E‐inclusion as a further stage of e‐government?

PurposeAn IT rationalist discourse predominates in the e‐government literature. Furthermore, and whenever an alternative and holistic discourse is developed, e‐government evaluation remains mechanistic. E‐inclusion is rightfully advocated as a socially inclusive strategy for e‐government planning and development but it is erroneously considered as a further stage of e‐government development, following the fourth and transactional stage. The paper aims to reconfigure e‐government and e‐inclusion as two parallel processes of government intervention to support a socially inclusive development strategy through a national IT strategy.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reviews the general discourse surrounding e‐government development and implementation, highlighting its mechanistic underpinnings and contrasting it with an inclusive approach to e‐government. The mechanistic discourse of e‐government is analyzed through key constructs that underlie the e‐government concept. Vision and objectives, e‐government evaluation, e‐government models and the enabling role of ICT will be analyzed in view of sorting out the predominance of a mechanistic theme in their elaboration. The synthesis part of this work introduces e‐inclusion based on a more organic and community‐centered approach to e‐government in light of the insufficiencies earlier identified.FindingsWhilst e‐inclusion provides a good platform to pinpoint insufficiencies of the predominant mechanistic approach to e‐government, it remains doubtful whether it could be achieved within the realm of e‐government programs alone.Practical implicationsModels, roadmaps and strategies for e‐inclusion should explicitly outline the premises for a socially inclusive e‐government and not consider e‐inclusion as a further and mechanical stage of the e‐government stage model. E‐government evaluation has to pinpoint the inclusion aspects of existing projects by going beyond mechanistic measurements.Originality/valueThis paper questions a major assumption in the e‐government literature, namely that e‐inclusion follows e‐government. By drawing from the political science literature, it identifies a niche for e‐inclusion which helps reconceptualize it as socially inclusive government rather than a further stage of e‐government.