Digital Economy and Its Impact on the Public Sector in Jordan

Abstract

This paper examines the correlation between how the digital economy is perceived and how the performance of services in the public sector are perceived in Jordan. A cross-sectional survey of Jordanian citizens (n = 980) was conducted using a structured questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics, reliability and validity analyses, exploratory factor analysis, multivariate regression analysis, and one-way ANOVA were used to examine the association between the perceived growth of the digital economy and the perceived efficiency and effectiveness of public-sector services. The results reveal that the perceived level of development of the digital economy is statistically significantly and positively associated with the perceived performance of public-sector services, specifically in the areas of efficiency, service accessibility, and transparency (p < 0.05). The results also reflect a lack of awareness of certain limitations in digital literacy and infrastructure adequacies, which may hinder equal access to services. The findings are cross-sectional and perception-based, meaning they can be understood as associations between respondents’ perceptions and not as causal effects on objective institutional performance. The study provides empirical evidence from a developing-country context and applies the concept of perceived improvement in the digital economy and its link to perceived public-sector performance, with practical implications for the digital-governance and capacity-building agenda in Jordan.