Digital Dependence vs. National Performance

Countries differ in their capacity to develop and use digital technology – some build such capacity locally, others rely on foreign countries and corporations, and yet others do both. While sourcing arrangements may vary, the outcome is critical to countries’ performance – their ability to pursue national goals and priorities. The paper explores the relationship between the countries’ digital dependence and performance, relying on the calculation of the Spearman correlation coefficient between the Digital Dependence Index and the Online Service and E-Participation Indices, for 23 countries in 2020. The calculation established a small to moderate negative correlation between the variables, i.e. the better performance, the lower dependence, in line with theoretical assumptions, and identified cases that violate these assumptions.