Public Sector e-Innovations

A working paper published in the SSRN by Liliana Proskuryakova, Gulnara Abdrakhmanova and Hans Pitlik analyses the relationship between some aspects of e-government and corruption in the public sector. The working paper continuously appears among the top ten downloaded papers in relevant thematic topics and e-journals of SSRN data base.

Liliana Proskuryakova, Gulnara Abdrakhmanova, Hans Pitlik. Public Sector e-Innovations. E-Government and Its Impact on Corruption. Working Papers by NRU Higher School of Economics. Series: Science, Technology and Innovation. WP BRP 04/STI/2013

Although it is universally acknowledged that corruption is an evil, there is much debate on importance of particular determinants of corruption. Many experts argue that e-government is efficient in curbing corruption. Being characterized by greater efficiency and transparency, e-services contribute to overcoming the hurdles of bureaucracy and making decision-makers more responsive to people’s needs.

The paper assesses indicators and individual elements of e-government in selected countries for 2009—2010, and the interrelation between e-government and corruption in the public sector. It aims to contribute to better understanding of the impact of specific public sector innovations (advancement of certain e-government aspects) upon greater, systemic changes (better control of corruption). The authors explore possible causal and dependency relations of the established interlink between e-government and public sector corruption.

Using econometric analysis for sizeable country samples the authors verified the closeness of interrelation between e-government indicators and ICT Development Index indicators, such as online services quality and ICT usage, on the one hand, and the level of perceived public sector corruption, on the other. The major research papers were analysed, along with international rankings and databases of international organisations. No stable relation is found between the quality of e-government services and the corruption level assessed with the Transparency International CPI measure. At the same time it was demonstrated in the paper that the often found positive relation between government adoption of e-services and corruption containment may work through the infrastructure channel.

Based on the analysis recommendations for overcoming international e-government measurement constraints are put forward, as well as suggestions for future studies of the topic. It would be beneficial to use, where possible, individual (not aggregate) indicators, possibly in cooperation with the international organisations, the primary data owners and data holders. It may be of use to look at time series, adding the new data as it becomes available, as well as explore other aspects of e-government as variables. The presumption that needs to be verified is that different e-government components have a different, and at times divergent, impact upon containment of corruption in the public sector.

Public Sector e-Innovations. E-Government and Its Impact on Corruption.pdf