Towards a heuristic frame for transferring e-government technology

• E-government technology transfer is a growing phenomenon.
• Prior e-government research has overlooked existing technology transfer literature.
• We propose a heuristic frame for e-government technology transfer.
• We set forth five research propositions based on our model.

This article addresses challenges in accomplishing technology transfer process involving the adaptation and implementation of e-government applications from a donor country to a recipient country. Here it is claimed that prior e-government research has overlooked existing technology transfer literature from the field of knowledge management. This work is aimed at addressing the underlying issues associated with the transfer of e-government technology, given different characteristics of donor and recipient organizations in terms of the socio-economic context and the dynamics of the technological infrastructure. Based on a review, interpretation, and synthesis of a broad range of both technology transfer, e-government and knowledge management literature, we extend the Information Technology Transfer Life-Cycle Model, as this well-known model was derived entirely based on empirical evidence. To this end, we propose a heuristic frame for e-government technology transfer. Finally, five propositions accrued from both the literature review and the proposed heuristic frame are set forth to be further tested, in order to better understand the process dynamics of e-government technology transfer between countries.