Coercive E-government Policy Imposing Harm: The Need for a Responsible E-government Ethics

Governments around the world are implementing e-government to achieve the widely anticipated positive outcomes - especially increased public sector efficiency. However, both public sector and citizen adoption of e-government lacks behind expectations and documented benefits from e-government investments are sparse. This may result in governments forcing citizens to e-government use, thus enforcing benefits realization. This paper reports from a case study of coercive e-government. The enactment of coercive digital communication between public sector and citizens in Denmark were explored through qualitative and quantitative empirical studies over three years. This case reveals that the coercive strategy imposed harm on individual, organizational and at societal levels. A responsible e-government ethics is derived from the empirical findings as a step to mitigate unintended harm from coercive e-government.