Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management 
ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 5, No. 3, 2022 

 

222 

A	Bibliometric	Study	of	Digital	Government	in	Domestic	
and	Foreign	Area	
Feng Liu1, * 

1 Library, Wenzhou Polytechnic, Wenzhou, 325035, China 
* Corresponding author: Feng Liu (Email: 1216285342@qq.com) 

 

Abstract: The digital government is supported by emerging information technology, with an integrated online government 
service platform as the carrier, through the all-round and systematic reform of the government, to achieve a new government 
operation model of precise governance and efficient service, which is one of the main contents of the construction of digital 
China. This paper adopts bibliometric method and comparative analysis method to analyze the theoretical connotation and 
construction practice of digital government at home and abroad, in order to provide reference for the related construction. 

Keywords: Digital Government, Government Services, Digital Talents. 
 

1. Introduction 
The upgrading of digital technology has profoundly 

affected all aspects of social and economic life. Digital 
currency, digital economy, one-stop service, remote 
interaction, etc., have also brought significant changes to the 
field of public management. In particular, the outbreak of 
COVID-19 has accelerated the trend and process of 
digitalization of the global public administration. In 2019, the 
"Decision" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central 
Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed 
"promoting the construction of digital government" for the 
first time, and included the construction of digital government 
as an important component of upholding and improving the 
socialist administrative system with Chinese characteristics. 
The "14th Five-Year Plan" in 2021 also proposes to 
"accelerate the construction of a digital economy, a digital 
society, and a digital government, to drive the evolution of 
production methods, lifestyles and governance methods as a 
whole with digital transformation." 

Digital government, or government digitization, is 
supported by emerging information technology, with an 
integrated online government service platform as the carrier, 
through the all-round and systematic reform of the 
government, to achieve a new government operation model 
of precise governance and efficient service, which is one of 
the main contents of the construction of digital China. In the 
past 20 years, the formulations of digital government at home 
and abroad have been relatively scattered, mainly including 
e-government, e-governance, electronic government, 
electronic governance, digital government [1], digital 
governance [2], government digitalization/digitalization, and 
digitizing government. The European Commission points out 
that e-government is the predecessor of digital government 
[3], and digital government is an extension and reshaping of 
e-government, of which the difference lies in the underlying 
technology and development era. The United Nations also 
attaches great importance to the construction of government 
digitalization, and regards it as an effective solution to help 
decision-making and the sustainable development of public 
services. Since 2001, it has issued a global e-government 
survey report every two years. The 2020 report shows that 
online government services have changed from single to 

multiple, from offline to online, from management to service, 
and from single-department to cross-level and multi-
departmental collaboration. Among the 193 countries 
surveyed, more than 80% of the countries can provide no less 
than one online government service transaction. Online 
government services of China have grown linearly since 2010, 
and the online service index has climbed to 0.906, ranking 
ninth in the world [4]. In the new era, entry into an all-round 
well-off society of China, the digital transformation of the 
government has also ushered in new challenges and 
opportunities. How to build a digital government more 
scientifically, long-term, and efficiently to ensure smooth 
entry into governance modernization and the implementation 
of the network power strategy in China has become a new 
research topic of the era. 

2. Research Status of Digital 
Government in Foreign Area 

From a global perspective, the construction of digital 
governments in developed countries (represented by 
Denmark, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, 
Singapore, and Australia) started early, and the industry and 
academia have also explored deeply. The research mainly 
includes three aspects: digital government development 
planning strategies of various countries, practical experience 
of digital government construction, and analysis of key 
elements affecting the success or failure in digital government 
construction. 

2.1. Digital Government Development 
Planning Strategies of Various Countries 

Typical representatives include Denmark's "Digital 
Strategy 2016-2020", the UK's "Government Digital 
Strategy", and South Korea's "Digital Government Innovation 
Promotion Plan" (2019), etc. (shown in Table 1). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 



 

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Table 1. Digital Government Development Planning Strategies of 
Various Countries  

Country 
Strategy 
Planning 

Goals 

Denmark 
Digital 

Strategy 
2016-2020 

Use public sector data as an 
enabler for growth, so as to 
build a flexible, adaptable 
society and a safe digital 

Denmark 

Australia 

Government 
Digital 

Transformation 
Strategy2018-

2025 

Establish life-long and 
personalized government 

services for the entire 
Australian public, to meet the 

needs of the public and 
businesses; Build Australia into 
one of the world's three leading 

digital governments by year 
2025 

the 
United 

Kingdom 

Government 
Transformation 

Strategy 
(2017-2020) 

Accelerate the promotion of 
British government digital 
services; Emphasize the 

concept of "digital government 
as a platform"; Promote the 

construction of shared 
platforms cross-sectors of 

government, thus to improve 
the efficiency of government 
digital services, as well as the 

relationship between the public 
and the government 

Sweden 

Digital 
Strategy: 
Sweden's 

Sustainable 
Digital 

Transformation 
(2017) 

Make Sweden a leader in digital 
transformation through 

improvements in digital skills, 
digital arrangements, digital 

innovation, digital leadership, 
and digital infrastructure 

Singapore 
Smart Nation 

2025 Plan 
(2015-2025) 

Strengthen physical 
infrastructure and connectivity, 
improve people's livelihood and 

increase cooperation 
opportunities through digital 

leading 

New 
Zealand 

Digital 
Economy 
Work Plan 

Cover many key areas of digital 
transformation to ensure that 
key initiatives and innovation 
progress in the required areas 

are kept in the spotlight by 
communities 

France 

Promoting Act 
Plan for 

Building a 
Digital Nation 

Realize 100% paperless public 
services by 2020, and facilitate 

the digital transformation of 
public services 

America 

Digital 
Government: 

Building a 21st 
Century 

Platform to 
Better Serve 
the American 

People 

Reduce innovation costs with 
new technologies and enable 

citizens to access high-quality 
digital government information 
and services anytime, anywhere 

South 
Korea 

Digital 
Government 
Innovation 
Promotion 
Plan (2019) 

Adapt to the digital 
transformation trend dominated 
by cutting-edge information and 

communication technologies 
such as artificial intelligence 

and cloud computing, improve 
work efficiency, and improve 

the efficiency of existing digital 
government services 

2.2. Practical Experience of Digital 
Government Construction 

McNeal et al. [5] conducted a study on the differences in 
digital government construction and public acceptance 
among states in the United States. The results show that 
digital government is closely related to legislation and 
technical support, rather than being driven by user needs. 
Kannabiran's [6] research on the digital construction of the 
Indian government found that digital transformation can 
effectively improve administrative governance capabilities, 
but there are still problems such as insufficient support and 
technical bottlenecks. Based on the extensive case study of 
the Mexican federal government, Luna et al. [7] propose that 
information integration cross-organizational is necessary, and 
discuss in depth how to overcome obstacles to achieve a 
collaborative digital government with cross-agency 
information integration. 

2.3. Analysis of Key Elements Affecting the 
Success or Failure in Digital Government 
Construction 

Hong and Kim [8] found that the use of social media can 
accelerate the construction of digital government and the 
dissemination of online services. By comparing the policy 
guarantees, legislative process and strategic planning of 
digital government in South Korea and the United States, 
Chung and Kim [9] found that financial support, information 
and communication human resources, and communication 
control are the key elements to promote the smooth 
realization of digital government. Refaie and Ramadna [10] 
constructed a structural equation model to conduct in-depth 
research on the basis of a questionnaire survey of Jordanian 
employees and government service users. The results show 
that supervision, website quality, employee skills and value 
are the factors that affect the success or failure of digital 
government construction. 

3. Research Status of Digital 
Government in China 

Great efforts in promoting the construction of a digital 
government and achievements have been made in China. As 
of December 2021, the number of online government service 
users in China has reached 921 million, accounting for about 
90% of the total number of netizens. The data of the 《Survey 
and Evaluation Report on Online Government Service 
Capability of Provincial Governments and Key Cities (2021) 》 
shows that 32 provincial-level online government service 
platform systems have been completed basically; Provincial 
departments have greatly improved their ability to supply 
government services according to applications, the amount 
being up to 58,240 items; Strengthen unified standards, "one 
network for use" supporting more than 900 types of electronic 
licenses; Implement convenience for the people and 
enterprises, online acceptance and "up to one visit" matters up 
to 89.77%, "zero running" matters up to 49.75%, which 
simplify the process, improve efficiency, and continuously 
optimize government efficiency. 

Taking "digital government" and "government digitization" 
as search terms, with extended search in both Chinese and 
English being carried out on the CNKI platform on June 30, 
2022, and 1154 relevant documents were obtained through 
content screening. 



 

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3.1. Annual Distribution of Publications 
In terms of the annual distribution of publications, research 

on digital government started in 2001. Liang Musheng, 
School of Public Administration, Huazhong University of 
Science and Technology, was the first to pay attention to the 

abuse of rights and legal issues in the operation of digital 
government, and summed up the concept of digital 
government, the characteristics of technical regulation, and 
the scope and principles of legal regulation. After 2017, 
digital government research output has grown exponentially 
(Figure 1). 

 

 
Figure 1. Annual Distribution of Publications 

 

3.2. Subject Distribution of Publications 
In terms of subject distribution, Administration and State 

Administration ranks first among the list with a total of 1,045 
papers, accounting for 62.43%, followed by Information 
Economy and Mail Economy, accounting for 9.92%, followed 

by Chinese Politics and International Politics, accounting for 
8.06%. Other disciplines include Computer Software and 
Computer Technology, Macroeconomic Management and 
Sustainable Development, Journalism and Media, Corporate 
Economics, and Economic System Reform (Figure 2). 

 

 
Figure 2. Subject Distribution of Publications 

 

3.3. Research Topics Distribution of 
Publications 

In terms of research topics, digital government, digital 

transformation, digital governance, government services, and 
digital economy appear more frequently. The distribution of 
the top 20 topics is shown in Table 2. 

 
Table 2. Top 20 of Research Topics of Digital Government 

No. Research Topics Publications 
1 digital government 463 
2 digital transformation 102 
3 digital administrative governance 49 
4 government services 30 
5 e-government 29 
6 digital economy 21 
7 Digital government construction 19 
8 Digital governance 18 
9 Big data 18 

10 Government digital transformation 18 
11 Zhejiang 14 
12 blockchain 13 
13 data sharing 13 
14 data governance 13 
15 Governance Modernization 12 
16 Guangdong 11 
17 Governance 11 
18 business environment 11 
19 modernization of government governance 11 
20 Smart City 10 



 

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3.4. Funds Support Distribution 
In terms of fund support, the literature on digital 

government comes from 167 projects of the National Social 
Science Fund of China, 32 projects of the National Natural 
Science Foundation of China, 24 projects of Humanities and 
Social Science of the Ministry of Education, as well as 
various related researches of Philosophy Social Science and 
Soft Science in other provinces and cities. 

3.5. Research Content Distribution 
In terms of research content, through systematic sorting 

and induction, the research on digital government in China 
mainly focuses on three aspects: 

(1) Practical experience of foreign digital government 
construction. Yao [11] deeply analyzed the development 
process and the main practices among different states of 
digital government construction in the United States, to 
provide scientific basis and experience for the construction of 
digital government in China. Focusing on issues such as 
cross-departmental collaboration, data security and digital 
divide faced in the construction of digital government, Zhan 
[12] described the effectiveness and enlightenment of the 
digital transformation of the British government from the 
perspectives of value concepts, technical tools and 
institutional guarantees. Yang and Lin [13] started from the 
"green linkage" to link the application of AI technology in 
Japanese digital government construction, and put forward 
higher strategic thinking for China from the four aspects of 
strategic platform, strategic concept, strategic unit and 
strategic node. 

(2) Case analysis and experience summary of digital 
government in China. Starting from the practice of Zhejiang 
digital government reform, Liu [14] summed up the "six in 
one" structure, and pointed out that support of data sharing 
technology, collection technology, security technology and 
data standards should be consolidated to ensure the 
government's digital transformation to respond to the needs 
of economic changes. Chen et al. [15] took the combined 
construction practice of Shanghai "all-in-one service" as the 
research object, and found that "superior push, demand pull, 
innovation drive" is an effective means of digital government 
construction. Based on the comparative analysis of the digital 
construction models of the three provincial governments of 
Guangdong, Zhejiang and Guizhou, Jiang [16] explored the 
common characteristics and individual characteristics, and 
proposed that the construction of local digital governments 
should be adapted to local conditions and rooted in local 
genes. 

 (3) The dilemma and countermeasures of digital 
government construction in China. On the one hand, digital 
government construction in China is faced with many 
practical difficulties in the process of promotion, including 
imperfect institutional guarantees, ineffective multi-
participation mechanisms, insufficient professional talent 
reserves [17], and gaps in financial support. On the other hand, 
empirical research based on panel data conducted (Guo [18], 
Ruan [19]) showed that digital infrastructure and government 
capital investment have a significant positive role in 
promoting the construction of digital government. Therefore, 
in the digital government, it is necessary to strengthen top-
level design, strengthen technical support, take multiple 
measures to mobilize public participation, and effectively 

transform the "digital dividend" into the people's "sense of 
happiness" and "sense of gain". 

4. Discussion 
Digital government construction is a multi-input and 

complex project, which must be planned and constructed 
from a holistic perspective. Judging from the research status 
and strategic planning of digital government at home and 
abroad, the future research center of digital government will 
mainly focus on institutional mechanism, data security, data 
openness and sharing, and digital talents. 

(1) Institutional mechanism. Institutional mechanism is the 
organizational foundation and institutional guarantee for the 
construction of the digital government, which regulates the 
principles, guiding ideology, practical measures and 
precautions for the construction of the digital government. 
First, establish a strong overall planning and coordination 
mechanism to ensure the unity of policies and regulations, 
prevent the occurrence of multiple political affairs, and clarify 
the division of responsibilities of relevant departments. 
Second, timely clean up and revise the regulations and 
normative documents that do not meet the sharing 
requirements, actively play the role of the pilot, and 
accumulate experience for the next step in the "legislation, 
reform and repeal" of laws and regulations. Third, establish 
and improve the relevant laws and regulations and supporting 
standard system for the open use of public information 
resources, and promote the development and utilization of 
data to be legalized and standardized at an early date.  

(2) Data security is the foundation of the government 
digital transformation development. After all, the 
construction of digital government is based on data resources, 
and data as a type of resource, is bound to face the risk of data 
security. How to build a strong data security defense line is 
the top priority. First, improve the data security responsibility 
mechanism, clarify the data security responsibility boundary, 
and implement the main responsibility. Second, strengthen 
the technical capabilities of security protection, provide three-
dimensional security technical support for data security in an 
all-round and multi-angle manner, and improve the overall 
security protection capabilities of the digital government. 
Third, establish a safety protection management mechanism, 
improve the whole-process safety supervision linkage 
mechanism covering "before, during, and after", and improve 
emergency response capabilities. 

(3) Data openness and sharing is an important link in 
promoting the construction of a digital government. 
Accelerating the promotion of high-quality aggregation, 
efficient sharing and high-level opening of data resources can 
release data vitality. First, strengthen the aggregation of data 
resources, establish and improve the "one pool" format of 
government data resources, and effectively eliminate the 
"data island" dilemma. Second, optimize data sharing and 
exchange, and form a data sharing and exchange operation 
mode of overall coordination, block coordination, and upper 
and lower linkage. Third, promote the orderly opening of data, 
and form a high-quality and high-standard construction of 
scientific accurate classification of data open systems. 

(4) Digital talents are not only the planners of digital 
government service blueprints, but also the beneficiaries of 
inclusive services. Nowadays, the rapid development of the 
digital industry has created a large demand for digital talents. 
However, colleges and universities have not yet formed a 



 

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scale for the training of digital talents to meet the needs of 
digital government construction. First, encourage digital 
leading enterprises, universities and scientific research 
institutes to carry out in-depth cooperation, jointly build 
digital talent training bases, and accumulate backup forces for 
digital government construction. Second, regularly invite 
experts in the government's digital reform industry to carry 
out professional training, so as to broaden horizons and 
improve capabilities in an all-round way. Third, improve the 
policy support for the introduction of digital talents, so as to 
achieve the purpose of "building a nest and attracting 
phoenix" to increase vitality. 

Acknowledgment 
Foundation Project from Wenzhou Federation of 

Humanities and Social Sciences: “Research on the Digital 
Transformation of Wenzhou Government” (Project No.: 
20wsk159). 

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