Does External Environment Affect E-Government? A Cross- Country Analysis - Information and Communication Technologies in Public Administration - page 72

democratic political culture, and civil liberties. Both how these five parts were mea-
sured and how the survey was conducted impact the validity of how it was applied
to this study.
Despite its limitations, this study is one of the few to address whether external
environments affect the development of e-government and examine the relationship
among these external factors. The study indicated that e-government, at a national
level, is impacted by the external environment. A positive environment, includ-
ing higher levels of economy, education, democracy, and Internet usage, results in
higher levels of e-government. The study showed that Internet usage, democracy,
education, and economy can directly impact e-government at a national level. In
addition, education can also impact e-government through its effects on Internet
usage and democracy. Finally, a country's economy serves as foundation for the
development of education, democracy, and Internet usage, which indirectly impact
e-participation.
Future research is needed to obtain more detailed information about how these
factors affect e-government. For example, although democracy impacts e-government
at the country level, it would be interesting to investigate how it affects e-government
by influencing the internal political environment of the government. In addition,
although this study confirmed the statement that external environment—Internet
usage, democracy, education, and economy—impacts e-government, one could
explore whether the impact of each variable would be the same with regard to
different established levels of e-government. For example, it could be discerned
whether the impacts of Internet usage on an established low level of e-government
would be the same for an established high level of e-government.
Author Biographies
Yueping Zheng is a senior research associate at the E-Governance Institute and
is a PhD candidate in the School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers
University, Newark. His research interests include e-government, performance
management, and citizen participation.
Aroon Manoharan is an assistant professor of public administration at Kent State
University. His research focuses on e-governance, performance measurement and
reporting, and strategic planning. He holds an MPA from Kansas State University
and a PhD from Rutgers University, Newark.
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Barro, R. (1999). Determinants of democracy. Journal of Political Economy, 107 (6), 158-183.