Unlocking Governance for Sustainability in the Digital Age: How <scp>e</scp> ‐Government Shapes Inclusive Human Development in Africa

ABSTRACT Despite enjoying economic growth since the early 2000s, Africa's human development has been non‐inclusive, with rising inequality and extreme poverty persisting in many countries. But recently, e‐government has been on the rise, challenging traditional governance structures. This paper fills an important gap in the literature by exploring whether e‐government promotes inclusive human development, measured via the inclusive human development index (IHDI) in 47 African countries between 2010 to 2022. The empirical evidence is based on fixed effects and two‐step system generalized method of moments while the theoretical discussion is based on Sen's capability approach and public value theory. Three key findings emerge from the analyses: (i) the development and adoption of e‐government significantly enhance inclusive human development; (ii) while disaggregated components of e‐government promote human development, telecommunications infrastructures exert a stronger effect, and (iii) results are heterogeneous across the IHDI distribution; while all the sampled countries would benefit from e‐government development, those located at the median and 75th percentiles of the IHDI distribution would experience a greater impact. Policy implications from these results call upon African governments to adopt digital reforms that expand e‐governance, reduce the digital divide, and ensure affordable, universal access to online services to foster shared prosperity and inclusive human development in Africa.