Effect of Digital Government on Corruption and Its Mechanism

The fight against corruption, along with the application of digital technology to it, has attracted the attention of governments all over the world. However, the research on how government digitization can affect regional corruption has not been fully verified. Based on the analysis of relevant survey data from 140 countries, this paper explores the relationship between digital government and corruption, with a particular focus on the internal impact of digital government on corruption and its mechanism. The study finds that digital government has a significant inhibitoryeffect on corruption, and the higher the development level of digital government, the lower the proportion of public officials’ bribery. Further analysis shows that digital government inhibits corruption through the two internal logics of power accountability and public service. That is, officials’ behavior of seeking bribery is significantly affected through enhancing the consciousness of government service responsibility, making government affairs more transparent, and improving citizens’ perception of empowerment. In order to improve the potential of government digitalization in the construction of clean government, it is essential to take necessary measures in the future to promote the high-quality development of governments at all levels in terms of digitalization, intelligence and development depth.