Local Government Performance, Cost-Effectiveness, and Use of the Web: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

This article empirically assesses the relationship between government use of the web, service performance, and cost-effectiveness. It tests and challenges the assumption, prevalent in government thinking and in the Digital Era Governance (DEG) quasi-paradigm, that the delivery of web-based public services is associated with better outcomes. English local government is used as a test case, for which (uniquely) good-quality full-population time-series data for council performance, cost, and web quality are available. A new panel data set is constructed covering 2002–2008, allowing the actual relationship between web performance and council cost and quality to be estimated using dynamic regression models which control for both general changes over time and the time-invariant differences between councils. Consistent growth is shown in the scope and quality of local government web provision. Despite this, and governmental enthusiasm for bringing services online, no association is found between web development and performance, or cost-effectiveness. The article concludes that governments’ enthusiasm for citizen-facing digital government is not supported by this empirical data, and that a skeptical view is warranted of DEG's advocacy of digitalization as a core focus for service improvement.