Purpose – This study aims to map the dynamics of e-government rhetoric through a discourse analysis. The discussion and understanding is based on an identification and interpretation of emerging concepts in e-government reports and research journals. The goal is to unveil established concepts that influence e-government policy development in the public administration context. Design/methodology/approach – Institutional discourse and a policy cycle model are initially selected to guide an inter-textual meta-analysis and meta-synthesis of relevant e-government and public administration outlets. Key concepts are analysed based on their frequency in order of appearance and proximity to each-other. Themes emerging from concept-ideas feed-back to the theory by helping us to suggest a new e-government policy development framework informed by practice and research domains. Findings – The findings suggest that although a number of concept-ideas are being institutionalized in the field of e-government, there are pe...