...limitations bureaucratic model, the rule-bound character of public organizations persists both as an important means of ensuring accountability and responsiveness and as potentially pernicious constraint on efficient operation, coordination, communication, managerial initiative, and innovativeness. Indeed, a number of practitioners and academics suggest that one manifestation of excessive bureaucratization is red tape, which has a negative influence on the performance of both specific management systems (e.g., human resources and procurement) and the organization at large (Bozeman 2000; Gore 1993b; Osborne and Gaebler 1992; Pandey, Coursey, and Moynihan 2004). Following recent advances in public management research distinguishing red tape from formalization, we define red tape as burdensome administrative rules and procedures (Bozeman 2000; Pandey and Scott 2002; Rainey, Pandey, and Bozeman 1995). (1)

Advances in networked information and communication technologies (ICT), such as intranets and the applications that run on them, are often promoted as a solution, able to simultaneously improve effectiveness, cut red tape, and maintain accountability (Fountain 2001; Gore 1993a, 1993b). Recent public management research on the potential for information technology to cut bureaucratic red tape finds that this relationship is heavily context dependent; the existence, magnitude, and direction of the relationship between red tape and ICT usage are far from conclusive (Bozeman and Bretschneider 1986; Bretschneider 1990; Heintze and Bretschneider 2000; Moon and Bretschneider 2002; Pandey and Bretschneider 1997). None of this literature specifically addresses intranet (as opposed to Internet) technology, which is defined as an electronic network for communication, data exchange, and business operations that is accessible only to organization members.

This article examines the interactive effects between the rule-based constraints that often define public organizations and the implementation of intranet technologies in state human service agencies. Implementation is defined as "all of the events, actions, and decisions involved in putting the innovation to use" (Rogers 1995, 392). (2) In this article, we use two variables--the quality of information on the intranet and the level of organizational reliance on intranet--to represent different aspects of the postadoption, implementation process. We consider variation in the two variables to represent the extent to which an innovation has progressed through the implementation process. Our primary research questions are the following: (1) What factors, including bureaucratic red tape, determine the level of organization-wide intranet implementation in public agencies, in terms of both reliance and information quality? (2) Do intranet reliance and information quality simultaneously affect red tape? The article is organized into four sections: theory, data and methods, findings, and discussion. In general, we find that intranet reliance reduces two types of red tape: general red tape and procurement red tape. Additionally, we find that information quality and intranet reliance are endogenously related: greater information quality on the intranet leads to greater organizational reliance on the intranet, and vice versa. We find no evidence that red tape affects intranet implementation, either in terms of level of intranet reliance or quality of intranet information.

THEORY, MODEL, AND HYPOTHESES

General Theoretical Perspective

Sociotechnical theory rejects the contention that technology is the prime determinant of organizational outcomes (Fountain 2001; Garson 2000; Kling and Lamb 1999). Sociotechnical theory posits that the process of implementing a new technology in an organization is complex and determined substantially by the social context of the organization. To absorb and routinize a new technology requires a mutually dependent series of organizational and technological adaptations, a process that is often slow and tortured. Organizational research on the adaptation process has clearly shown that the technical and human systems are fundamentally intertwined and that technologically inspired solutions are not viable without organizationally sponsored incentives, structural and support initiatives, and power realignments that recognize the interdependencies inherent in sociotechnical systems.

Similarly, Tornatzky and Fleisher (1990) depict a general model of technological innovation in which technological, external contextual, and internal organizational factors create conjointly the frame within which decisions about adoption and implementation take place. According to this model, attributes of technologies make them more or less desirable (or useful) to organizations. For example, technology that is ubiquitous, such as intranet technology, may be more quickly adopted than technology that is more difficult to access, is more costly to purchase, or requires greater training before it can be deployed. Technologies that demand only moderate or incremental changes by the adopting organization may be more appropriate than radical technologies, which may require development of fundamentally different organizational structures or processes. External contextual factors such as political, sectoral, and policy demands affect technology decisions (Coursey and Killingsworth 2000). Other research finds that technology implementation depends on internal organizational factors such as structure, culture, managerial style, capacity, communication processes, and incentives, among others (Cecez-Kecmanovic et al. 1999; Horton et al. 2001).

This literature, therefore, depicts a framework for analysis that has two primary considerations. First, implementation of new technology occurs in a social context where social structures and processes determine patterns of implementation. Second, implementation of a new technology implies codependent changes in social and technical systems; integration of a new technology in an organization generally demands adaptation of both the technology and the organization. Given this framework, we now examine the extent to which implementation of network technologies affects and is affected by characteristics of the organization.

Organizational and Technological Effects on Intranet Implementation

According to Phelps and Mok (1999) "a 'classical intranet' uses all the elements of the internet, but is internally focused and has no public internet backbone." Others define intranet technology to be "... a network based on the transport control protocols/internet protocols (TCP/IP) belonging to an organization, which are located within its firewall and accessible only by the organization's members" (Horton et al. 2001). Much like an Internet, the major components of an intranet include web server, browser, telecommunication transmission standards, page displays in html, a search engine, and a secure firewall against external incursion. An intranet also permits e-mail and other communication functions and enables storage and retrieval of information from browsers. Thus, we define an intranet to be an electronic network for communication, data exchange, and business operations that is accessible only to the members of an organization.

As ubiquitous as the new network technologies may appear, implementation of intranets in public organizations is uneven. In one of the first reports on intranet research in the public sector, Mahler and Regan (2003) find significant variation in the intranet infrastructure and usage in organizations. Large multidepartmental agencies have multiple divisional or regional intranets in addition to an organization-wide intranet. Agencies also vary widely in terms of their use of an intranet. Some have portals delivering a single management function such as human resources; some provide a functional solution such as travel; some, called "thin" portals, deliver organizational information and provide linkages; and some, called "fat" portals, are more complex and multi functional (Mahler and Reagan 2003).

Moreover, while early research predicted that intranets would deliver multiple benefits to organizations (Hinrichs 1997), recent findings are more in line with expectations derived from sociotechnical theory. For example, in one study, intranet user satisfaction, which is one measure of system effectiveness, was reduced by such organizational risk factors as top management commitment, user experience with information technology (IT), and task complexity (Phelps and Mok 1999). Mantovani and others report that electronic networks have been effective bridges of physical distances but are incapable of overcoming social distances created by hierarchy and power (Cecez-Kecmanovic et al. 1999; Mantovani 1994). In other words, as sociotechnical theory predicts, intranet technology is malleable and its implementation depends on the match between characteristics of the technology and attributes of the organization.

Integrating the sociotechnical perspective with public administration literature on red tape, figure 1 provides a visual introduction to a working model for this article. In this model, red tape represents an indicator of organizational effectiveness: higher red tape implies lower effectiveness. Technology (intranet implementation) is subdivided into two constructs: quality of information on the intranet and the level of organizational reliance on the intranet to conduct its business. The complex interaction between red tape and technology is discussed in detail below. However, it is important to note here that the diagram presents two sets of bidirectional relationships: one between information quality and reliance and one between red tape and the two technology constructs. The empirical testing of these endogenous relationships lies at the heart of this article.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Each of the three main constructs is also determined by a number of exogenous constructs. For example, external stakeholder influences such as pressure from courts, agencies, politicians, businesses, nonprofits, and the public are expected to increase red tape (Kaufman 1977; Knott and Miller 1987; Pandey and DeHart-Davis 2004; Rosenfeld 1984). Also, organizational characteristics such as hierarchy, goal ambiguity, and formalization have previously been shown to positively affect red tape (Bozeman 2000; Pandey and Scott 2002; Rainey 2003; Rainey, Pandey, and Bozeman 1995).

Size, complexity, and influence from external actors are exogenous factors that are often found to contribute to innovative activity (Moon and Bretschneider 2002; Tornatzky and Fleisher 1990). The model identifies three other organizational constructs that affect technology implementation and innovativeness--centralization, formalization, and communication quality. These constructs, in addition to red tape, are of particular interest in this article. Hence, the rest of this section reviews the relevant literature and constructs hypotheses that causally link these core organizational and technology constructs.

Centralization

A perennial question in studies of IT and organization pertains to structure; the extent to which centralization influences implementation of network technologies. Intranets are platform independent and "allow fast and up-to-date information access and broad coverage" (Phelps and Mok 1999, 40) to more people than many other forms of ICT. An intranet can also be implemented either locally or centrally, giving it a highly distributed and potentially multifaceted character (Newell, Scarbrough, and Swan 2001). This may mean that intranet technology better fits organizations in which the decision capacity of individuals is more dispersed. As partial evidence for this view, research by Sproull and Kiesler (1991) has found e-mail and other forms of computer-mediated communication to be important democratizers in organizations because they enable people who would have been otherwise ignored to take part in policy and programmatic discussions. On the other hand, intranets may support centralized decision-making structures: research has also found that networked communication applications are often used in ways that reinforce rather than weaken existing structures, functional boundaries, and status differences (Newell, Scarbrough, and Swan 2001; Pandey and Bretschneider 1997; Rice 1990). Because the malleability of intranet technology means that existing structural characteristics and incentives for structural change will determine how the technology is implemented in the organization, it is difficult to formally predict the effect that centralization will have on implementation, either in terms of information quality or in terms of actual organizational reliance on the intranet. Therefore, our first hypothesis is exploratory. It states...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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