Improving the assessment of digital services in government websites: Evidence from the Mexican State government portals ranking

Abstract

Different definitions, frameworks and dimensions have been proposed in the literature to identify the best pathways for the development of government websites. Using these frameworks, several measurements and rankings to assess digital government success have been developed. Although these models have helped to understand the influence of many critical factors on the successful application of ICT in government, it is necessary to understand the empirical validity of these frameworks and dimensions. Some authors have proposed factor analysis techniques as a useful tool for this task. Using data from a ranking of state government portals in Mexico during the period 2009-2015, we conducted a principal component analysis (PCA) to evaluate the dimensions of the evolutionary model proposed in the ranking. Results ratify most of the original dimensions of the evaluated instrument, but allow reducing the number of questions and obtain more robust estimations. Also, the new reduced instrument is validated using data collected in 2016 and 2017. Based on the analysis, we provide a set of practical recommendations for improving measurement methodologies and the assessment of digital government services in general.