A citizen-centric approach for digital government transformation: The case of Azerbaijan

The rapid development of digital government and digital transformations in public administration significantly affect government-citizen relations and underscore the provision of personalized services. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of digital government and to analyze digital transformations in public administration. We focused on conducting a literature review of the current state of digital government and proposing a conceptual model based on a citizen-centric approach. Digital transformations require the application of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, IoT and blockchain technologies that can change the current situation and assist governments become more responsive, agile, accountable, and effective. The methods include a comparative survey of related works, quantitative analysis, and multi-criteria decision-making. The article proposed a conceptual model of digital government based on a citizen-centric approach in the case of Azerbaijan. The model is based on a whole-of-government approach that reflects continuous communication between government agencies to provide citizen-centric services. The proposed approach is characterized by the provision of personalized services to citizens based on AI, reflecting citizen-centric services on an integrated government platform. This study presents a quantitative analysis in which the top 10 most frequently used e-services in Azerbaijan are ranked using a multi-criteria decision-making method to assess their usage levels. The findings highlight the importance of a citizen-centric approach in enhancing citizen satisfaction. The study is limited to the proposed conceptual model and the results of the study contribute to the development of accurate and reliable governance mechanisms, which will enhance trust in digital public services and transform relationships with citizens. Future studies will consider the application of AI-based approaches to provide personalized digital government services.