Electronic Government, An International Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2013 19 Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Barriers in local e-government partnership: evidence from Malaysia Iqbal Khadaroo* Essex Business School, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3FT, UK E-mail: ikhad@essex.ac.uk *Corresponding author Meng Seng Wong Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Malaysia E-mail: Wong.MengSeng@nottingham.edu.my Aminah Abdullah Essex Business School, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3FT, UK E-mail: ababdu@essex.ac.uk Abstract: This paper explores the implementation of an e-government partnership programme and discusses the barriers that have impeded its implementation in two local governments in Malaysia. Empirical evidence comes from 20 semi-structured interviews conducted with managers and users of e-government services. We found that the use of short-term partnership models, lack of funding, failure to deliver results by third-party vendors, poor leadership and digital divide problems have impeded the successful implementation of the e-government programme. We suggest that a collective stakeholder involvement of government, private sectors, including third-party vendors and citizens as ‘strategic’ partners is essential in the creation of an enabling e-government partnership. Keywords: e-government; barriers; outsourcing; partnership; public policy implementation. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Khadaroo, I., Seng, W.M. and Abdullah, A. (2013) ‘Barriers in local e-government partnership: evidence from Malaysia’, Electronic Government, An International Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.19–33. Biographical notes: Iqbal Khadaroo is a Reader in Management Accounting and PhD Director (Accounting) at the University of Essex. His research interests include accounting, accountability, governance and performance management in the public sector.