Title: Innovation: a factor explaining e-government success in Estonia

Authors: Tarmo Kalvet

Addresses: Department of Public Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia tee 3, Tallinn 12618, Estonia

Abstract: Estonia is seen as a remarkable success story in the context of e-government. Several studies that have mapped the major factors affecting the evolution of e-government in Estonia are mainly grounded in information systems theory; even if public-private partnerships are examined, their treatment remains too general. The current article argues for the importance of public procurement for innovation. Several risks were avoided due to the high competencies of local suppliers, a lack of legacy infrastructure, and a supportive environment for "ethical hackers". The importance of the framework and the success factors is illustrated by a case study on e-voting.

Keywords: e-government; electronic government; Estonia; success factors; innovation; public procurement; risk management; NIS; national innovation systems; creative destruction; path dependency; hacker ethics; e-voting; electronic voting; online voting; ethical hackers.

DOI: 10.1504/EG.2012.046266

Electronic Government, an International Journal, 2012 Vol.9 No.2, pp.142 - 157

Published online: 22 Nov 2014 *

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