E-Government and COVID-19: An Empirical Study in Greece

Abstract

E-government and the implementation of ICT technologies in the public sector has been in the center of interest for a few decades now, but it is a fact that the Covid-19 pandemic and the worldwide lockdowns have given a boost on their prosecution in our everyday lives. The aims of this study were to i) examine the implementation of digital transformation best practices utilized by the governments globally and ii) take a thorough look in the case of Greece, to determine whether and to what extent the Greek government adopted similar practices and initiatives, allowing the use of online digital services to citizens in a wide array of public sector areas during the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially, we sent a questionnaire to 202 people in Greece, via email and social media platforms. In response, 150 useable questionnaires were received with response rate of 74%. We gathered responses were gathered between May and June 2021, and data gathered were analyzed with PSPP statistical program. The results showed that the majority of the practices used by the government were well communicated, as most of the digital services were acknowledged by the participants even if they had not used them. In particular, the taxation portal and the central digital portal for governmental services were used in percentages of 76% and 66% respectively. In terms of use and satisfaction, responses were also quite encouraging, with 72% of the participants mentioning being very satisfied with the speed and quality of the new digital services, though leaving room for further research to conclude on improvement methods. After in-depth examination of the global and Greek progress of digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential to state that all governments have shown tremendous improvement in order to cover citizens’ needs, while using the majority of the available digital channels.