ICT Development in the Public Sector and the Small Island States Context - Evidence from across the World

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as an enabler of public sector reform, efficiency and effectiveness gains is a key topic in Public Administration, IT governance and electronic government (e-Government) literature. While the study of small states is a specialised research field of, not much has been written on the application of ICT in the public sector of small island states. This article outlines the key challenges of small island states on public administration ICT development. Using longitudinal data, ranging from 2003 to 2018, for more than 170 countries, we empirically investigate the main determinants of e-Government development by taking into consideration the impact exerted by the small island state status. Small islands exhibit lower average Online Services Index scores than the remaining countries and the regression results indicate that being a small island state has, on average, a negative effect on e-Government development. When we observe the evolution of the Online Services Index within the same income category, for the period 2003–2018, we find that the difference between small islands states and the remaining countries becomes smaller as we move from the low-income to the high-income group. For the small island states, the degree of openness of the economy appears to be a relevant determinant of e-Government development, but the same does not happen for the remaining countries. When it comes to political rights and the level of corruption, the results suggest it works the other way around. Historical challenges, successes, and specificities of these countries are mentioned, and key lessons are outlined when discussing the results.