assimilation
e-government systems. behavior. Further, our results confirm that the influence route is
Moderating effects were tested to evaluate the extent to which moderated by organizational absorptive capacity, signifying that
organizational absorptive capacity moderates the main effects organizations with higher absorptive capacities tend to be more
(see Table 6). Following Chin et al. (2003), the interaction terms influenced by the leadership of top management. In other words,
were modeled in PLS as products of each item belonging to the as organizational absorptive capacity increases, the influence of
underlying scales and added to the main effects model in Fig. 4. top management leadership on assimilation behavior increases.
The main effects of the moderating constructs on e-government Rai et al. (2009) found that top management support, a causal fac-
systems assimilation were also included in this model to statisti- tor for the meta-structures of signification, domination, and legiti-
cally separate the hypothesized moderating effects from all statis- mization, is important for electronic procurement innovation
tically possible main effects. F-tests comparing the R2 values for assimilation and the consequent increase in procurement produc-
each dependent variable between the nested main and moderat- tivity (Rai et al. 2009). The results of this study extend our under-
ing effects models found the increase in explanatory power to standing of the assimilation of e-government systems in public
be statistically significant at p < 0.01 for e-government system organizations and highlight the moderating role played by organi-
assimilation. This confirmed our expectation that the hypothe- zational absorptive capacity.
sized moderating effects would provide a superior explanation The role of user support in shaping user cognitions and behav-
of e-government system assimilation over and above their corre- iors has received significant attention and become an important
sponding main effects. dimension of IS success (DeLone and McLean 2003). We extend
this finding by arguing that user support is crucial for the success
of e-government system assimilation. Our results showed a signif-
5. Discussion
icant positive relationship between user support and assimilation.
Further, this relationship was not moderated by organizational
To understand the factors that determine the effects of organi-
absorptive capacity. The possible cause of this finding may be that
zational e-government system assimilation on business value cre-
organizations with higher capacity are less dependent on user sup-
ation and the moderating role of organizational absorptive
port. This explanation is consistent with the fact that the main ef-
capacity on the relationship between organizational meta-struc-
fect is also weakly significant compared to other variables.
tures and e-government system assimilation, we empirically tested
However, additional empirical investigation is needed to investi-
a model that we developed based on structuration theory. Our re-
gate this relationship comprehensively.
search model extends current structuration theory by conceptual-
The significant positive relationship between security and
izing e-government system notions in public organizations.
e-government system assimilation reflects security concerns when
Empirical analyses demonstrated several key findings, which are
assimilating e-government systems. However, this relationship is
discussed below.
not moderated by organizational absorptive capacity. The possible
cause of this may be that organizations with higher capacity are
5.1. Factors influencing organizational e-government system less dependent on users’ security concerns. We acknowledge that
assimilation additional empirical investigations are needed to elucidate this
relationship.
Our results suggest that top management leadership, user We found evidence of a positive relationship between IT sophis-
support, security, IT sophistication, user IT competence, and tication and e-government system assimilation, signifying that
e-government systems standards efficacy influence organizational sophisticated IT resources are key for successful e-government
e-government system assimilation. Therefore, it can reasonably be system assimilation. The positive relationship between user IT
concluded that these factors are important antecedents of competence and e-government system assimilation indicates that
e-government system assimilation with regard to value creation. organizations with highly competent human resources have
Further, our results show significant interaction effects between employees with high levels of IT knowledge who can provide best
organizational absorptive capacity, top management leadership, information management practices. Therefore, IT sophistication
and e-government systems standards efficacy, indicating that and user IT competence together reflect organizational readiness
these should be included as moderating factors. and are key causal factors of the meta-structure of domination,
Our findings indicate that the beliefs of top management play a suggesting that IT infrastructure and end-user IT expert resources
crucial role in promoting e-government system assimilation. If top are critical to infuse business processes into the work routines of
management believes in e-government system innovations and public professionals. Further, our results confirm that the influence
communicates a clear vision about the organizational role of route between IT sophistication and e-government system assimi-
e-government, a strong signal is sent to employees to evaluate, lation is not moderated by organizational absorptive capacity. This
implement, and utilize these systems. Top management leadership may be due to the fact that the simplicity of user IT competence
also provides essential political resources to overcome resistance contributes little to higher absorptive capacity. Further empirical
that typically accompanies organizational innovation (Howell investigation is required to define this relationship.
and Higgins 1990). E-government system users and associates We found that e-government systems standards efficacy is an
can exhibit inertia due to their entrenchment in legacy practices important antecedent of e-government system assimilation. Stan-
and in political and social influence networks. In effect, clear dards embody rules on how e-government systems should be used
visioning and strategizing by top management not only legitimizes and establish institutional structures to regulate individual actions
the use of e-government systems, but also establishes their signif- and behaviors related to the business process. If e-government sys-
icance. Furthermore, to the extent that top management calibrates tem standards are comprehensive, provide flexibility, and enact a
the goals of an organization, actions and initiatives related to good level of enforcement to ensure compliance for day-to-day
e-government system assimilation are regulated. operations, they not only increase efficiency but also reduce
complexity and uncertainty without establishing rigidity. In effect, 6.1. Theoretical contributions
they structure actions and regulate the behaviors of individuals in-
volved in business processes to favor e-government system assim- Given the strategic potential of e-government systems for gov-
ilation. These results are consistent with the findings of previous ernment business innovation, we investigated the effect of organi-
studies, particularly those of Rai et al. (2006), Brown and Samba- zational assimilation of e-government systems on value creation.
murthy (1998) and Kayworth and Sambamurthy (2000). The sig- We identified a parsimonious set of factors for the meta-structures
nificant interaction effects of e-government system standards of signification, legitimization, and domination and examined their
and organizational absorptive capacity on e-government system impacts on e-government system assimilation. Our study makes
assimilation show that the established institutional structures of the following theoretical contributions.
signification regulation actions and behaviors related to the busi- First, this research extends and enriches the extant literature on
ness process and that these structures of signification are extre- IS assimilation through the inclusion of e-government systems,
mely important when organizational absorptive are high. In thereby providing important new insights into e-government sys-
other words, the influence of e-government systems standards effi- tem assimilation. We mapped the meta-structures of signification,
cacy on determining value creation by e-government system legitimization, and domination to a set of organizational, inter-
assimilation increases with stronger organizational absorptive organizational, and technical factors that we identified through
capacity. an extensive review of the organizational IS assimilation literature
in the e-government context. We found that each of the three
5.2. The effect of e-government system assimilation on business value meta-structures, and then identified six factors through which
creation they operate, play a significant role in e-government system
assimilation.
We found that e-government system assimilation had a signif- Second, we investigated the business value of assimilating
icant effect on business value creation. In previous studies, some e-government systems. Our results suggest that e-government sys-
scholars reported that e-business value depends on the extent to tem assimilation has a strong relationship with and accounts for a
which IS is used in the key activities of an organization’s value large proportion of business value creation. Therefore, this study
chain (Zhu and Kraemer 2005). In other words, the greater the contributes to the IS business value literature by providing empir-
use of IS, the more likely the firm is to develop unique capabilities ical evidence about the impact of organizational e-government
from its core IS infrastructure (Zhu et al. 2004). We extended this system assimilation on business value creation. While academics
literature to the e-government systems value context, arguing that have studied assimilation and value creation mostly in the e-busi-
the value of IS depends on the extent to which e-government sys- ness area (Zhu et al. 2003, 2006), we extended these notions to the
tems have been assimilated in an organization. e-government systems context.
In summary, our major conclusions are that the meta-structures Finally, we made a detailed exposition of structuration theory
of signification, legitimization, and domination operate through and illustrated its application to the problem of e-government sys-
organizational, inter-organizational, and technological factors to tem assimilation in the organizational context. Although a few
influence the assimilation of e-government systems. All three prior structuration-based studies have applied this theory, ours is
meta-structures operate through top management leadership to one of the few studies to apply this theory to e-government system
impact e-government system assimilation. The meta-structure of assimilation.
signification operates through user support and security to pro-
mote the general deployment of e-government system assimila- 6.2. Managerial implications
tion. The meta-structure of domination, operating through IT
sophistication and user IT competence, reflects organizational This research has significant implications for management,
readiness, which is important in e-government system assimila- especially in the context of IT implementation within public orga-
tion. The meta-structure of legitimization, operating through nizations. Governments often invest millions of dollars in new IT
e-government system standards, appears to be influential in facil- with the goal of generating long-term organizational benefits. Nev-
itating the deployment and adoption of IS. These results are consis- ertheless, such investments are wasted if top management cannot
tent with other studies that reported that the meta-structures of influence organizational users to accept the implemented systems
signification, legitimization, and domination play an important in their everyday work processes. The top management of govern-
role across all IT innovations and are important for assimilation ment organizations can benefit from knowing the structures and
(Rai et al. 2009). factors through which e-government system assimilation pro-
cesses operate and under what circumstances these processes are
6. Conclusion likely to succeed or fail. This research offers a useful framework
for public managers to assess the organizational, technological,
We developed and tested an organizational e-government sys- and inter-organizational factors that shape the meta-structures
tem assimilation model grounded upon structuration theory and that impact the assimilation of e-government systems. We recom-
the extant literature on organizational IS assimilation. We at- mend that public managers should formulate their organization’s
tempted to explicate what organizational, technical, and inter- e-government system assimilation strategy through process
organizational factors shape e-government system assimilation, changes, technology integration, and personnel training.
and in turn, define the impact of e-government system assimila- Second, top management leadership can support e-government
tion on business value creation. Our theoretical framework recon- system assimilation by signifying why the change is being under-
ciled the independent contributions of two streams in the taken and how it maps to the overall government business strategy
literature: structuration theory on IT assimilation and the effect and by exerting dominance to overcome inertial forces, thereby
of IS assimilation on value creation. This research extends and en- legitimizing the use of e-government systems in place of tradi-
riches the extant literature on IS assimilation through the inclusion tional approaches. Moreover, IT sophistication and user IT compe-
of e-government systems, thereby providing important new in- tence both provide essential resources that can be applied to direct
sights into e-government system assimilation. We identified three assimilation and overcome resistance and inertia. Finally, practic-
meta-structures and the six factors through which they operate ing public mangers can legitimize assimilation by enforcing a com-
that play a significant role in e-government system assimilation. plete set of flexible standards to improve organizational efficiency,
operational transparency, and public satisfaction, thereby enhanc- value creation in an organizational context. Future research should
ing the business value of e-government systems. extend the investigation to a greater diversity of organizations to
Third, our results indicate that both organizational absorptive determine the generalizability of our findings. In addition, future
capacity and the six organizational meta-structure factors are re- research should also examine how the business value contributed
lated to e-government system assimilation, hence top manage- by e-government systems is affected by economies of scale and
ment in organizations need to consider their joint impacts. This market characteristics. Again, the interaction between user IT com-
implies that organizational e-government system assimilation petence and e-government system assimilation is not moderated
and hence the potential value of IS investment could be affected by organizational absorptive capacity. We hypothesize that user
by both organizational meta-structures and absorptive capacity. psychological traits may impact performance in terms of quality
The absorptive capacities of an organization condition the effects customer service, and urge further investigation of the role of user
of organizational meta-structure factors on the use of e-govern- psychological traits on e-government system assimilation. The
ment systems. In particular, organizational capacity levers can be generalizability of our findings beyond e-government system
used to effectively manage the meta-structures of signification assimilation need to be empirically verified, although we predict
and legitimization. The significant moderating effect of organiza- that the results will be similar for other innovation contexts in
tional absorptive capacity points to the need to develop a mosaic terms of the benefits, threats and adjustments required for assim-
of IT-related knowledge in the IT managers and other technical ilation of new technologies.
staff, which can be achieved by providing training. Furthermore, Our theoretical perspective and managerial findings will stimu-
the significant moderating effect of organizational absorptive late researchers to investigate e-government systems in a wide
capacity points to the need to develop an organizational culture variety of settings using multiple streams of literature to build a
that views environmental scanning as an important activity and cumulative body of evidence that can advance knowledge about
creates incentives to support it. organizational assimilation and have significant practical implica-
Finally, our study also has implications for government policy- tions for how organizations should manage the assimilation of
makers. The meta-structures of signification, domination, and e-government systems to streamline their business processes.
legitimization operate through top management leadership reports
as a driving force in obtaining e-government system value. This
structuration of the dynamic nature of leadership allows deci- Appendix A. Questionnaire items used for the study constructs
sion-makers in government agencies to correct their current oper-
ations and develop strategies to address problems and focus on the All items solicited responses on a five-point Likert scale with
creation of leadership in the organization. Furthermore, the meta- 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, and
structure of legitimization that operates through e-government 5 = strongly agree, with the exception of items 1 and 2 of the
systems standards efficacy emerged as an important factor shaping e-government system assimilation, which solicited responses on
e-government system assimilation. Government organizations a percentage basis.
should follow IS standards embodying rules on how IS should be Top management leadership (Chatterjee et al. 2002, Liang et al.
used in organizational business processes. This indicates the need 2007, Rai et al. 2006)
to establish comprehensive, flexible standards, and enforce these
standards in an institutional context to support e-government 1. The top management of our organization actively articulates a
system assimilation and value creation. Governments could poten- vision for our organizational use of AgriX.
tially accelerate e-government system assimilation by establishing 2. The top management of our organization actively participates
required e-government system standards and laws. in formulating a strategy for organizational use of AgriX.
3. The top management of our organization actively participates
6.3. Limitations and future research in establishing goals and standards to monitor AgriX.
It is important to examine some of the limitations of our ap- User support (DeLone and McLean 2003, Parasuraman and Zei-
proach. In our study, self-reported data were collected, which thaml 1988)
raises the issue that the common method bias may have affected
our results (Podsakoff et al. 2003, Podsakoff and Organ 1986). 1. When our service provider promises to do something by a cer-
We enforced a procedural remedy and performed statistical analy- tain time, it does so.
ses to assess the severity of the common method bias. Our results 2. Service providers provide prompt services to users.
assured us that a common method bias was not a serious concern 3. Service providers provide individual attention to users.
in our study. We acknowledge, however, that we did not cross-
check the respondents’ data with managers. Also, given the con- Security (Rai and Tang 2006)
straints on time, cost, and other resources, we did not collect data
from customers. Future research should investigate survey re- 1. I feel comfortable with the security that AgriX provides to con-
sponses from both government employees and farmers to validate duct transactions.
our findings. 2. I feel comfortable that legal structures adequately protect me
There are some limitations to the sampling approach that we from problems regarding business operations.
used. Our study utilized a cross-sectional survey design. While this 3. In general, AgriX provides a safe environment in which to trans-
design is suitable to address the questions that we were interested act business.
in, a longitudinal research study on e-government system assimi-
lation can generate insights into how different structuration fac- IT sophistication (Armstrong and Sambamurthy 1999, Chwelos
tors change and interact over time, and the effect of these and Benbasat 2001)
changes on e-government system assimilation. Future studies that In my organization, AgriX is important for the fulfillment of the
adopt a different sampling strategy will be useful to validate our following objectives:
findings.
We focused on governmental organizations because our goal 1. Operational cost reductions
was to examine the role of e-government system assimilation on 2. Improved quality of decision-making
3. Improved service to customers Comparing before and after the implementation of AgriX, the
4. Productivity improvements following objectives were achieved:
5. Improved access to information
1. Openness to customers improved.
User IT competence (Boynton and Zmud 1994, Tippins and Sohi 2. User participation in decision-making improved.
2003) 3. User participation in policy-making improved.
1. I have the knowledge to develop and maintain computer-based Impact on public satisfaction (Tallon et al., 2000, Zhu and
communication links with our customers. Kraemer 2005, Zhu et al. 2004, 2006)
2. I am knowledgeable about new computer-based innovations. Comparing before and after the implementation of AgriX, the
3. When I use the Internet, I feel it is really easy to use. following objectives were achieved:
4. I am confident to use credit card transactions.
1. Customer visit costs decreased.
E-government systems standards efficacy (DeLone and McLean 2. Coordination with business organizations or customers
2003, Rai et al. 2006) improved.
1. The e-government business standards for AgriX in our organiza-

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Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 10 (2011) 576–594

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Electronic Commerce Research and Applications

Impacts of organizational assimilation of e-government systems on business

1. Introduction of the mission of e-government, it is important to assess the effec-

Organizational meta-structure Assimilation behavior Value creation

Organizational Organizational IS Business Value

Organizational Information Information

Fig. 1. Conceptual framework.

Organizational Structure of Structure of Structure of

Modalities of Interpretive Resources Norms

Realm of human Meaning Power Moral Sanction

Deﬁnition Mapping to constructs Explanation

Fig. 3. Research model.

4.1. Instrument development 4.3. Data collection

Table 2 adequate convergent and discriminant validity. Therefore, our

Fig. 4. PLS analysis of main effects.

Interaction terms Path coefﬁcient t-Statistic Support

1. The e-government business standards for AgriX in our organiza-

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