E-government Impact on Business and Entrepreneurship in High-, Upper-middle- and Lower-income Countries from 2008 to 2014: A Linear Mixed Model Approach

Abstract

Most electronic government (e-government) initiatives have the improvement of business atmosphere and the creation of new business as their objectives. This article aims to measure the impact of change of e-government index (and its composing sub-indexes) in the ease of doing business (EoDB) and the rate of creation of new business in the high-, middle- and low-income countries, seeking to test if there is a difference in the effects. The study used a panel data design (repeated measurements), with four points (years 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014), in three change periods (2008/2010, 2010/2012 and 2012/2014), collecting data from various databases: Doing Business Report by World Bank, United Nations (UN) E-government Survey, Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International and World Bank Entrepreneurship Survey. The data were combined and analyzed with linear mixed models procedures with fixed and random effects. Data suggest that different models should be applied to understand the relationship of e-government with outcome variables, according to the income level. Suggestions for future research are presented.