Digital Transformation of the Public Sector in the Americas: An Empirical Analysis to Identify Leap-froggers and Trends since 2003

Several factors influence the success of the public sector's digital transformation. Case studies are often used in literature to study them. However, case studies usually focus on a single country or a small sample of countries, selected by convenience, geographical proximity, or even specified by the funding sources. Using data from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, this study conducts an empirical assessment and overview of the digital transformation of the public sector in the American continent over the last two decades. The aim is two-folded: first, to use an empirical approach to identify the best practice cases within the Americas; second, to identify trends, potential improvement areas and potential success. Our analysis finds that an empirical approach to identifying and classifying countries is possible. We find that South America and the Caribbean had a more favourable evolution than Central America and North America over the last two decades. Uruguay, Costa Rica, Peru, and Argentina are the cases with the most relative progress and success in the digital transformation of their public sectors and thus warrant further analysis. Income levels, governance approaches and strategies, and stability are key explanatory factors for a thriving public sector digital transformation.