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Introduction
Throughout the world, governments and public-sector authorities are increasingly using information and communication technology (ICT) to provide agencies that are accessible to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The term "e-government" has been introduced into practice and research to describe these developments. The European Union ([8] Commission of the European Communities, 2003) has defined "e-government" in the following terms:
The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in public administrations combined with organisational change and new skills in order to improve public services and democratic processes and strengthen support to public policies.
Some scholars have argued that the emergence of e-government represents a paradigm shift in the organisation of the public sector that will have a profound effect on public administration in terms of technology, cost-efficiency, risks, and benefits to the public ([27] Ho, 2002; [44] Reschenthaler and Thompson, 1996; [9] Criado and Ramilo, 2003).
The present study focuses on the propensity of e-government to encourage a so-called "service orientation" in public administration. For the purposes of the study, the term "service orientation" is defined as a set of organisational policies, practices, and procedures intended to foster the creation and delivery of service excellence. In undertaking a review of previous research into service orientation in the field of e-government, the study has identified five (somewhat overlapping) areas that are worthy of note:
Service design.
Service systems.
Service encounters.
Human-resource management.
Service leadership.
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. The following section presents a conceptual analysis of service orientation; this serves as a framework for the literature review that follows. This conceptual analysis is followed by a presentation of the methodology used in the present study. The paper then provides a review of the previous conceptual and empirical research into service orientation in the field of e-government. Finally, the wider implications of the findings are discussed by drawing on institutional theory, together with a presentation of the major conclusions and contributions of the study.
Conceptual analysis
Service orientation
The article reviews public management research on e-government by drawing on the research within service management on service orientation. Informed by the conceptual review of research into service orientation by [34] Lytle et al. (1998), we argue that the...