The digital government imperative: a context-aware perspective

The paper applies a ‘context-aware’ research approach to explore Italy’s digital government trajectory, using the information and communication technology -enabled programme that introduced the One-Stop Business Shop to exemplify its analytical potential. The interpretive lens captures the political, institutional and external forces at play to illustrate how the outcomes of public-sector reforms are shaped not by legislative strong-arming and ubiquitous technological enablement but by the environmental dynamics. To demonstrate the central role of contextual factors in achieving the desired change, the study conducts a qualitative exploratory analysis that opens doors left mostly closed by the deterministic view of the mainstream literature on digital reform.