Empirical Study of the Municipalitites' Motivations for Adopting Online Presence

Abstract

Nowadays, many public organizations rely on e-Government policies to seek modernization and efficiency, although they might not follow a true strategic purpose. This is particularly common on the subject of web site development policies. The objective of this chapter is to reveal the motivations for creating a web page in local administrations, and thus determine the real nature of their websites. A personal survey was addressed to the CIOs (Chief Information Officers) of 65 city councils out of the 69 with website of the province of Alicante (Spain), regarding their perceptions about the purpose of their web pages. The results show that, although most councils confer a strategic orientation to their web pages, communication goals are more popular than internal efficiency concerns. Consequently, it is found a general lack of commitment with local e-Government strategies. Understanding the implications of this duality may help other public organizations develop their modernization strategies.