Sociotechnical Insights into e-GP and IFMIS Implementation
Abstract
This study develops and examines a sociotechnical framework for digital government implementation, focusing on how technical, organisational, and institutional conditions shape implementation outcomes in the public sector. Despite global investment in digital transformation estimated at over US $600 billion in 2024, failure rates for public sector information systems remain high, particularly in developing contexts. Existing research often treats technical, managerial, and behavioural factors separately. This study adopts an integrated perspective by conceptualising implementation as the interaction of technical factors such as system quality and interoperability, organisational factors including leadership, training, and change management, and institutional factors such as policy frameworks and governance structures. Within this framework, organisational resistance is conceptualised as an important explanatory process, while institutional capacity is treated as a relevant contextual condition that may shape implementation outcomes. The study draws on a convergent mixed-methods, multi-case design based on data from 153 survey respondents and 25 key informants across four Kenyan government ministries implementing electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) and Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS). The analysis combines descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and qualitative thematic insights. The findings indicate that interoperability constraints (M = 3.2), uneven training (M = 3.3), and moderate institutional capacity (M = 3.5) are key implementation challenges.Correlation analysis shows that sociotechnical factors are positively associated with system performance (r = 0.56, p < 0.001) and negatively associated with organisational resistance (r = -0.41, p < 0.001). Organisational resistance is negatively associated with system performance (r = -0.48, p < 0.001), while system performance is positively associated with public value outcomes (r = 0.61, p < 0.001). These findings provide preliminary support for the proposed framework and highlight the importance of alignment across technical, organisational, and institutional domains. The study contributes to digital government research by offering a structured explanation of how implementation conditions are associated with performance and public value outcomes. It also provides practical guidance for policymakers, emphasising the need to strengthen interoperability, invest in user capacity, and treat resistance as a signal of underlying implementation misalignment.
Keywords
Citation Information
@article{jacobkmuimi2026,
title={Sociotechnical Insights into e-GP and IFMIS Implementation},
author={Jacob K.Muimi and Dr. Dismas Ombuya,Supervisor},
journal={Research Square},
year={2026},
doi={https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9464907/v1}
}
SinoXiv