User adoption and value of e-government services (Citizen-centric empirical study from Hungary)

Abstract

This paper looks at the adoption of e-government technologies from a citizen-centric, value-based point-of-view. We analyse e-government technology adoption and value creation on a large, representative Hungarian sample, using the data of the Good State Public Administration Opinion Survey. The paper examines the near total spectrum of the Hungarian government-to-citizen administration service areas: 11 e-government services, with a special focus on personal income tax administration and the use of government issued documents. The technology acceptance model and an e-government-specific adaptation of the DeLone – McLean information system (IS) success model are used as the theoretic base. Factor analysis, traditional association metrics and statistical tests are used for the analysis. Results confirm the relevance of the technology adoption factors suggested by the mainstream IS literature, while citizen-level value creation – in the form of cost or time saved, satisfaction level raised – was less demonstrable. Increasing citizens' internet trust or improving facilitating infrastructural conditions, as well as a significant value proposition in terms of time savings and ease of use would help increasing e-government service adoption levels and value creation potential.