Analyzing Enterprise Architecture in National Governments: The Cases of Denmark and the Netherlands

National enterprise architectures (NEA) promise to fill the gap between policy and implementation. NEAs are embedded within an institutional environment consisting of active players capable of responding strategically and innovatively to architectural initiatives, which might complicate NEA adoption. In this paper we analyze the efforts of two European national governments in developing enterprise architecture. Grounded in institutional theory and practice we develop an analytical framework and use this framework to analyze the efforts of two countries, Denmark and the Netherlands. Our framework and analysis draws the attention to the need to take a broader perspective on enterprise architecture, especially governance aspects determine the adoption and diffusion of NEA