Technology married to good governance and diversity: Explaining e-participation preparedness in government

Abstract

Enabling citizen participation using governmental online platforms, namely, e-participation, has emerged as an innovative mode of open and collaborative governance. Previous studies have emphasized technological conditions to explain the varying availability of e-participation tools on government websites among countries. However, the United Nations' E-Participation Index has identified a mismatch between technological infrastructure development and e-participation preparedness in government. To address this gap, this study used an integrative framework that highlights social and institutional aspects in addition to technological conditions to build a rigorous predictive statistical model. We conducted principal component analysis on five datasets spanning a period of 16 years, covering 181 countries. The results, cross-validated through regression analysis, indicate that good governance dispositions, supported by well-established telecommunication infrastructure, and demographic diversity in terms of race, religion, and language largely predict government behavior in preparing for e-participation. This finding offers valuable insights into the dynamic interaction among government, technology, and society in open governance. This study also provides fresh perspectives for policymakers to consider.