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chapter 1 Introduction -- chapter 2 On technology, intelligence and the social -- chapter 3 The Information Society -- chapter 4 Bureaucracy and virtual organizations -- chapter 5 The political economy of information networks -- chapter 6 E-Government: A wired government takes shape -- chapter 7 ICT evaluation -- chapter 8 Conclusions and reflection.

This chapter identifies how electronic public service delivery has diffused in various public sector organizations in Europe. Three, in practice intertwined, sources of influence are identified: opportunity (the seemingly inevitable and autonomous impact of technologies), inscription of normative structures (the materialization of abstract ideas and rhetoric in specific types of information and communication technologies) and enthusiasms (the sometimes overstated beliefs, held by various stakeholders, that technology is the answer to all kinds of questions). The way these sources of influences work out in practice is demonstrated by discussing the diffusion of a specific type of electronic government, that is personalized electronic service delivery, in ten Dutch municipalities. The chapter is ended with reflections and directions for future research.

In this article, we investigate how and why various municipalities in the Netherlands adopt personalized electronic services. More specifically, we analyze the channels of communication and persuasion that are being used in the diffusion process. In order to do this, we analyze a time series of personalization prevalence in more than four hundred municipalities in the years 2006 through 2010 with a quantitative 'rate of diffusion'-model and conclude that diffusion of personalized e-government in the time frame 2006-2010 in the Netherlands can be explained both by municipalities mimicking each other (through horizontal channels of communication) as well as through initiatives from national authorities by means of benchmarking, legislation, and so forth (through vertical channels of persuasion). On the basis of these conclusions, new research directions in the field of e-government are indicated and discussed.

Purpose: In this study, the authors explain citizens' adoption of social media in citizen–government relations in China, a country that blends an authoritarian governance regime with limited tolerance of and responsiveness to online citizen participation. Design/methodology/approach: Original survey data were gathered using a vignette survey among 307 respondents living in the People's Republic of China. Multivariate analysis of the data was used to test four hypotheses and identify antecedents of Chinese citizens' social media adoption for "thin" participation purposes. Findings: Citizens' perceived impact of "thin" participation, citizens' skills and capabilities and citizens' trust in institutions are significantly associated with citizens' social media adoption. Social media anxiety was found not to be associated with Chinese citizens' social media adoption. Research limitations/implications: This study demonstrates how vignettes can be used to study adoption of technological and institutional innovations in an authoritarian governance regime and how in this context existing adoption theories can be extended with notions of institutional trust to adequately explain citizens' adoption of technological and institutional innovations in citizen–government relations. Social implications: Although some argue that social media activity could potentially mitigate democratic deficits caused by the state, in the case of China, the intertwinement of state and social media platform renders this argument unsustainable. Originality/value: This study is one of the few systematic survey studies focusing on Chinese citizens' adoption of social media in citizen–government relations.