EVALUATING DIGITAL GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE USING SURVEYS: INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE REVIEW AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE RESEARCH

Abstract

The use of digital technologies in public administration has become a major trend in both developed and developing countries. Not surprisingly, the research interest to evaluating digital government performance has also increased. Since international indices and national statistics is more focused on evaluating the supply side of government digitalisation, more and more researchers are using survey methods to assess the progress determinants and barriers to digital government success from the demand side. So far, the review of such empirical studies has been quite limited. This paper aims to fill this gap and provides a comprehensive international literature review of using surveys for evaluating digital government performance published in 2011-2021. For the purpose of the study, an analytical framework including four levels of digital government performance (inputs and outputs characterising the government digitalisation process and outcomes and impacts representing public values) as well as cost and risk constructs were proposed and used. The analysis of 216 empirical papers examining digital government performance in over 50 countries from 5 continents demonstrates that survey-based methods are widely used in both developed and developing economies, with varying levels of digital maturity. Several cross-country studies have been identified but most of the papers address digitalisation of public authorities at the national or local level. The core focus of the research is related to the adoption of digital public services and the extent of digital participation among citizens (and, to a much lesser extent, by businesses), while outcomes and societal impacts receive less attention regardless the level of e-government development of the relevant country. Noteworthy, there is growing interest in the issue of digital government risks. It is argued that more efforts should be made to evaluate the outcomes and impacts (public value) of digital government. Prospective research areas also relate to using survey methods to evaluate the performance of digital government in regulatory and enforcement areas, exploring variation of trust in government and trust in technology, measuring perceptions of government digitalisation risks, researching the reasons for avoiding digital interactions with the government on the part of citizens and businesses, and several others.