The role of e-government in mitigating corruption

Abstract

E-government cannot be a panacea for fighting corruption, but per a lot of studies, it should be considered as a tool for reducing corrupt behaviour of officials in the public sector. Easy access to information for all citizens using e-government can result in greater transparency, which limits the public official to accept or even demand a bribe. This paper analyses, role of e-Government in mitigating corruption in 117 countries, regardless of their geographic location, political regime, or economic development between years 2003 and 2014. It was found that the use of information technology and the development of e-government contribute to reducing the level of corruption in the country. Used correlation and regression analysis confirmed the possible reduction of corruption both for the most economically developed countries by 0,12% for one percent increase of the use of e-government, as well as by 0,14% of the least economically developed countries.