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DOI :10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002   IUP :10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002    Full Text (PDF)

Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?

Mete Yıldız, Doğan Nadi Leblebici

Studies about technologies used in the public administration system, more popularly known as e-government, has become an important topic of study in the discipline of public administration. One way of analyzing the e-government phenomenon is by examining it from a rational viewpoint. An alternative way of analysis is to employ the institutional theory of organizations, which helps explain internal conformity to the rules and trends of the institutional environment. Institutional theory necessitates the incorporation of the boundedly-rational, social, and political aspects of decisionmaking, such as concerns of legitimacy, stability, and survival. 

Keywords: E-Government, Organization theory, Institutional theory of organizations, Legitimacy, Isomorphism
DOI :10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002   IUP :10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002    Full Text (PDF)

Kurumsal Örgüt Kuramı E-Devlet Uygulamalarını Anlamak ve Açıklamak için Yararlı Olabilir mi?

Mete Yıldız, Doğan Nadi Leblebici

Kamu yönetimi sisteminde teknoloji kullanımı ile ilgili çalışmalar veya daha yaygın adıyla e-devlet, kamu yönetimi disiplininin önemli bir çalışma konusu haline gelmiştir. Bu makalede e-devlet alanındaki gelişmeleri incelemede ve anlamada kurumsal örgüt kuramı kullanımının getirdiği olanaklar, e-devlet alan yazınından örnekler yardımıyla ve bu yaklaşımın bazı kısıtlarına dikkat çekilerek ortaya konulmuştur. Varılan sonuç, e-devlet kavramı ve uygulaması hakkında yapılan analizlerde kurumsal örgüt kuramının, alan yazınında hâkim konumdaki yeni kamu işletmeciliği değerleri-odaklı bakış açısına ek olarak, toplumsal/örgütsel meşruiyet arayışları, simgesellik ve moda olma gibi farklı hususları da analize dâhil etmesi nedeniyle yararlı olabileceği yönündedir. 

Keywords: E-Devlet, Örgüt Kuramı, Kurumsal Örgüt Kuramı, Meşruiyet, Eşbiçimlilik

EXTENDED ABSTRACT


Before employing institutional theory when analyzing e-government, one must be cautious about its key concepts, measures, and methods, since some argue that the theory itself is not yet standardized. Nonetheless, the theory is a useful tool for analyzing e-government development because it explains the reasons behind organizations being similar. Widespread use of information and technologies makes organizations more similar by enforcing service provision standards, such as setting up formal organizational web sites and/or official social media pages. Therefore, homogenization in structure or behavior regarding Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in government can be understood by using the institutional theory. 

Organizational structure is an adaptive vehicle, continually changing and growing with the times. Institutionalization refers to organizational evolution, symbolism, and adaptation. Government organizations are a good example of the phenomenon of symbolic action. ICT use by government organizations has many symbolic meanings. Using ICT to electronically deliver government information and services to various parties (citizens, businesses, and other government agencies) symbolizes a variety of concepts like decentralization, democratic participation, informed citizenry, public information networks, and so on, which are also considered potential solutions to the crises of legitimacy of and trust in representative democracies. One may argue that the establishment of an online presence by public organizations somewhat relates to the symbols, such as being ahead of the game by using cutting-edge technology, that ICTs use within the government. 

Institutional theory suggests that formal organizations have symbolic as well as action-generating properties. Arguably, the social evolution of organizations and their survival rests on the observations of formalized structure. Therefore, it is possible that government organizations use ICT in their operations and management due to the pressures of symbolic meanings (social legitimacy), and pressures to conform to commonly adopted action-orienting properties (efficiency and productivity). This thought process sheds light on the rationale of some government ICT projects that are kept alive for legitimacy reasons, even if they are not financially feasible in the shortterm. In short, from an institutional theory perspective, government organizations go online for legitimization and resulting isomorphic pressures. There are three main types of isomorphic processes: coercive, mimetic, and normative. 

Coercive isomorphism suggests that government organizations use ICT either as the result of mandates and/or informal pressures of other similar government and private organizations already successfully using ICT. The political decision-makers and directors of government organizations may decide to use ICT in their agencies and/or programs for enhanced legitimacy, perceived efficiency gains, and citizen demand—and thus, perceived legitimacy. Federal mandates on government organizations to establish a web presence or have certain characteristics on their web sites is a representation of this process. 

Mimetic isomorphism suggests that government organizations model themselves after similar organizations they perceive as more legitimate and successful. Imitating organizations that are successfully using ICT enhances their legitimacy by demonstrating that they are at least trying to improve the conditions of their service and/or information provision. Mimetic isomorphism is observed in network settings when network members turn to other members for information and new ideas.

Normative isomorphism suggests that government organizations use ICT due to newly emerging professional norms of public service, such as online interactivity, virtual service, and transparency and accountability. For example, in an environment where online transaction capabilities via websites are a norm, all government agencies would try to have that kind of capability. 

Institutional pressures can be divided into objective and subjective. Subjective institutional pressures exist only when the manager perceives pressure on the organization. On the other hand, objective pressures occur when a higher-level government organization or an administrative/financial authority (e.g., the EU, the UN, and the World Bank) mandates or imposes a certain program or method on lower level organizations. This is the assumption of coercive isomorphism. 

Normative isomorphic pressures, such as emerging professional practices requiring compliance from the members of a professional group, are only absolute if public managers recognize them. Therefore, it is the public managers’ subjective judgments that decide whether those institutional pressures exist. This duality has implications for the research design of the following study, which is designed in such a way that can recognize, grasp, and examine both subjective and objective elements of institutional pressures.

Finally, a note of caution is warranted: the institutional theory perspective is a very useful analytical tool for examining organizations’ abilities to provide electronic government information and services, however, implicit within the theory is the assumption that organizations are the passive recipients of institutional pressure. Still, it is argued that organizations will show a range of responses to institutional pressures such as conformity, compromise, avoidance, resistance, and manipulation, all of which enriches our understanding of the process in question.

Using the aforementioned framework, this article discusses the possibility to use the institutional theory of organizations in analyzing and understanding the developments in e-government with the help of examples from the e-government literature and an emphasis on the limitations of such an approach. The article concludes that the institutional theory of organizations may be useful in analyzing e-government, as it includes the issues of societal/organizational legitimacy, symbolism, and trends, in addition to the current dominating analysis of e-government based on new public management value concepts.


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Yıldız, M., & Leblebici, D.N. (2018). Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, 27(1), 7-22. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002


AMA

Yıldız M, Leblebici D N. Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences. 2018;27(1):7-22. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002


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Yıldız, M.; Leblebici, D.N. Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, [Publisher Location], v. 27, n. 1, p. 7-22, 2018.


Chicago: Author-Date Style

Yıldız, Mete, and Doğan Nadi Leblebici. 2018. “Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?.” Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences 27, no. 1: 7-22. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002


Chicago: Humanities Style

Yıldız, Mete, and Doğan Nadi Leblebici. “Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?.” Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences 27, no. 1 (Apr. 2025): 7-22. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002


Harvard: Australian Style

Yıldız, M & Leblebici, DN 2018, 'Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?', Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 7-22, viewed 30 Apr. 2025, https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002


Harvard: Author-Date Style

Yıldız, M. and Leblebici, D.N. (2018) ‘Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?’, Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, 27(1), pp. 7-22. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002 (30 Apr. 2025).


MLA

Yıldız, Mete, and Doğan Nadi Leblebici. “Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?.” Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, vol. 27, no. 1, 2018, pp. 7-22. [Database Container], https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002


Vancouver

Yıldız M, Leblebici DN. Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences [Internet]. 30 Apr. 2025 [cited 30 Apr. 2025];27(1):7-22. Available from: https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002 doi: 10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002


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Yıldız, Mete - Leblebici, DoğanNadi. “Can The Institutional Theory Of Organizations Be Useful To Understand And Explain E-Government Applications?”. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences 27/1 (Apr. 2025): 7-22. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2018.27.1.0002



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Submitted15.01.2017
Accepted07.03.2018

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