THE INFLUENCE OF E-GOVERNMENT ON ADMINISTRATIVE DISCRETION: THE CASE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN EGYPT

One important but often understudied area of research in public administration is the effect of e-government on administrative discretion. This article examines e-government factors that influence administrative discretion through a survey of local governments. The focus of this study is on Egyptian local governments, which are using e-government to modernise public service delivery. Through a survey of administrative officials in these governments, this study found evidence that e-government factors of collaboration and organisational change influenced administrative discretion. Other common factors noted in the literature such as size of the local government and demand by citizens for e-government did not register an effect on administrative discretion. The results of this study imply that local governments should do more to enhance e-government to reduce administrative discretion, especially in the area of increasing collaboration. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.