E-Government in Public Diplomacy: An Exploratory Analysis on Factors Affecting Interactive Interfaces in Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web Sites

In an attempt to empirically explore the ways in which governments take advantage of interactive interfaces on the Web for public diplomacy purposes, the authors conduct a content analysis on 83 nations’ ministry of foreign affairs Websites. Through a statistical analysis, they found that a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and level of telecommunication infrastructure are significant factors in accounting for variations in the level of interactivity offered in such E-Government Websites. In addition, the findings indicate a notable disparity between nations in the interactive adoption in several ways. The authors discuss implications and suggestions with respect to success factors for E-Government in public diplomacy