Resumen de Determinants of Government Bureaucrats' New PMIS Adoption: The Role of Organizational Power, IT Capability, Administrative Role, and Attitude

Jooho Lee

• This study examines factors that influence adoption of new public management information systems (PMIS) by bureaucrats in the Korean government. The author proposes a theory that public bureaucrats' adoption of new PMIS depends on their power within the hierarchical structure, their ability to use existing computer applications, their administrative role, and their attitude toward the effect of information and telecommunication technologies (IT) on managerial values and on the interaction between organizational power and IT capability. The author uses 1998 survey data on electronic approval systems (EAS) of central government agencies and local governments in Korea and finds that at the early stage, public bureaucrats with less power adopted new EAS. However, public bureaucrats with more power adopted new EAS when they had greater IT capability. Public bureaucrats' organizational power influences their adoption of EAS but depends on their IT capability. Also, in central agencies, program professionals adopt EAS earlier, and in local government, IT staff do.