Managing stakeholders in transformational government — A case study in a Danish local government

According to the e-government maturity literature public organizations will move through different stages of maturity implying that more mature e-government is better. For many public organizations the next stage to enter is the stage of transformational government (Dhillon et al., 2008). This paper contributes to this literature by reporting the findings from a case study in a Danish local government who has reached the stage of transformational government. Using a grounded theory approach, information about the local government was initially collected and further analyzed within a stakeholder perspective. The paper reports how they succeeded in involving the most important stakeholders in the process of reaching transformational government. Finally the paper offers six lessons learned, based on the case study, about how to manage the involved stakeholders to reach transformational government.

► We have done a case study of a local government having achieved transformational government.
► The case highlights the importance of managing stakeholders and integrating centralized and decentralized decision levels.
► Persuading top-management to be initiators and satisfying local politicians through efficiency gains was found important.
► Providing employees and middle managers with ownership and motivating citizens to utilize self-services are essential.