E-Government and Corruption: A Longitudinal Analysis of Countries

Corruption remains a common governance concern for most countries, and the deployment of information technology in the public sector can potentially increase the transparency of government. This article reviews the past research on e-government and corruption at country level, develops a comprehensive model, and utilizes a most recent longitudinal dataset from 80 countries for five selected years (2003-2010). Our panel data analysis suggests that the development of e-government is correlated with lower levels of perceived corruption. In addition, the perceived level of corruption is also related to several other factors including government effectiveness, gender ratio, and government size.