Conundrums in Benchmarking eGovernment Capabilities? Perspectives on Evaluating European Usage and Transparency

Abstract

Abstract: This study examines three popular instruments used to assess good governance in response to initiatives promoting digitally‑provided public services. It provides a comparative analysis of e‑capabilities and trustworthiness in EU member states from benchmarks established by the European Commission, Transparency International and the United Nations in order to answer three questions: How do EU members stand when eGovernment capabilities are measured by multiple instruments? Does citizen online use and government website usability reflect user perceptions about transparency? And finally, is an overall ranking of eGovernment development associated with different measures of usage, transparency and public corruption? Comparing average scores between East and West EU member states, and conducting bivariate correlations of these various features, demonstrate that the demands placed upon member states to meet goals of the EU 2020 Digital Initiative are met to varying degree. This paper thus offers a unique perspective of eGovernment trends in Europe by integrating public and expert opinions on citizen interaction with government officials and completion of forms online, user centricity of national government websites, perceived levels of transparency in eGovernment and political corruption, and overall status of eGovernment development.