The Official Website as an Essential E-Governance Tool: A Comparative Analysis of the Romanian Cities’ Websites in 2019 and 2022

Nicu Gavriluță, Virgil Stoica and Gheorghe-Ilie Fârte
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Nicu Gavriluță: Department of Sociology and Social Work, “Al.I.Cuza” University of Iași, 700506 Iași, Romania
Virgil Stoica: Department of Political Sciences, International Relations and European Studies, “Al.I.Cuza” University of Iași, 700506 Iași, Romania
Gheorghe-Ilie Fârte: Department of Communication Sciences and Public Relations, “Al.I.Cuza” University of Iași, 700506 Iași, Romania

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-21

Abstract: This paper aims to measure the quality of all Romanian cities’ websites in 2019 and 2022, before and after the disruptive event of COVID-19. Since the official websites are the core instrument of e-governance, the changes in the quality of Romanian cities’ websites reflect the changes in the development of urban e-governance in Romania. The COVID-19 lockdowns and contact restrictions and the moving of most activities into the online environment had the potential to impact the performance of Romanian cities’ websites significantly and catalyze the progress of local e-governance. The quality of Romanian cities’ official websites was measured using an adapted survey instrument proposed by Holzer and Kim and Manoharan, Melitski, and Holzer. The tool covers five critical criteria of website quality or performance: personal data security, usability, content, services, and citizen participation. The research results may seem contrary to expectations: the improvements of websites have been incremental rather than transformational. Although our research provides only a case study, we may assert that the reform of traditional administration remains a step-by-step process. Our study’s main contribution consists in showing that the progress of e-governance is an incremental process even in a situation of emergency that requires the moving of most activities into the online environment.

Keywords: e-governance; good governance; official website; website evaluation grid; incremental vs. transformational changes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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