Small Communities and the Limits of E-Government Engagement: A Northeast Ohio Case Study

Background

In spite of notable progress toward greater internet use by governments, existing research suggests that progress toward a “virtual state” is inconsistent – at least at the local level of government. Brown (2007) argues that the slow progress achieved to date among local governments is attributable to an understandably slow process of local government (website) maturation. Others are more pessimistic regarding the prospects for E-government. Bolgherini (2007) suggests that a high proportion of e-government initiatives fail and Coursey and Norris (2008) point out that few governments have moved beyond an informational presence on the worldwide web. Cassell and Hoornbeek (2010) present data that re-enforces this latter point, and suggest that populist engagements (Kakabadse et al., 2003) among citizens and their local governments are still the exception rather than the rule. They also argue that some of this lack of progress is political, as local governments determine the nature of their presence on the web in the context of the political environments within which they operate.