E-Government and Bureaucracy: Toward a Better Understanding of Intranet Implementation and Its Effect on Red Tape

This article examines the interaction between bureaucratic redtape and intranet usage in state human service agencies. Wepropose a sociotechnical model for the relationship betweenintranet usage and bureaucratic red tape that takes into accountthe complexities of causal linkages including bidirectionalcausal relationships and a range of internal and external influences.This model is tested with data from the National AdministrativeStudies Project, Phase II. While we are not able to corroboratethe "demand pull" hypothesis advanced by Bretschneider and colleagues,we do find support for its corollary (the "technology push"hypothesis) indicating that intranet usage is associated withreduction in red tape. This finding on the salutary effect ofintranet usage holds for both a global measure of red tape anda more specific procurement red tape measure. We conclude witha discussion of the implications of our findings.