Understanding the Impact of Political Structure, Governance and Public Policy on E-Government

Abstract

Effective e-government creates an environment for citizens to have greater access to their government and, in theory, makes citizen-to-government contact more inclusive. Our research examines two distinct but related measures of e-government effectiveness, namely the online service index and the e-participation index, both reported in the 2010 e-government survey conducted by United Nations. We analyze the impact of political structure, administrative culture and policy initiatives on both indices in approximately 160 countries. Our multiple regression analysis shows that when controlling for measures of economic and educational development, there is greater e-government capability in countries that have an administrative culture of sound governance and policies that promote the development and diffusion of information and communication technologies. These results hold in nations that are more democratic, even though political freedom (i.e., press freedom and civil liberties) appears to have a negative impact on e-government. These results suggest that the path to e-government leverages different strategies depending on a nation's political structure, and that countries in which there is less political freedom may be utilizing e-government to maintain the status quo.