The Relationship between E-Government and National Competitiveness: The Moderating Influence of Environmental Factors

Abstract

Using secondary data from 113 countries and the literature on Resource Based View [RBV] and Information Technology [IT] impact as the guiding theoretical lenses, we examine the relationships of e-government development and e-participation with national business competitiveness. E-government development represents the level of functional sophistication of e-government Web sites in a nation whereas e-participation is the level of country's willingness to engage citizens in e-government processes. In addition, we analyze the moderating role of country environment on the relationships between e-government development and business competitiveness and also between e-participation and business competitiveness. Our results highlight strong association of e-government development as well as e-participation with national business competitiveness. Further, our results also show the moderating role of human capital, public institutions and macroeconomic conditions on the relationship between e-government development and business competitiveness of a nation. Human capital and public institutions positively moderate this relationship whereas macroeconomic environment marginally moderates the relationship in the negative direction. In contrast to this, the relationship between e-participation and business competitiveness is positively moderated only by national human capital. Further, we also analyze the combined relationship of e-government development and e-participation (egovernment maturity) with national business competitiveness and observe that e-government maturity is also significantly related to national business competitiveness. Through this research, we make some important contributions that have implications for research and practice.

Factors influencing e-government maturity in transition economies and developing countries

“…For example, the study's results confirmed the importance of national resources (wealth, human capital, technological infrastructure, innovative capacity) and national governance institutions (rule of law, transparency), which other researchers have shown to positively influence the development, diffusion, and maturity of E-gov initiatives in TEDC and elsewhere (Kamarck & Nye, 2002;Kovačić, 2005;Wong & Welch, 2004;Moon et al, 2005;Katchanovski & La Porte, 2005;Siau & Long, 2006;Singh et al, 2007;Srivastava & Teo, 2008;Azad et al, 2010). Additionally, this current research complemented and advanced the study of Srivastava and Teo (2008) and Singh et al (2007) by testing the granular interaction effects of relevant environmental, contingent factors on the E-gov maturity variable. As such, this present research alongside those by Kubicek and Westholm (2005), Singh et al (2007) and Srivastava and Teo (2008) could inform a basis for a "contingency model of Egov maturity", which future research efforts could draw from and expand in discussing comparable issues.…”

“…Additionally, this current research complemented and advanced the study of Srivastava and Teo (2008) and Singh et al (2007) by testing the granular interaction effects of relevant environmental, contingent factors on the E-gov maturity variable. As such, this present research alongside those by Kubicek and Westholm (2005), Singh et al (2007) and Srivastava and Teo (2008) could inform a basis for a "contingency model of Egov maturity", which future research efforts could draw from and expand in discussing comparable issues. A study of the literature indicated that some recent E-gov research lacked solid theoretical foundations (e.g.…”

“…National institutions (e.g. government efficiency, rule of law, and civil liberties) have political connotations and have been reported to influence the development and diffusion of E-gov especially in TEDC (Wong & Welch, 2004;Wilson, 2004;Katchanovski & La Porte, 2005;Srivastava & Teo, 2008;Azad et al, 2010). To that end, 9 measures of socio, political, economic, and technological dimensions, identified in previous studies as possible drivers of E-gov development are included in this study's research framework.…”

“…By including 64 countries from across TEDC, this current effort provides rich information that could increase our knowledge of E-gov issues in such contexts. Fourth, the majority of studies on E-gov in the literature tend to follow either conceptual or case studies (Grönlund, 2001;Srivastava & Teo, 2008), and a dearth of quantitative empirical studies on E-gov has been noted (Norris & Moon, 2005). This study made use of publicly available, rich, cross-country empirical data to enhance insight.…”

“…Admittedly, casestudies and conceptual frameworks are pertinent in establishing theoretical foundations and capturing the richness of context that could inform future empirical investigation (Srivastava & Teo, 2008); however, such approaches do not provide an assessment of the comparative achievement in E-gov efforts (Azad et al, 2010).…”