Impacts of an articulation group for the development of the Digital Government in the Brazilian Subnational Government

Abstract

Digital Transformation (DT) has been imperative for governments that want to become more efficient and deliver better services to citizens. This reality is no different in Brazil, which faces substantial challenges to accelerate DT due to its broad territorial extension and the need for joint and aligned actions between the three government levels (National, State, and Municipal). The Digital Transformation Group of States and the Federal District (GTD.GOV) was created to help to accelerate DT in Brazil. In this quantitative case study, we verify how the impact of GTD.GOV's actions on the DT of the Subnational Governments of Brazil has been perceived, discussing the influence on ten specific aspects of DT. An average overall impact was perceived, but that has already made DT faster and more effective in participating governments in the respondents' view. The Group appears to have mainly influenced Digital Portals and Platforms for Public Services, Governance, and Strategies for DT in Subnational Governments. The perceived impact varied in percentage depending on the region in which the Subnational Government was part, the respondent's self-assessment of their engagement, and the time of participation in the Group. However, only in the last two situations, statistically significant differences were found.