Hierarchical Clustering of the European Countries from the Perspective of E-government, E-participation, and Human Development

Abstract

The information society offers governments the opportunity to work closer with citizens and companies, to respond better to their requirements, and to create the conditions for the functioning of a modern, efficient, and democratic public administration. Due to the development of the information society, e-governance and e-participation appeared and developed, through which the communication of governments with stakeholders became more straightforward and less expensive. This research aims to identify and analyse comparatively how the telecommunications infrastructure and Internet users influenced the expansion and diversification of e- government and e-participation that contributed to the human development index in the EU states in 2010-2022. In the longitudinal data analysis, we apply fixed and random estimators to see the most critical determinants of the human development index. In the second part, we cluster the 27 EU countries in four clusters by Ward’s hierarchical algorithm. The hierarchical clustering emphasised that there is still a digital divide among EU countries. The digital divide occurs because of the lack of Internet access of the population from marginalised communities of European countries, resulting in socio-economic disparities. Therefore, some EU states should have initiatives to bridge the gap to digital technologies. The research results are essential for those governments coordinating the policies and the entire process of integrating information technologies and dedicated e-government and e-participation applications in central and local administration.