The potential of eParticipation in enlarging individual capabilities: a conceptual framework

ABSTRACT The success of citizens’ electronic participation, or eParticipation, depends not only on mitigating digital divide challenges, but also on facing socio-organizational issues such as citizen data privacy, ICT literacy, as well as citizen awareness and motivation to participate. Despite the efforts of several researchers to present models and frameworks for empirical applications based on the Capability Approach (CA), we found a theoretical gap when searching for scientific work addressing the social aspects of ICT applications; more specifically, how to operationalize eParticipation for good governance through CA. Hence, aiming to investigate the potential of eParticipation initiatives to enlarge individual capabilities, we carried out an in-depth literature review. As a result, we propose a conceptual framework consisting of four propositions that can contribute toward how approach and discuss the role of eParticipation to create new synergies between technology and development, addressing the demands of people, promoting participatory governance, and fostering human development.