Recently, the research team from the Center for West African Studies, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), has published a new research article in SAGE Open, an SSCI journal ranked JCR Q1. Focusing on e-governance and anti-corruption in Africa, this paper empirically tests the mediating effect of institutional quality using cross-country panel data. It offers new empirical evidence for digital governance reforms in Africa and South-South knowledge exchange.

Paper Title

Examining the Impact of E‑Governance on Corruption in Africa: The Mediating Effects of Institutional Quality

Journal Information

SAGE Open (SSCI, JCR Q1, Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary)

DOI：10.1177/21582440261504678

Journal homepage: journals.sagepub.com/home/sgo

Funding

Key Project of Sichuan Social Science Planning (SCJJ23ND61); Key Humanities and Social Sciences Cultivation Project supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (ZYGX2022FRJH004)

Authors

Lois Tweneboa‑Kodua, Zhao Shurong (Corresponding Author), Francis Atta Sarpong, Geoffrey Bentum‑Micah, Bright Okyere Ofosu, Gloria Tweneboa‑Kodua

(School of Public Affairs and Administration & Center for West African Studies, UESTC; School of Finance, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law)

Abstract

Corruption remains a major bottleneck for sustainable development across Africa, costing the continent an estimated USD 140 billion annually, equivalent to approximately 25 % of Africa’s GDP. E‑governance is widely promoted by international organisations as a critical instrument to boost governmental transparency and curb corruption. Nevertheless, existing literature pays insufficient attention to the mediating channel of institutional quality linking e‑governance and corruption. Grounded in principal‑agent theory and institutional theory, this study uses panel data covering 29 African countries from 2013 to 2022. Multiple econometric techniques including Panel‑Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE), two‑step system GMM and Lewbel heteroskedasticity‑based 2SLS instrumental‑variable estimation are adopted for empirical analysis.

The empirical outcomes demonstrate that: first, e‑governance exerts a significant direct reducing effect on corruption in African countries; second, better institutional quality substantially mitigates corruption; third, e‑governance improves national institutional quality; fourth, institutional quality plays a partial mediating role between e‑governance and corruption. E‑governance fights corruption both directly and indirectly by advancing institutional quality.

Heterogeneity tests reveal that e‑governance significantly curbs corruption regardless of ICT penetration and national‑income levels. Low‑income and less‑digitised countries obtain larger marginal anti‑corruption gains from digital reforms, while institutional quality amplifies the anti‑corruption returns of e‑governance more evidently in high‑income and technologically‑advanced contexts.

This research suggests that digital technology adoption alone cannot deliver anti‑corruption dividends. African policymakers should strengthen institutional frameworks alongside digital‑governance reforms, reinforce rule‑of‑law, accountability and regulatory systems, and formulate context‑tailored digital anti‑corruption strategies to advance Sustainable Development Goal 16

Edited by Xu Qianwen