A B S T R A C T
The realization of the e-city not only introduces a novel paradigm at the urban level but also facilitates citizens' and administrators' access to the hallmarks of a developed, creative, clean, cultural, and knowledge-based urban society. This study aims to investigate the role of e-municipality in improving urban governance in Malayer, Iran. Employing an applied-developmental approach with a descriptive-analytical design, the research draws on a statistical population comprising citizens, municipal experts and managers, city council members, and information technology specialists in Malayer. Based on Cochran's formula, a sample size of 384 respondents was determined. Data were collected through a standardized questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, and analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS software via Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The reliability of the instrument was confirmed through Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The findings reveal that the implementation of e-municipality exerts a positive and statistically significant influence on all dimensions of urban governance. The strongest effect was observed on "managerial efficiency" (path coefficient = 0.71), followed by "transparency" (0.65), "citizen participation in decision-making" (0.63), and "citizen satisfaction" (0.58). Nevertheless, the barrier analysis indicates that the most critical challenges are predominantly human and institutional in nature, with "staff skill deficiencies," "shortage of specialized IT personnel," and "lack of interoperability among information systems" ranking as the foremost obstacles. The results underscore that achieving sound urban governance necessitates more than a sole focus on technical infrastructure. The prevailing gaps in financial transparency and genuine citizen participation call for a strategic shift from infrastructure development toward human capital empowerment, software integration, and the reinforcement of supervisory mechanisms.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The transition from traditional management paradigms to urban governance represents a critical juncture in shaping the quality of life within human settlements and ensuring the sustainability of urban development. This is because the effectiveness of urban management fundamentally determines the regulatory framework for urban programs and the capacity to address multifaceted urban challenges. In contemporary urbanization, the conventional managerial model has become obsolete, proving inadequate in responding to the multidimensional, interdisciplinary, and interconnected social, economic, and environmental sustainability challenges that define modern cities. Consequently, urban managers must capitalize on emerging opportunities that facilitate integrated analysis of urban problems and, in turn, yield comprehensive solutions. Today, cities worldwide are embracing a novel conceptual framework to tackle these challenges and enhance urban administration: the concept of "urban governance." In essence, urban governance coalesces around the triad of public-private partnerships, community engagement, and their dynamic interaction with information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Given the extensive scope of municipal responsibilities in many countries, the realization of e-government has often been initiated at the municipal level. Provided that e-readiness within organizations and nations is adequately developed, the effective deployment of e-city and e-municipality initiatives can be pursued. In Iran, within the coming years, citizens will inevitably need to function as e-citizens, and the government will be compelled to deliver a wide array of electronic services—including e-municipality, e-commerce, e-banking, e-entertainment, e-consultation, e-health, and even e-gaming, among others. The congestion and density characteristic of large metropolitan areas, coupled with the diurnal population fluctuations, pervasive light, noise, air, and spatial pollution, along with persistent traffic congestion and time constraints, have necessitated the search for remedial measures to alleviate the hardships inherent in urban life. The simultaneous advent of the communication and computer industries, followed by networked communications via the internet, has engendered a new urban sphere often referred to as the "virtual city." Urban managers are thus compelled to pursue the realization of e-municipality through well-designed plans and effective operational measures.
Malayer, as the second most populous city in Hamadan Province and a regional industrial and agricultural hub, confronts specific urban management challenges, including inter-departmental incoordination within the municipality, a lack of transparency in financial and budgetary processes, and low levels of citizen engagement in electronic participation. According to internal reports, the utilization rate of non-face-to-face municipal services in this city is estimated at below 20%, indicating a suboptimal status compared to peer cities of similar scale. Moreover, the absence of any systematic investigation into the impact of e-municipality on urban governance in Malayer renders this study an inescapable necessity. The findings of this research are expected to serve as a strategic roadmap for urban managers, facilitating optimal resource allocation and prioritization of executive actions. The establishment of e-municipality in Malayer holds the potential to enhance urban governance by fostering transparency, mitigating administrative corruption, and expediting service delivery to citizens. This approach not only enables residents of Malayer to access municipal services anytime and anywhere but also, by reinforcing public participation and leveraging ICTs, contributes to addressing local challenges such as traffic management, waste disposal, and neighborhood-based development. Hence, the implementation of e-municipality in Malayer can be regarded as a strategic pathway toward achieving sustainable development and improving the overall quality of life in the city.



Methodology
The present study is applied-developmental in terms of its objective and employs a descriptive-survey design with respect to its data collection method. The descriptive approach was adopted to delineate the current state of affairs, while the survey approach was utilized to test the research hypotheses through structural equation modeling (SEM). Data collection in this research combined library and documentary studies—to elucidate the theoretical foundations and research background—with field surveys using a questionnaire.
The statistical population consisted of the residents of Malayer, totaling 181,000 individuals, stratified into four homogeneous categories: (1) citizens (85% of the population), (2) municipal experts and managers (10%), (3) city council members (1%), and (4) information technology specialists (4%). Inclusion criteria encompassed: (a) at least 5 years of residency in Malayer for citizens, (b) a minimum of 3 years of relevant professional experience for experts, (c) basic familiarity with the concepts of electronic services, and (d) willingness to cooperate and complete the questionnaire. Exclusion criteria comprised: (a) failure to complete more than 10% of the questionnaire items, and (b) provision of repetitive or nonsensical responses.
Given the heterogeneity of the population, a stratified proportional sampling method with optimal allocation was employed. The sample size was calculated using Cochran's formula for a finite population (with a 5% margin of error and a 95% confidence level), yielding 384 respondents. The sample distribution was allocated as follows: 189 citizens, 139 municipal experts, 9 council members, and 47 information technology specialists.
The primary research instrument was a researcher-developed questionnaire comprising 32 items, designed based on the theoretical framework of the study and the extant literature (including the works of Khatam et al., 2023; Karamodini et al., 2023; and Krasnykov et al., 2024). The Content Validity Ratio (CVR) for all items was calculated to exceed 0.78. Construct validity was further confirmed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), with Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and Composite Reliability (CR) indices meeting the acceptable thresholds. Reliability was established via Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which yielded a value of 0.89 for the entire questionnaire.
Data analysis was conducted using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, implemented through SmartPLS software (version 3.3.9).

Results and Discussion
Of the 384 participants, 60.9% were male and 39.1% were female. The predominant age group was 30–40 years (41.9%), while the smallest cohort was aged above 50 years (9.9%). Approximately 63.5% of respondents were under 40 years of age, which is likely attributable to this demographic's higher utilization of electronic services. In terms of educational attainment, 44.5% held a bachelor's degree and 3.1% possessed a doctorate. Overall, 65.3% held a bachelor's degree or higher, indicating a relatively elevated level of knowledge among the respondents. Regarding occupational distribution, ordinary citizens constituted the largest share at 49.2%, followed by municipal experts and managers (36.2%), information technology specialists (12.2%), and city council members (2.3%). This distribution suggests that the perspectives of both service providers and service recipients were adequately and equitably represented in the research.
The results of the first hypothesis test confirmed that the e-municipality of Malayer exerts a statistically significant impact on transparency, citizen satisfaction/accountability, participation, and managerial efficiency. Notably, the strongest effect was observed on managerial efficiency (path coefficient = 0.71, effect size = 0.49, large), primarily driven by reduced in-person referrals and accelerated administrative processes. In contrast, its effect on citizen satisfaction/accountability (path coefficient = 0.58, effect size = 0.18, medium) was comparatively weaker, suggesting that the mere digitization of services does not necessarily translate into full citizen satisfaction or effective accountability. Furthermore, while transparency demonstrated improvement (path coefficient = 0.65), a pronounced gap persists between the dissemination of information regarding civil projects and financial/budgetary transparency, necessitating dedicated attention.
At the macro-level (drawing on network society theory), these findings indicate that in Malayer, the "space of places" continues to dominate the "space of flows," with traditional power structures exhibiting resistance to transformations driven by digital networks. At the meso-level (governance), the research revealed that the technical impact of e-municipality (efficiency) significantly outweighs its social impact (participation and accountability), thereby challenging the hierarchical governance model and underscoring that transformation in deeper layers—namely power dynamics, trust, and participatory culture—requires more time and enabling conditions. At the micro-level (technology acceptance), the findings demonstrated that performance expectancy (from the UTAUT2 model) constitutes the most significant predictor of e-municipality adoption, whereas hedonic motivation plays no discernible role—suggesting a predominantly functionalist orientation in Iran's urban management context.
Regarding the second hypothesis, the research established that the barriers to e-municipality implementation in Malayer are substantive and multifaceted. Critically, the foremost obstacles are human and skill-based (e.g., staff knowledge deficiencies and a shortage of specialized IT personnel) as well as technical-institutional (e.g., lack of system interoperability and budget constraints), rather than deficiencies in physical infrastructure, which ranked seventh among the challenges. This underscores the futility of investing exclusively in hardware without concomitant attention to workforce training and software integration.
Finally, the third hypothesis was confirmed; that is, e-municipality demonstrates substantial potential for enhancing citizen participation in urban decision-making (path coefficient = 0.63, effect size = 0.22, medium). Nevertheless, descriptive data indicate that such participation remains in its nascent stages, with deeper interactive platforms—such as online forums or participation in plan approval processes—remaining underdeveloped.
Based on the research findings, a three-tiered model is proposed to transition from the current state to the desired state:
· Tier 1 (Short-term, 6 months): Focus on immediate employee empowerment through skill-oriented training programs grounded in work-based learning approaches, alongside the establishment of a performance-based digital incentive system aimed at mitigating resistance to change.
· Tier 2 (Medium-term, 1–2 years): Integration of information systems through the design of a unified urban platform enabling inter-departmental data exchange. Concurrently, an open data portal should be launched for non-confidential information, such as civil engineering projects.
· Tier 3 (Long-term, 3–5 years): A paradigmatic shift from service provision to power-sharing in decision-making, through the deployment of e-participation platforms that enable citizens to play an active role in participatory budgeting, project prioritization, and performance monitoring of the municipality.

Conclusion
The overarching conclusion of the present study, focusing on the role of e-municipality in enhancing urban governance in Malayer, reveals that while the implementation of electronic services has exerted positive and statistically significant effects on key governance dimensions, this trajectory is confronted with serious structural and human-induced challenges.
Initially, the results of the first hypothesis test confirmed that the e-municipality of Malayer significantly influences transparency, citizen satisfaction/accountability, participation, and managerial efficiency. Notably, the strongest effect was observed on managerial efficiency (path coefficient = 0.71, effect size = 0.49, large), primarily driven by reduced in-person referrals and accelerated administrative processes. In contrast, its effect on citizen satisfaction/accountability (path coefficient = 0.58, effect size = 0.18, medium) was comparatively weaker, suggesting that the mere digitization of services does not necessarily translate into full citizen satisfaction or effective accountability. Furthermore, while transparency demonstrated improvement (path coefficient = 0.65), a pronounced gap persists between the dissemination of information regarding civil projects and financial/budgetary transparency, necessitating dedicated attention.
At the macro-level (drawing on network society theory), these findings indicate that in Malayer, the "space of places" continues to dominate the "space of flows," with traditional power structures exhibiting resistance to transformations driven by digital networks. At the meso-level (governance), the research revealed that the technical impact of e-municipality (efficiency) significantly outweighs its social impact (participation and accountability), thereby challenging the hierarchical governance model and underscoring that transformation in deeper layers—namely power dynamics, trust, and participatory culture—requires more time and enabling conditions.

Funding
There is no funding support.

Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none.

Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.