COMPARATIVE STUDY ON E-GOVERNMENT INDICATORS BETWEEN WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES AND THE EU COUNTRIES

Abstract

The focus of the study is to examine the level of development of e-government in Western Balkan (WB) countries and to compare it with the EU countries, in order to cover the geographical gap in past research. The analysis is based on the seven e-government survey reports conducted by the United Nations between 2003 and 2018. The data were extracted and distilled from survey reports on both regions, in order to perform a trend analysis and descriptive comparison. The study makes a comparison of E-Government Development Index (EGDI) and its components. Findings from the study suggest that both regions have positive trends of EGDI for the whole period (2003-2018) and that the difference between the regions is slightly reducing. The results from comparing the components of EGDI showed that the highest difference between the two regions is in the online service component (OSC), followed by the technology infrastructure component (TIC), while the lowest difference is in the human capital component (HCC). The results can serve policy makers in the EU and especially in WB countries to more easily identify the potential areas for investment and improvement (in this case in OSC and TIC).