Improving the UN Methodology of the E-Government Development Index

Abstract

Governments are implementing e-government reforms in an attempt to reap the benefits of digital transformation - a higher quality of governance and interaction with society. Therefore it is important to be able to evaluate the digital transformation both in a separate country and in intercountry comparison. One of the key tools here is the United Nations e-Government Development Index (EGDI). Nevertheless, a number of researchers point out the shortcomings of the EGDI methodology. The purpose of the study is to analyze the methodology of the EGDI index according to modern approaches to digital government, as well as to put forward proposals for improving the methodology. The authors analyze the theoretical background of the digital transformation measuring; evaluate the list of indicators included in the EGDI index in comparison to scientific recommendations for such assessment. With the help of correlation-regression analysis, it was found that the main group of indicators that affect the country's place in the ranking is a set of human potential indicators. The establishment of its own weight coefficient for each of the EGDI sub-indices is substantiated, with a decrease in the weight of the human potential coefficient. In order to establish the correspondence of the results of the assessment, according to the EGDI methodology, to the level of development of e-government in a number of countries selected for the study, an expert assessment was carried out using a system of alternative indicators. Based on the results of the expert assessment, it was concluded that the composition of indicators in the ranking can affect the final place of the country, and that the list of indicators used in the EGDI methodology can be supplemented with indicators from other areas of assessment.