How smart can government be? Exploring barriers to the adoption of smart government

Smart information and communication technologies (ICTs) are finding their ways into public administration, and numerous smart government efforts are marking the start of a new digitalization wave in the public sector. Despite being in the early stages of development, these initiatives promise a new model for the provision of public services: smart government. Because past technical innovations in the public sector did not reach their full potential, it is crucial to know the difficulties if one is to successfully address them. We explore the perceived barriers to the adoption of smart government in an early phase of implementation. We analyzed barriers, utilizing 32 interviews with actors involved in smart government initiatives. Cluster analysis helped us to identify six barrier groups: a lack of legitimacy, a lack of legal foundations, a lack of policy coherence, a lack of technical infrastructure, cost-benefit considerations, and a lack of innovation capacity. We distinguish between organizational and institutional barriers, and discuss restrictions and implications for praxis and future research.