The Progress of E-Government across the Globe: The Role of Technology as a Pushing Factor

Abstract

E-Government (E-Govt) presents a tremendous impetus to progress forward by delivering the government’s services in an effective and convenient manner. However, the development of E-Govt is not without challenges. This slow progress is highly influenced by the existence of technological and non-technological issues. This study considers the technological sophistication as an important pushing factor for the advancement of E-Govt development in a country and studied their relationship over the period of 7 years (2010-2016). Countries’ E-Govt data was obtained from the United Nation’s E-Govt annual surveys while data for technological sophistication was obtained from Global Information Technology Reports published by World Economic Forum. Using panel data of 7 years, the analysis was performed for 148 countries by applying Random Effect Model. Findings suggest that Technological Sophistication acted as a major constituent for E-Govt development. Additionally, in general countries positions have improved regarding E-Govt during the selected time period.