Digital transformation of municipal public services remains uneven in transition economies, while national e-government indices often obscure substantial disparities across cities. This study develops a composite E-Government Maturity and Performance Index (EGMPI) to evaluate eleven Armenian municipalities across four governance dimensions: digital service availability, administrative efficiency, transparency and accountability, and citizen interaction and participation. Using publicly available data for Q1 2024, the analysis reveals pronounced metropolitan concentration, with large cities significantly outperforming smaller municipalities. Although performance correlates with population size and fiscal capacity, institutional and managerial factors strongly mediate outcomes, as comparable municipalities display substantial differences in service maturity. Results further show that local governments tend to prioritize transparency measures over functional efficiency, indicating symbolic digitalization rather than substantive service transformation. Unlike national e-government indices, this study provides a city-level diagnostic framework enabling intra-country performance comparison and actionable municipal policy design. Based on the findings, a multi-level policy roadmap is proposed, including shared national platforms, regional digital hubs, targeted capacity building, and leapfrogging strategies for low-maturity cities. The proposed governance-oriented framework offers a replicable tool for transition economies and demonstrates that effective digital transformation depends primarily on institutional coordination and citizen-centric management rather than financial resources alone.
Mkhitaryan et al. (Wed,) studied this question.