A Study on the Factors Affecting Decrease in the Government Corruption and Mediating Effects of the Development of ICT and E-Government—A Cross-Country Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: As the development of high technology, information and communications technology (ICT) and e-government has pursued improving efficiency, productivity, democracy, responsiveness and transparency in government, the demand for efficient government administration systems and government transparency has increased. Thus, this study aims to derive factors contributing to decreases in corruption based on a literature review, and to examine the relationship between e-government and government corruption through a cross-country analysis. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study first analyzed how government corruption in each country is influenced by e-government user status, governance, and regulations. With ICT and e-government development as mediating variables, the effects of various factors on government corruption were examined by country. That is, the mediating effects of ICT use and e-government development (telecommunication infrastructure, online service, e-participation) were assessed in order to define the relationship between users, governance, regulations and government corruption. This study ensured objectivity of data by utilizing statistics provided by credible organizations such as the Transparency International (TI), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and United Nations (UN) and differs from past research in that it focused on the mediating effects of e-government. In this study, a cross-country analysis (with data from 120 countries), a three-step analysis of the mediating effects (Baron and Kenny, 1986) and a Sobel test (empirical analysis) were used. Results: The results of the analysis show a significant relationship between e-government user levels, governance, government regulation, and government corruption. In addition, the level of current ICT development and e-government partially mediated the effects of user levels, governance and government regulation on decreases in government corruption. These results show that the development of ICT and e-government mediate and contribute to a decrease in government corruption, and that increased utilization of ICT and monitoring government actions using such technologies will be one major factor in decreasing government corruption. Implications: These findings suggest an efficient and effective direction for future anti-corruption strategies in government policy making and implementation processes.