e-Participation for community empowerment: a systematic literature review

Purpose Electronic participation has emerged as a crucial mechanism for fostering community empowerment through digital platforms that enable citizen engagement in governance decisions. This study, which is a systematic literature review, examines how community empowerment is defined in e-participation initiatives and what factors influence its effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach This systematic literature review analyzed 30 peer-reviewed studies from 2000 to 2022, retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science using an iterative search with keywords like "e-participation" and "community empowerment," focusing on English-language studies across five policy domains: well-being and education, public policy and governance, urban planning, environmental sustainability, and human rights. Following Cooper and Hedges’ (2009) six-phase methodology, the process involved problem formulation, comprehensive search, rigorous study selection, quality assessment, data extraction, and thematic synthesis. Findings This research reveals that community empowerment is a multidimensional process encompassing information access, civic engagement, political efficacy and co-creation opportunities. This study identifies four enabling pillars that shape e-participation effectiveness: societal/cultural, economic/financial, political/legal and technological/infrastructural factors. In addition, five cross-cutting success factors influence empowerment outcomes: access to technology and information, addressing democratic deficits, bridging digital divides, ensuring quality engagement and securing strong political leadership. Research limitations/implications However, geographic analysis reveals research concentration in European (43.3%) and North American (23.3%) contexts, with underrepresentation of developing regions, limiting generalisability. Practical implications The findings provide comprehensive guidance for practitioners and policymakers, emphasising that successful e-participation requires holistic approaches addressing multiple dimensions simultaneously. Originality/value This synthesis is the first comprehensive theoretical framework, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, linking e-participation tools to community empowerment outcomes across diverse policy contexts.