Globalization and Worldwide Best Practices in E-Government

ABSTRACT

As the rate of global technological change becomes ever more visible, the development of e-governance is sometimes taken for granted as a path-dependent process. E-governance evolution models assume that the quality of online government information, services, and transactions, will trend ever upward. This article tests this claim through a global analysis of different patterns of growth and maturation. The article delves into six best practice cases for e-governance and analyzes world-wide growth trends. Best practices for city governments are described in five categories: privacy and security, usability, content, services, and citizen and social engagement. Three groups of e-governance developers are identified, and cities with the fastest growth rates are found to be among those in the middle of the development curve. The findings suggest a ‘climber’ phenomenon in global e-governance diffusion trends.

KEYWORDS:

• E-government
• cities
• websites
• performance
• best practices

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at DOI:10.17605/OSF.IO/TPA6U.