The adoption of web 2.0 by the state government: The role of political environment and governors

The emergence of Web 2.0 introduced a new potential in e-government which empowers citizens to share information and mobilize spontaneously online, and enables citizens to communicate directly with the government and its elected officials while significantly lowering some of the traditional barriers of egovernment adoption such as the lack of financial resources and technical expertise in government. This paper examined the pattern of Web 2.0 adoption on state web portals to identify key factors influencing its adoption. The results suggest that while the potential of the new technology is immense, its adoption is constrained by a number of political factors. In particular, the authors find that there is disinclination toward adopting Web 2.0 by incumbent governors while the technology was favored by governors who are newly elected into their office. Moreover, there was disinclination toward the new technology by governors with high approval rating while those with low approval rating sought to adopt them. Our findings point to a perception by governors about Web 2.0 as a powerful and effective instrument of communication but, at the same time, politically risky, creating disincentive to adopt the technology by governors with established political support. There is a "more to lose" mentality about Web 2.0 by political actors with high level of political support while "less to lose" by those with thin political support. This research sketches a picture of Web 2.0 adoption in government where political instability and newcomers facilitates the use of Web 2.0 increasing dialogue and communication with citizens while higher levels of political stability and support reduces the use of Web 2.0, diminishing the channel of communication created by the new technology.