ABSTRACT
Observers of digitized government suggest that governments around the world are using the Internet to increase the effectiveness and transparency of administrative functions while engaging citizens and transforming the nature of democracy. The current research examines digital government by analyzing data from worldwide municipal websites reviewed in 2003 and in 2007. The findings are bifurcated. The research suggests that digital government performance of cities worldwide is increasing over time. However, the findings also demonstrate volatility in performance levels of city digital government initiatives. In other words, early adopters of digital government often find it difficult to maintain their performance between the survey years, while some late adopters experience dramatic performance improvements. The results suggest that future research needs to consider the reasons for changes in relative performance and the variation of digital government.
