The doctrine of the mean: Reference groups and public information systems development

This paper studies the influence of reference groups on developing public information systems. It hypothesizes that municipal governments dynamically adjust the development of their public information systems towards the average levels of their reference groups, a behavior embodying the classic “doctrine of the mean” in Confucianism. Specifically, both trait-based and institution-based reference groups can influence the e-Government development of municipal governments, and superordinate provincial governments enhance the influence of institution-based reference groups but dampen the influence of trait-based ones. Analyses based on the development of municipal government web portals in China between 2009 and 2013 provide support for these hypotheses.