The Impact of E-Government on Street-Level Bureaucracy: A Literature Review

E-government and street-level bureaucracy are two interrelated subfields in the sphere of public administration. E-government is defined as the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for public service delivery. Street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) are public officials who directly deal with clients on the ground. When the applications of ICTs rearrange the service provision process, traditional roles played by SLBs change either positively or negatively depending on the context and the culture. This study aims to understand the impact of e-government on the SLBs using a literature review. A time frame from 1980 to 2024 and keywords including” street level bureaucracy, frontline workers, e-government, digital government, online service delivery, automation “were set in the search using the University of Sydney online library and Google Scholar search engines.  After reading the abstracts, ten peer-reviewed academic publications were selected for the review. The results revealed three basic theses regarding e-government and SLBs: enablement theory, curtailment theory and continuation theory. According to enablement theory, e-government enables SLBs' work by increasing efficiency, providing more information for decision-making and reducing workload. The curtailment thesis emphasizes that e-government inhibits SLBs’ discretionary power by various means. Thirdly, the continuation theory states that by using adapting and coping mechanisms, SLBs continue to exercise their power amidst the active use of digital tools. Another significant finding is that there is a scarcity of studies connecting these two fields. Moreover, most of the available studies are qualitative and represent the Global North contexts. As scholars argue that e-government’s impact on SLBs depends on context, culture and personal traits, there is an urge for research in this field in the Global South context.