EXAMINING THE MOTIVATIONS FOR E-GOVERNMENT FROM AN INSTITUTIONAL THEORY PERSPECTIVE: EVIDENCE FROM TURKEY METE YILDIZ Ph.D. Candidate in Public Affairs Indiana University, Bloomington myildiz@indiana.edu (812) 336-6279 1. Introduction The objective of this study is to understand why e-government projects are initiated at the first place. I define an e-government project as an effort by a government agency by itself or by partnership with other government agencies, private firms and/or civil societal organizations to use information and communication technologies (hereafter ICTs; they are technologies that capture, transmit and display data and information electronically) to provide government information or services to citizens, businesses, other government agencies or civil societal organizations. The main task of this study is to examine and explain the “black-box” of e-government agenda setting. The processes by which decisions are being made regarding which projects to initiate; and the issue of which individuals and institutions are included, and which are excluded from this agenda setting process are critically important. I conducted 27 in-depth interviews with decision-makers on ICT issues. My interview data along with the data gathered from archival research and content analysis will provide an inductive, accumulative understanding of the various kinds of institutional factors playing roles in the practice of e-government in Turkey. The data gathering effort for this study is not only comprised of examining e-government projects. In addition, the environment of these e-government projects, including the private firms working in the ICT sector, print and visual media covering the developments in ICTs, civil societal organizations focusing on ICT-related issues, and ICT experts from universities and research facilities are investigated as well. Such an approach is critical for the success of this study, since the data gathered from within the e-government projects might most probably be biased as it might tend to underline the accomplishments and overlook the shortcomings of e-government. Data provided by the other sources in the institutional environment, on the contrary, are more likely to represent a more critical look at the e-government efforts. In other words, these two different sets of data could be used for triangulation purposes. Turkey is a developing country with limited resources. It would be interesting to examine how political and administrative top decision makers make policy. In other words are the initiation of e-government projects geared towards making governments work better (i.e. increasing productivity via automation, promoting participation, enhancing transparency, curbing corruption, etc.) or are they also partial outcomes of conforming to isomorphic tendencies such as being on the cutting edge, keeping up with other government agencies, conforming to European Union standards? It is highly possible that these two mechanisms work simultaneously. If the former mechanism (using e-government as a part of administrative reform) is more dominant, then a study like this one can inform us about how e-government efforts relate to government reform. If the latter factor (symbolic actions as a reaction to isomorphic pressures) is more dominant, then a study like this one might provide empirical data regarding the processes of isomorphic pressures/ changes, which are mostly taken for granted, but rarely elaborated upon. 2. Rationale The Internet was introduced to Turkey in 1993. Since then, the experiences of public organizations with Internet use have accumulated enough to create a fertile ground for research. For example, Ince (2001) lists more than 60 e-government projects being planned, ready to be implemented or already in use by ministerial (national) level Turkish government organizations as of 2001 in areas as varied as law enforcement, foreign affairs, census processing and local government information integration. Not only the supply of e-government information and services are on the rise; so is the demand for them. According to recent surveys by Taylor Nelson Sofres Consulting Firm (TNS, 2001; 2002), while only 3% of people