Status, benefits, and challenges of e-government in municipal government: An empirical study of e-government in the city of Terrell, Texas

This dissertation is an exploratory case study on municipal e-government. The purpose of this study is to identify, describe, and analyze stakeholder participation and decision-making in electronic government at the municipal level of government. E-government leads to a greater level of participation in decision-making, due to an increase in information and the number of participants in the process. Governments at all levels cannot provide citizens and other stakeholders with what they want absent a means of communicating needs and expectations to and from government. For that reason, there is a need to know exactly what citizens and stakeholders want and expect from government electronically. It is also pertinent to find out the demands of the stakeholders.;This case study extends the research on the building of political and bureaucratic support for e-government at the municipal level by incorporating stakeholders at the local level of an e-government system. The study reviews the status, challenges, and benefits of a specific city's e-governance. Such an approach enables the study to examine whether the city is meeting the specific demands of stakeholders (citizens and businesses) and the challenges and opportunities at the city's disposal.;The study shows that in the context of municipal e-government, certain stakeholders among the long list of stakeholders have a direct impact on municipal e-government projects. The study also seeks to support greater understanding of the interdependence that results from the use of electronic- based information and telecommunication technology systems in municipal governments. To support that, the study argues that performance of e-government systems depends on the characteristics of institutions, groups, and individual stakeholder networks and how such stakeholders participate in the decision-making and service delivery processes.