Evolutions in E‐governance: Evidence from Spanish Local Governments

Abstract

This paper analyzes the development of e‐government, both as an overall process and in each of the three stages identified in the prior literature (e‐government, e‐governance and e‐democracy) in order to determine the expansion of the use of e‐government with the purpose of encouraging citizens' engagement and ability to obtain public services and exchange information with their government online. The analysis has focused on 102 Spanish municipalities, which allow us a more homogeneous comparative analysis. First, we perform a content analysis of their web pages, based on an information index. Also, we undertake some descriptive analyses and graphical figures. The results obtained demonstrate that Spanish municipalities show high information transparency in economic, environmental and social matters, allowing the undertaking of administrative proceedings online and actively promoting the participation of interest groups in strategic, sustainable and managerial issues. However, the Spanish legislation needs to regulate the development of local government e‐administration in order to improve the current one‐way e‐participatory status towards a two‐way relationship of mutual feedback and finally to a partner relationship between government and society. Also, the diversity in e‐government development suggests that it is not theoretically adequate to consider it as an aggregate concept, requiring research to focus on particular applications in order to obtain useful insights. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

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