Institutional perspective of digital open government implementation : a case study from Kuwaiti Ministry of Home Security

Digital open government uses avenues such as online means, websites, etc., to communicate with the citizens. For sharing data and delivering it in the digital open government service, we need digital facilities such as computers, mobile and fixed phones, amongst others, to facilitate access to government information systems with less stress. There is a wide gap experienced by the population and its citizens in terms of communication and services provided by the government of Kuwait. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to offer a conceptual framework after analysing the key practices, enablers, opportunities, and motivators of digital open government (DOG), especially in the context of the Arab countries. Therefore, the context has been explored through applying the institutional theory that would lead to understanding the institutional issues that have generated public and institutional values through DOG in Kuwait. As this research is interlinked with political, social, cultural, economic and technological context, the interpretivist epistemological position is being taken to interpret the overall institutional context of DOG in Kuwait. The qualitative research method has been employed to collect in-depth data using semi-structured data collection tools from professionals and citizens. It has been found that there is uncertainty in policies, lack of professional commitment, and extra-political pressure that negatively impact the overall institutional efforts to generate public and institutional values through DOG. Therefore, this research suggests that institutional collaboration, transparency, trust, public participation, and institutional participation are required to lead toward the public and institutional values of the DOG. The theoretical contribution of this research is that this research applies institutional theory in the context of DOG value generation; consequently, through using the institutional theoretical lenses, this research proposes an institutional DOG value model, which is a theoretical contribution of this research. The practical contribution of this research is that it provides in-depth knowledge for the government to generate public and institutional value from DOG successfully, and this research also identifies the enablers of DOG, among which are included participation, trust, collaboration, and transparency to generate value through DOG successfull