Influence factors for e-participation

Introduction. The paper presents the results of research based on the outcomes of literature review, regulatory framework and expert survey of regional government officials in Volgograd region as a part of the project “E-participation of citizens: Analysis of existing possibilities and prospects of development in Volgograd region” supported by the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation in 2016. Aims. The aim of the research is to reveal, explore, and to analyze factors influencing the efficiency of e-participation in order to evaluate the level of e-democracy development in Russia and Volgograd region and to elaborate recommendations enhancing communication between regional governments and citizens. To achieve these objectives the author utilized the following research methods: 1) literature review devoted to e-participation; 2) regulatory framework analysis; 3) expert survey of regional government officials involved into e-participation projects. Results. The study reveals and explores the following factors: amount and quality of e-participation services; regulatory framework, regarding e-participation; level of government’s transparency; bottom up communication between governments and citizens; citizens’ involvement in governance; citizens’ trust in government; level of knowledge of government officials dealing with e-participation. Conclusion. The research shows that local governments don’t use many e-participation tools to interact with citizens. The results of the expert survey show that the reasons for the insufficient level of e-participation in Volgograd region are low activity of citizens, complexity of e-services and insufficient transparency of local governments.