Digital Transformation and Transparent Governance in Public Administration: Assessing the Role of E-Government in Strengthening Accountability and Economic Efficiency

Digital transformation within the public sector, being one of the most influential forces to transform the relationship between government and citizens, is essential in improving transparent governance and economic efficiency. This research was conducted to identify the impact of e-government on improving accountability and economic efficiency in the Jordanian public sector. The research design used a sequential mixed method exploratory design, where in the first stage, 25 semi-structured interviews were conducted among three stakeholder groups which include senior IT managers, middle managers from service units, and policy and oversight experts from March to May 2025. Qualitative findings have been identified as six themes. In the second phase, a quantitative survey was performed on 385 people working in the Jordanian public sector using structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between e-government maturity and transparency (? = 0.56) and accountability (? = 0.49). The mediation analysis found that the mediation role of transparency and accountability is responsible for 56.3% of the effect of e-government maturity on economic efficiency. In addition, the mediation route of transparency (? = 0.196) has almost doubled the effect of the accountability route (? = 0.108). Moreover, the model explains 42% of the variance in economic efficiency. The inter-organization comparison revealed that digital services organization scored significantly better on all four measures than service-oriented ministries and regulatory agencies.