In this paper, we describe the diffusion of personalized services among municipalities in the Netherlands over the period 2006-2010 and investigate how and why various municipalities adopted personalized electronic services. Using qualitative data gathered in fifty interviews in ten selected Dutch municipalities, we synthesize the findings in an explanatory model of personalized electronic service delivery diffusion. The model shows how persuasive pressure (as perceived by adopters) is followed-up by organizational search activities, and how, in various circumstances, the idea of personalized services is ‘framed’ by innovation champions, knowledge brokers and new members of staff as to appeal to specific organizational priorities and ambitions. In doing so, this article contributes to an institutional view on adoption and diffusion of innovations, in which (1) horizontal and vertical channels of persuasion and (2) human agency, rather than technological opportunity and rational cost-benefit considerations, account for actual diffusion of innovations.