The Evolution of Information and Communication Technology in Public Administration

Summary Over the last decades, governments all over the world have tried to take advantage of information and communication technology (ICT) to improve government operations and communication with citizens. Adoption of e‐government has increased in most countries, but at the same time, the rate of successful adoption and operation varies from country to country. This article outlines the evolution of ICT in the public sector over the past 25 years. It presents general trends by examining interactions and mutual shaping processes between ICT evolution and several inter‐related institutional changes including government operations, public services delivery, citizen participation, policy and decision making, and governance reform. The authors suggest that within a short time period, e‐governance has evolved rapidly from rudimentary uses of ICTs as simple tools to support highly structured administrative work to the integration of ICT throughout government operations. The growing use of Web 2.0, social media, and mobile and wireless ICT by citizens can also heavily impact the way public services are delivered and how citizen engagement processes are carried out. However, new management approaches, governance structures, and policy frameworks are still missing, posing a challenge for governments to operate effectively in the age of big data. Generally, developing countries are lagging behind in e‐government adoption compared with developed countries. Thus, for developing countries to successfully adopt ICT and try to leapfrog some of the obstacles encountered by early ICT adopters in developed countries, systematic analyses need to be conducted to understand the interactions among stakeholders and ICTs and co‐create the institutional environment to lead to a positive impact of ICT on public administration. Only when this relationship is clearly understood can innovative ICTs be seamlessly integrated into the governance structure. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.