ICT and Innovation in the Provision of Public Services: The Case of Slovakia

Veronika Černáková

Information Technology for Development, 2015, vol. 21, issue 3, 365-380

Abstract: This paper discusses factors which determine the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) in public services. The provision of online public services is becoming increasingly utilized as a means to streamline and facilitate contact between citizens and public-sector bodies. The implementation of decentralization process also makes the accessibility of public services to citizens simpler. In this paper, the online services and factors which determine the level of such services are analyzed using the data set of 1216 services provided by municipalities in Slovakia. Special attention is paid to the examination of financial indicators which describe financial independence of local governments with respect to the assumption that local governments with higher level of expenditure covered by the revenue coming from proper taxes display more effective behavior in the field of public services. Thereafter, based on the results of econometric model and statistical methods key factors affecting the provision of online services are determined. The results of the model show that a higher level of ICT adoption in public services is achieved by larger municipalities which are district seats and which are financially autonomous. This is an important lesson for the policy as the process of fiscal decentralization appears to be a very important means of narrowing the gap between the developed and transition economies.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/02681102.2014.886546

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