Journal
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION QUARTERLY
Volume 31, Issue 3, Pages 411-420Publisher
ELSEVIER INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.giq.2014.04.002
Keywords
E-government; IT portfolio management; Decision-making; Local government; Case-study
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IT project portfolio management (IT PPM) has evolved into a significant area of research interest, but we know little about IT PPM practices in public sector organizations. Therefore this article investigates decision-making processes in the IT PPM practices of local governments, and discusses how these practices match the normative advice proposed by the IT PPM literature. We rely on decision-making theories together with case-studies of four Danish local governments. We find that politics, intuition and coincidence play a crucial role in IT PPM decision-making, while technical rationality (as proposed by the IT PPM literature) plays a minor role. Our account also reveals how the decision-making practices create IT portfolio problems and in some aspects is considered to have a negative impact on the outcome of e-government investments. Our analysis and previous research into decision-making allows us to argue that implementing textbook-IT PPM is difficult because it relies on decision-making ideals that are incompatible with organizational contexts and individual behavior in these organizations. Instead of radically changing decision-making styles, the organizations might be better off improving IT PPM practice within the boundaries of their existing decision-making styles, and the IT PPM literature might improve support for practitioners by incorporating other decision-making styles besides technical rationality. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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