Impact of AI Readiness and E-Participation Implementation of a Government on the Well-being of its Citizens

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Many governments have failed to achieve the expected benefits of most e-participation projects, even though numerous ICT implementations have been implemented. Many such participatory projects initiated, funded, and deployed by the governments of developing countries and some projects of developed countries have not been able to maintain the positive momentum among the public as planned due to the lack of innovation. E-participation projects can range from providing citizens with important information to engaging citizens in decision-making processes using ICT-based tools and platforms. It can include activities from social media posts to online surveys and e-voting. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based intelligent systems can be used to achieve productivity to reach the expected goals of e-participation projects. Drawing from Technology Mediation Theory, the publicvalue perspective, and the literature on the use of AI in e-participation projects, this study explores the mediating effect of AI readiness of a government on the relationship between e-participation implementations of a nation and the well-being of its citizens. The mediating effect is further explored using three dimensions of human development: education, healthcare, and standard of living. This empirical study was performed using archived data from 72 countries. The results indicate that AI readiness positively influences the relationship between e-participation implementation and its citizens’ well-being. Subsequently, the theoretical and practical contributions and the future direction of this study are detailed in this paper.