An Evaluation Scheme for Local e-Government and Local e-Democracy: The Case of Greek Municipalities

Abstract

The purpose of this study is the development of a citizen-centric framework for the evaluation of municipal websites that is validated in the context of Greek local governments. The proposed model consists of four categories, 14 factors/indices and 83 criteria. The framework incorporates the different aspects of e-government as well as e-democracy. To develop and validate the model two researches were conducted: one survey that captured citizens' opinions about the important e-government features and a website analysis to check the level of e-government sophistication of Greek local government websites. Results of citizens' survey served as input for the weighting of the model metrics. The analysis of the Greek municipal websites indicated that municipalities performed moderately in regards to the disclosure of one-way information while they scored low in the provision of online services for citizens and businesses and the opportunities they offer for citizens' interaction and participation.