Measuring the Availability of Mp’s Accountability and Interactivity on Arab Parliamentary Websites Using Content Analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to measure the availability of MPs’ accountability and interactivity on Arab PWs, and using the agency-theory as an analytical framework for the resulted findings. A content analysis was conducted at a single point in time during August 2019 to answer the two questions of this study.The final findings were as follows: Bahrain is the best and only Arab country that merely exceeded the (0.5) threshold regarding MPs’ accountability and interactivity on its PW. All Arab PWs still lag in deploying digital technologies for citizen engagement, as they do not provide the complete and necessary information to make their MPs accountable and the effective conduits to enhance their MPs’ interactivity with citizens. Thus, we can conclude that the aim of building these websites is basically concerned with ‎the web presence, in addition to the provision of some documents and bills. ‎Depending on the “agency-theory”, these findings reflect a situation of “hidden actions” which lead to the “moral hazard” problem.

Keywords: ICT; parliamentary website; accountability; interactivity; agency-theory; content analysis

JEL Classification: M15