The right to understand and the clarity gap in Spanish e-Government: linguistic barriers, inclusion and communicative efficiency

Barreras lingüísticas, inclusión y eficiencia comunicativa

Authors

Abstract

This article examines clear communication as an empirical dimension of the relationship between citizens and public institutions in Spanish e-government. Moving beyond approaches focused on textual readability or normative plain-language recommendations, the clarity gap is proposed as the distance between the formal availability of digital public services and citizens’ experience of comprehension during use. Drawing on microdata from Study 3430 of the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research, Quality of Public Services (XIV), the article analyses the prevalence of self-reported linguistic barriers among e-government users, their sociodemographic distribution, and their association with citizens’ evaluations of digital public services and with perceived communicative efficiency. The design is quantitative, cross-sectional, and observational; descriptive statistics are weighted with PESO, and logistic models are estimated with weights and HC1-type robust standard errors, adjusting for age, sex, and educational level. Given the cross-sectional design, results are interpreted as associations, not causal effects. 26.4% of e-government users report at least one difficulty associated with not understanding the language. This barrier increases with age—from 16.9% (18–29) to 38.9% (65 +)—and is more frequent among people with basic or compulsory education. It is also associated with less favourable evaluations of e-government regarding access to information, transparency, equality, bureaucracy reduction, quality, and the overall balance of advantages, and with greater perceived procedural burden. The association with perceived digital exclusion is not statistically significant. The article positions clear communication as an empirical research object in Communication Studies and as a condition for comprehensible, inclusive, and communicatively efficient access to e-government.

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2026-07-30

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Braza Delgado, R. (2026). The right to understand and the clarity gap in Spanish e-Government: linguistic barriers, inclusion and communicative efficiency: Barreras lingüísticas, inclusión y eficiencia comunicativa. Sphera Publica, 1(26), 99–125. Retrieved from https://sphera.ucam.edu/index.php/sphera-01/article/view/547

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Vol. 1 No. 26 (2026): Special Issue "Clear communication and the right to understand: From social action to scientific discipline"

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Copyright (c) 2026 Rafael Braza Delgado

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