E-Government and Corruption: A Longitudinal Analysis of Countries

Abstract

Corruption remains a common governance concern for most countries, and the deployment of information technology in the public sector can potentially increase the transparency of government. This article reviews the past research on e-government and corruption at country level, develops a comprehensive model, and utilizes a most recent longitudinal dataset from 80 countries for five selected years (2003–2010). Our panel data analysis suggests that the development of e-government is correlated with lower levels of perceived corruption. In addition, the perceived level of corruption is also related to several other factors including government effectiveness, gender ratio, and government size.

Keywords:

• e-government
• corruption
• comparative study
• government transparency
• public policy
• public administration

Notes

¹ Published by the International Telecommunication Union in 2003, the Digital Access Index (DAI) measures the overall ability of individuals in a country to access and use new ICTs. The DAI is built around four fundamental vectors that impact a country’s ability to access ICTs: infrastructure, affordability, knowledge and quality, and actual usage of ICTs. http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/dai/.

² Developed by a research team headed by Darrell M. West of Brown University, this data consist of an assessment of over 2000 national government web sites for 2001–2008. http://www.insidepolitics.org/egovtdata.html.

³ United Nation Global E-government Survey 2003. http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan016066.pdf.

⁴ Governance Matters VI: Governance Indicators for 1996–2006. http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/wp-governance.html.

⁵ According to the World Bank, countries are categorized by income into four groups: low income, $1025 or less; lower middle income, $1026–$4035; upper middle income, $4036–$12,475; and high income, $12,476 or more. Economies are divided according to 2011 GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method (http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications).