Introducing e-Gov: History, Definitions, and Issues

TLDR

The e‑Gov field, also known as Electronic Government or Digital Government, emerged in the late 1990s, grew rapidly, and has since generated numerous conferences and journals, necessitating a clear explanation of its contents and its relationship to other research disciplines. This paper aims to define e‑Gov, delineate its research scope, and explain its implications for the Information Systems field. The authors briefly sketch e‑Gov’s short history and current status, then discuss the field’s content as it appears in contemporary research. They conclude that e‑Gov is a valuable research area, serving both as a new application domain for IS theories and methods and as a source of fresh insights.

Abstract

The e-Gov field (also called Electronic Government, Digital Government, Electronic Governance, and similar names) emerged in the late 1990´s. Since then it spurred several scientific conferences and journals. Because the field grew considerably in size, both its contents and position with respect to other research fields and disciplines need to be explained and discussed. What is e-Gov? What is e-Gov research? What does it mean for the field of Information Systems? This paper briefly sketches the short e-Gov history and current status, and discusses the content of the field as it appears in current research. We conclude with a discussion of e-Gov as a research field of interest both as a new application area for IS theories and methods and as a source of new insight.