Public administration digitalization and government effectiveness in the EU countries

Androniceanu, Armenia (author), Georgescu, Irina (author)

Purpose: This study continues the series of previous research carried out by the authors on digital transformation in the EU countries. It aims to identify and analyse the progress made by EU administrations in terms of digitization and effective governance in the period 2019–2021. Design/methodology/approach: Based on selected variables from Eurostat and the World Bank databases, the article provides insights into the dynamic changes that occurred in the EU in the period under consideration. The research employs Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and K-means clustering as the primary research methods to analyse the variations and correlations among 10 numerical variables selected from Euro-stat and World Bank databases. Findings and Practical Implications: The results obtained through PCA show the impact of digitalization on government effectiveness. A comprehensive analysis of government effectiveness has been conducted using PCA, which reveals that the first two principal components account for 77.05% of the initial variance. A K-means clustering with four clusters reveals that the most significant and noteworthy increase in digitalization and government effectiveness in the EU is achieved by the Nordic countries, which exhibit high levels of digitalization and government efficiency. Originality: In this ranking, clusters 2 and 3 comprise well-developed countries with a positive relation between governmental digitalization and efficiency, while cluster 4 consists of emerging countries where the correlation between digitization and governmental efficiency is low or very low, which is primarily attributed to the limited degree of digitization within government institutions.

• Language: English
• Keywords: public administration, digitalization, digital transformation, government effectiveness, principal component analysis
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 7-30, 105
• Numbering: Vol. 21, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-148681
• UDC: 35:004:061.1EU
• ISSN on article: 2591-2240
• DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2023.1.01
• COBISS.SI-ID: 157519363
• Publication date in RUL: 31.08.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Central European public administration review
• Shortened title: CEPAR
• Publisher: Fakulteta za upravo
• ISSN: 2591-2240
• COBISS.SI-ID: 293849600

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Digitalizacija javne uprave in učinkovitost vlade v državah EU

Abstract

Namen: Študija predstavlja nadaljevanje raziskav na temo digitalne preobrazbe, ki sta jih avtorici izvedli v državah EU. Njen namen je ugotoviti in analizirati napredek, ki so ga evropske javne uprave dosegle na področju digitalizacije in učinkovitega upravljanja v obdobju 2019–2021. Zasnova/Metodologija/Pristop: Članek na podlagi izbranih spremenljivk iz podatkovnih zbirk Eurostat in Svetovne banke omogoča vpogled v spremembe, zabeležene v EU v obravnavanem obdobju. Kot primarni raziskovalni metodi sta uporabljeni analiza glavnih komponent (Principal Component Analysis, PCA) in metoda združevanja v gruče (K-means), s pomočjo katerih članek analizira spremembe in povezave med desetimi numeričnimi spremenljivkami, izbranimi iz omenjenih podatkovnih baz. Ugotovitve in vpliv v praksi: Rezultati, pridobljeni z metodo PCA, kažejo, da digitalizacija vsekakor vpliva na učinkovitost vlade. Celovita analiza učinkovitosti vlade razkriva, da prvi dve glavni komponenti predstavljata 77,05 % začetne variance. Z metodo združevanja v gruče avtorici ugotavljata, da sta digitalizacija in učinkovitost vlade od vseh držav EU najbolj narasli v nordijskih državah, ki izkazujejo visoko stopnjo digitalizacije in vladne učinkovitosti. Izvirnost: Po takem načinu razvrščanja gruča 2 in gruča 3 zajemata dobro razvite države s pozitivnim razmerjem med digitalizacijo in učinkovitostjo vlade, medtem ko gruča 4 vključuje države v vzponu, kjer je razmerje med digitalizacijo in učinkovitostjo vlade nizko ali zelo nizko, kar gre pripisati predvsem omejeni stopnji digitalizacije znotraj vladnih institucij.

• Keywords: javna uprava, digitalizacija, digitalna preobrazba, učinkovitost vlade, analiza glavnih komponent

Projects

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Name: Digitization, digital transformation and artificial intelligence in public administration - 2023