Global Comparative Municipal E-Governance: A Longitudinal Study

The paper examines the status of municipal e-governance on a global comparative basis, based on the results of a worldwide e-governance survey. The past decade has witnessed increasing adoption of information and communication... [ view full abstract ]

The paper examines the status of municipal e-governance on a global comparative basis, based on the results of a worldwide e-governance survey. The past decade has witnessed increasing adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) tools by all levels of government across the world. The use of ICTs and the resulting phenomenon of e-government has considerable potential to transform the nature of government and public administration in multiple aspects such as transparency, accountability, service delivery, public participation, and improving citizen trust of government. With governments becoming increasingly interconnected, it is also important to understand how various regions across the world utilize e-governance, necessitating a global comparative assessment.

Accordingly, this paper captures this worldwide phenomenon by examining the official websites of large municipalities across the world, and analyzes their e-governance trends on a longitudinal basis. The study utilizes a comprehensive e-governance index consisting of 104 measures classified into five keys areas of e-governance: privacy and security, usability, content, type of services offered, and citizen and social engagement. The survey replicates previous studies conducted since 2003, resulting in a longitudinal assessment of the municipal websites in key areas of e-governance, with the most recent survey conducted in 2013. Along with a longitudinal comparison of e-governance, the paper discusses the results of a cluster analysis of the cities evaluated, which categorizes them into four different clusters: 1) digitally mature cities, 2) digitally moderate cities, 3) digitally minimal cities, and 4) digitally marginal cities. Additionally, the factors associated with higher e-governance performance are identified based on a path analysis along with distinguishing the best cases in the above five categories.