Spurring the Fight against Corrupt Practices through the Digitalization of Public Administration in Africa

Abstract

This paper provides new empirical evidence that show that the digitalization of public administration can be a great anti-corruption  measure in developing countries. Using a cross-section analysis based on  51 African countries from 2003 to 2020 and a System Generalized Method of  Moment’s estimation, we find that the digitalization of public  administration spurs the fight against corrupt practices in Africa. These  results are strong to a battery of robustness checks. Moreover, the results  of the mediation analysis show that the effect of the digitalization of public  administration on corruption is mediated by education and citizen  participation. From a pure policy perspective, we suggest that automation  of tasks, combined with investments in telecommunications to increase  internet use and technological penetration, as well as in education, and  institutional practice of democracy, could enable African states to spur the  fight against corruption through the digitalization of their public  administration.