Internet adoption in the public sector: the case of Portuguese public institutions

摘要

This article is an attempt to raise awareness of the benefits of the use of web marketing techniques within the public sector. It is a conceptual paper that starts with the presentation of the basic notions of public and web marketing, followed by a description of how these two-concepts can be related. After that, a generalised picture of the electronic presence of Portuguese public institutions is exposed and a conceptual model is proposed. Finally, some conclusions and ideas for future research are presented. Despite the fact that public managers are now more aware of the advantages of web marketing, the key message is that there is still plenty of room for the development of the application of web marketing techniques within the Portuguese public sector. This study is also useful to public managers who are interested in formulating a strategy that fosters web marketing in the public sector.