Development of a thematic and structural elements grid for e-government strategies: Case study of Swiss cantons

Abstract

E-govemment means using electronic communications across all federal levels for citizens and businesses. The main purpose is to maintain citizens and enterprises relationships with local administrations, and also for local governments to maintain such relationships with one another. Switzerland has a solid base for well functioning e-government. The technological infrastructure is very good and the educational level is very high in international comparisons. In order to design e-government, strategies are needed that typically extend beyond the institutional unit. Surprisingly little has been written about which themes or elements need to be dealt with in e-government strategies. The following research is thus dedicated to precisely such issues. For this purpose, features of e-government strategies in the federal context are addressed, as well as the issues of coordination versus autonomy and cooperation. The following questions were important to the development of this article: what does an e-government strategy elements grid look like? Which thematic and structural elements need to be taken into account? The following article was developed using a qualitative research design coupled with elements from the design science approach. During the process an elements grid was compiled on the basis of literature research, and then later used to compare eight cantonal e-government strategies of Switzerland. The result was a grid designed to help practitioners create e-government strategies. This includes the description of the thematic and structural elements.