<![CDATA[Digital transformation has emerged as a central strategy through which developing countries seek to modernize public bureaucracies, improve service delivery, and rebuild citizen trust. Yet the relationship between digital adoption and substantive bureaucratic reform remains contested, since technology diffusion does not automatically translate into institutional change. This article synthesizes twenty-five recent studies (2020–2026) on digital transformation and bureaucratic reform across Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region through a qualitative systematic literature review with thematic synthesis. The review develops an integrative framework distinguishing three interacting dimensions that jointly determine reform outcomes: institutional readiness, technological infrastructure, and socio-political embeddedness. Findings show that digital platforms most reliably improve efficiency, transparency, and public trust when accompanied by leadership commitment, regulatory adaptation, and inclusive design, whereas technology-first approaches without institutional realignment tend to reproduce old bureaucratic pathologies in a new digital form. The novelty of this study lies in a cross-regional comparative synthesis that moves beyond single-country case studies to identify convergent and divergent reform trajectories, and in proposing a "digital-institutional co-evolution" framework as an alternative to purely technocratic models of e-government. The article concludes that sustainable bureaucratic reform in developing countries requires treating digital transformation as an institutional, not merely technical, undertaking.]]>
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