On Complex Adaptive Systems and Electronic Government: A Proposed Theoretical Approach for Electronic Government Studies

Electronic government (EG) is a multidisciplinary research field that has been developing rapidly since its initial conceptualization in the 1990s. It is currently experiencing high levels of growth in terms of scholars in the field, publications, research funding opportunities, and dedicated conferences. Though the field is growing in terms of research output, it does appear that the field is stagnated when it comes to theoretical development. This paper aims to address this stagnation by proposing a new approach for scholars within the field of EG to understand and study the complex issues that exist within the field. In this paper, it is argued that the field of electronic government is, in actuality, studying the co-evolutionary relationship between ICT and government within a changing environment. Thus, by adopting an approach based around complex adaptive systems (CAS) and complexity theory, new insight and potential research directions should become possible.