Business Perceptions of e-Government Services in Hungary

Abstract

The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of electronic governance. Citizens and business actors, two main groups of electronic public administration service users, can effectively and without any personal contacts handle their official duties with public administration bodies. E-governance improves efficiency, transparency and generates economic growth. Perceptions of end-users about services influence their willingness of use, satisfactions and also determine the chosen channel (personal, online, phone) to administer. In general, the main focus of analyzing satisfaction with e-government services is on citizens and business actors are pushed into the background. This paper analyses the satisfaction of business actors with public administration services. Hungarian small and medium enterprises are responsible for the majority of employment in Hungary. Their competitiveness and improving innovation ability are key to break out of the middle-income trap. According to the international comparisons, Hungary is lagging behind in performance of e-governmental services. Based on the survey with 1270 entries, Hungarian businesses are mainly satisfied with public administration services. Further improvements in the quality of public administration services can be carried out based on the evaluation of businesses’ perception.