If you measure it they will score: An assessment of international eGovernment benchmarking

In this article we expound on the possible effects of eGovernment evaluation studies on countries’ eGovernment policy. Performance measurement and benchmarking are two well-known tools for policy evaluation and feedback. Performance information has a supply side as well as a demand side, which do not necessarily match. In the eGovernment sphere we notice a large supply of performance information. We ask ourselves to which degree this supply meets an actual demand from governments. We discuss the results of a thorough analysis of 18 international comparative eGovernment studies and warn for an unreflective feedback of these studies’ results in countries’ eGovernment policies.