Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Indeed, the UAE's per capita GDP has increased markedly over the same time
period so one would expect the EGDI to improve accordingly, yet when per capita
GDP is taken into account the EGDGDP value fell slightly from 0.0369 in 2008 to
0.0304 in 2012. In other words, although the UAE has a higher level of e-government
development than would otherwise be expected given the country's GDP, the extent
to which this is the case actually fell between 2008 and 2012. While there are other
countries whose performance relative to that which would otherwise be expected
increased over the same time-frame, it is the UAE that is noted in the UN report. This
is not denigrate the improvement that has been achieved in the UAE - it should not
be forgotten that the EGDI score is still positive - rather to note that there are other
countries whose performance is even better and would be more suitable examples of
'best practice'.
Similarly, the UN report considers the Seychelles to be a leader in Eastern
Africa, yet after per capita GDP is taken into account the Seychelles is an
underperformer with an EGDGDP
0.1469. On the other hand, another country
in Eastern Africa - Zimbabwe - has the world's highest EGDGDP but their
performance relative to GDP goes without mention in the report.
Academic sources also often cite countries' EGDI scores as evidence of those
countries' performance, or lack thereof, in electronic government. For example,
Bhuiyan (
2010
) notes the low overall ranking given to Bangladesh, yet when one
considers the trajectory of Bangladesh's e-government development relative to
GDP the situation is positive: EGDGDP rose from
ΒΌ
0.2136 in 2008 to
0.0076
in 2012, one of the highest increases in performance globally.
Similarly, Al-Wazir and Zheng (
2012
) imply that e-government performance in
Yemen is poor and that Yemen could learn from other countries such as Egypt. Yet
Yemen's performance relative to GDP increased by more than Egypt's from 2008
to 2012 - Yemen's EGDGDP increased by 0.1288, in contrast to Egypt's 0.0479.
The implication is that the strategies being employed in Yemen have led to a more
rapid increase its performance relative to GDP, and by extension it can be argued
that e- policies to improve e-government development in Yemen are more effective
than those in Egypt.
There are many other examples where the UN rankings are reported without
question are also present in academic literature (e.g. Assar et al.
2011
; Opesade
2011
). Given the examples discussed above, academic debate that does not take
GDP into account may be unreliable and misleading. Further, information from non-
academic sources in the public domain also use the raw EGDI data; for example, the
Wikipedia entry on e-government includes a list of the top 50 countries based on the
UN rankings.
Many national governments have also repeated the UN rankings where it suits
them, for example government websites fromMauritius,
1
Singapore,
2
Saudi Arabia
3
