E gov versus corruption - test of indexes

The Effect of eGovernment on Corruption: Measuring Robustness of Indexes

Åke Grönlund, Ann-Marie Flygare

See also research paperGrönlund, Å., Flygare, A-M. (2011) The Effect of eGovernment on Corruption: Measuring Robustness of Indexes. Electronic Government and the Information Systems Perspective. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2011, Volume 6866/2011, 235-248, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-22961-9_19. Available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/f645xk150k715725/

The Effects of eGovernment on Corruption: Measuring Robustness of Indexes

eGovernment and resulting benefits

“ E-Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies”

- World Bank (2011)

The resulting benefits

(World Bank, 2011)

Less corruption

Increased transparency

Greater convenience

Revenue growth, and/or

Cost reductions

- By bypassing human agents who may be susceptible to bribes- By facilitating monitoring and audit of activities - By forcing governments to formalize services in order to be able to automate them


eGovernment and resulting benefits

However, the theory behind ‘the resulting benefits’ has so far been

hard to investigate.

However, studies show positive correlation between the

implementation of eGovernment and reduction in corruption

However, these studies are inconclusive as well as incompatible

as they only pick some indexes and variables out of a large set


Research problems

Overall research problem : Does improvement in eGovernment lead to

reduction of corruption in a country?

RQ 1: Are corruption indexes consistent in measuring corruption?

RQ 2: Do eGov indexes consistently predict corruption over time?

RQ 3: Which eGov index or indexes is/are the best predictor/s of reduction in corruption?

RQ 4: What makes an eGov index better than another in predicting effects on corruption?


Indexes used

CCI – Corruption Control Index (World Bank) CPI – Corruption Perception Index (Transparency International)


Indexes used

CPI, covering almost 200 countries, uses data from 14 sources originated from 12 independent institutions. It measures perceptions of the extent of petty corruption, bribery.

Corruption Perception Index (CPI)


Indexes used

CCI, covering around 200 countries, captures perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as "capture" of the state by elites and private interests.

Control of Corruption Index (CCI)

CCI is a composite of 6 governance indicators created from several hundred variables derived from 32 different data providers.


eGovernment indexes

The UN eGov index (EGDI) is based on a comprehensive survey of the online presence of all Member States. EGDI is a weighted average of scope and quality of online services,telecommunication connectivity, and human capacity.

ITU ICT Development Index (IDI) captures the level of advancement of ICTs in 159 countries worldwide. It also measures the global digital divide and examines how it has developed in recent years.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) index covering 70 countries measures the quality of a country’s ICT infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefits. Over 100 separate criteria are scored on their relative presence in a country’s economic, political or social landscape.


eGovernment indexes

Brown University’s index reviews government Web sites of 198 countries . The sites include executive, legislative and judicial offices as well as such departments and ministries of the government

The Waseda index covers 30 to 50 countries and measures infrastructure, management, web site features, and 9 selected e-services.


RQ1: Are corruption indexes consistent?-2

-10

12

cci2

008

2 4 6 8 10CPI 2008

-2-1

01

23

cci2

003

2 4 6 8 10CPI 2003

Yes. A high linear dependence between the two corruption indices


RQ 2: Do eGovernment indexes consistently predict corruption?

No. A wide variety in correlation ranging from a poor 0.49 to a strong 0.95.


RQ 3: Which eGovernment index(es) best predict reduction in corruption?

The Economist index is very strong as it shows a fairly straight line, while the West/Brown indexes rather random scatter.


RQ 4: What makes an eGovernment index better than another in predicting effects on corruption?

The problem for the indexes not scoring well is not the data collection method, but the focus. Looking only at web sites is pointless.


Concluding remarks

What makes an eGovernment index better than another in predicting effects on corruption is the scope of the index

Inspection of the fight against corruption shows that it is a governance issue rather than a government one

Popular web site measurements do not seem to be able to measure government realities

Technology matters, but not by itself but by the way it is put to use

Thank you

Swedish Business School Örebro University


For further query, please email to : [email protected]

E gov versus corruption - test of indexes

Technology

measuring corruption

corruption indexes consistent

reduction of corruption

egov indexes

effects of egovernment

indexes isare

extent of petty corruption

grand forms of corruption