RT Journal Article
T1 Revisiting social media institutionalization in government. An empirical analysis of barriers
A1 Criado, J. Ignacio
A1 Villodre, Julián
K1 Social media
K1 Institutionalization
K1 Inhibitors
K1 Barriers
K1 Local government
K1 Spain
AB Social media have become a common organizational resource of governments and public administrations in different contexts. Previous authors have stated that social media institutionalization encompasses a process including stages from experimentation to complete command of the innovation. However, an understanding of barriers to social media institutionalization in public administration needs to be developed. In this article we focus on exploring what factors operate as barriers of the social media institutionalization process. Methodologically, we use a mixed-methods strategy combining different sources of data for triangulation purposes, including a survey on social media conducted to Spanish largest local governments. Based on this data, and following the literature on social media institutionalization, we construct a Social Media Institutionalization Index (SMI). Our SMI is founded on a set of variables measuring to what extent social media have been embedded in public sector organizations. Also, we conducted a case study in a city council based on semi-structured interviews. Our results suggest that social media institutionalization has not been fully developed in our sample of local governments. In addition, different variables (including security, lack of resources for maintenance, control and evaluation, organizational culture, or absence of governance framework) are perceived by public managers as institutionalization barriers, whereas the governance scheme of social media seems to be the critical variable. At the same time, we emphasize that some inhibitors might be overvalued by public employees. This article encourages future avenues of comparative research and practical recommendations to public managers leading social media in the public sector.
PB Elsevier
YR 2022
FD 2022-04
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10433/26099
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10433/26099
LA en
NO Government Information Quarterly, 39(2), 101643
NO This study was supported by the Research Grant RTI2018-095344-A-I00 (SmartGov_Local), State Research Agency, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
NO Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Departamento de Derecho Público
DS RIO
RD Jun 11, 2026