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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences

ISSN 1450-2275 Issue 24 (2010)


EuroJournals, Inc. 2010
http://www.eurojournals.com

E-Government Services and user Acceptance: The Unified


Models Perspective
Nour-Mohammad Yaghoubi
Faculty Member of University of Sistan and Baluchestan, School of Management and Accounting
Department of Management, Zahedan, Iran
Tel: 9816745685
Baqer Kord
Faculty Member of University of Sistan and Baluchestan, School of Management and Accounting
Department of Management, Zahedan, Iran
Tel: 9816745685
Roya Shakeri
Corresponding Author Master of Information Technology Management
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan Iran
Tel: 9816745685
Abstract
This research figure on the study of factors related to citizens e-government acceptance. It
has been tried to propose an integrative framework of e-government adoption by
incorporating privacy and security concerns, risk perception, trust beliefs and personal
innovativeness into the technology acceptance model (TAM) and theory of planned
behavior (TPB). In this survey, we empirically validated the proposed framework by use of
349 completed questionnaires belonging to the users of e-government services offices in
Tehran city of Iran. The results of data analysis by LISREL show that, accepting of
services provided by e-government services offices can be explained in terms of attitude,
perceived behavioral control, perceived risk and social influences.

Keywords: E-Government services, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Theory of


Planned Behavior (TPB), trust, perceived risk.

1. Introduction
The ubiquity of information technology (IT) is seen in a multitude of areas, ranging from providing
personal entertainment for individuals, improving business processes of organizations, to enabling
enhanced services from government. The last instance is termed e-Government, which refers to the
strategic application of IT, particularly the Internet, to provide citizens and organizations with more
convenient access to government information and services; and for government to interact with
business partners and transact internally (Gronlund 2002; UNPAN 2003). The World Bank (2002) has
also defined it as the use of information and communications technologies to improve the efficiency,
effectiveness, transparency and accountability of government.
Since the late 1990s, numerous governments have made huge investments in electronic
government services to link government networks and deploy a variety of service infrastructure to

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)

provide extensive and proactive services. However, low levels of user acceptance of these services are
recognized as an endemic problem for government policy makers, government agencies, and eGovernment services providers. Behavioral issues of e-Government research are markedly more
important than technological ones. More empirical studies on user acceptance of e-Government
services are needed to assist governments in improving the effectiveness and quality of e-Government
services. Now the need for discovering determinants of adopting e-Government is enormous, but few
empirical studies can be found addressing the issue.
Based on the above motivation, this study aims to develop an integrative model of users
acceptance of e-Government services in Tehran city as a capital of Iran country. Tehran municipality is
established electronic services office as a tool to e-government realization. since 2008, e-services
offices have began delivery of services such as; make of urbanism file, emission of mark of traffic
plan, tenders of municipality, public supervision program and to Iranian citizens. Towards this end,
we review literature in Technology and Information System (IS) acceptance in order to identify
potential antecedents of users acceptance of these services and integrate them into a model.

2. Relevant is Literature
Lack of user acceptance has long been an impediment to the success of new information systems.
Explaining user acceptance of new technology is often described as one of the most mature research
areas in the contemporary information systems (IS) literature. Research in this area has resulted in
several theoretical models, with roots in information systems, psychology, and sociology, that routinely
explain over 40 percent of the variance in individual intention to use technology (e.g., Davis et al.
1989; Taylor and Todd 1995; Venkatesh and Davis 2000). Researchers are confronted with a choice
among a multitude of models and find that they must pick and choose constructs across the models, or
choose a favored model and largely ignore the contributions from alternative models. Thus there is a
need for review and synthesis in order to progress toward a unified view of user acceptance. Therefore
This research has yielded a number of determinants of IS use and several theories (TAM, TPB) that
have been applied to investigate IS acceptance. Figure .1 shows Basic concepts underlying user
acceptance models.
Figure 1: Basic Concept Underlying User Acceptance Models

Individual reactions to
using information
technology

Intentions to use
information
technology

Actual use of
information
technology

2.1. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)


The technology acceptance model is based on principles adopted from Fishbein and Ajzens (1975)
attitude paradigm from psychology, which (1) specifies how to measure the behavior-relevant
components of attitudes, (2) distinguishes between beliefs and attitudes and (3) specifies how external
stimuli, such as the objective features of an attitude object, are usually linked to beliefs, attitudes and
behavior. The Technology Acceptance Model of TAM (Davis, 1989; Davis et al. 1989) specifies the
causal relationships between system design features, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use,
attitude toward using, and actual usage behavior (Davis et al. 1989). TAM is most widely used for
examining the factors of user acceptance. Overall, TAM provides an informative representation of the
mechanisms by which design choices influences user acceptance, and should therefore be helpful in

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)

applied contexts for forecasting and evaluating user acceptance of information technology. According
to Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw (1989), the goal of TAM is to provide an explanation of the
determinants of computer acceptance that in general is capable of explaining user behavior across a
broad range of end-user computing technologies and user populations, while at the same time being
both parsimonious and theoretically justified (p. 985). TAM has been supported by a large number of
empirical studies (Legris et al. 2003; Lederer et al. 2000; Moon & Kim 2001; Lee and Jun. 2007;
Pavlou. 2003., Plouffe et al,2001., Hu et al,1999., Gentry and Calantone, 2002).
Figure 2: TAM (Davis et al,1989: 985)
perceived usefulness
External
variables

Attitude

Behavioral
intention

Actual
usage

perceived ease of use

2.2. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)


The theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) is an extension of the theory of reasoned action
(TRA). According to the TRA, individuals attitudes towards behaviors are determined by their most
important beliefs and the consequences of performing specific behaviors. As Fishbein and Ajzen
(1975) demonstrated through their theory, behavior is best predicted by intentions, and intentions are
jointly determined by the persons attitude and subjective norm concerning the behavior(p: 216). TPB
modifies the TRA by incorporating the construct perceived behavioral control to address situations
in which individuals lack substantive control over a specific behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Perceived
behavioral control is the determinant that is unique to the TPB and refers to an individuals perception
of whether or not the requisite resources or opportunities are present to perform a behavior. The TPB
suggests that behavior can be explained by behavioral intention, which is influenced by attitude,
subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Numerous studies have applied TPB to investigate
behavior prediction using attitudinal variables (Mathison,1991., Harrison et al,1997., Chau and
Hu,2001., Limayem et al,2000). TPB considers attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral
controls as predictors of behavioral intention.
Figure 3: TPB (Mathieson,1991: 175)
Attitude
Subjective norm

Behavioral
intention

Actual
usage

perceived
behavioral control

3. Research Model and Hypotheses


Fig. 3 illustrates a research model for e-Government services acceptance, as constructed based on
TAM & TPB and additional constructs such as; personal innovativeness, security concerns, privacy
concerns, trust beliefs and perceived risk. Privacy concerns of consumers have been well addressed in
research (Culnan 1993; Hoffman et al. 1999b; Smith et al. 1996; Stewart and Segars 2002). One
popularly used definition of privacy is the right to be let alone, which quoted Judge Thomas
Cooleys claim in extension to right to life (Warren and Brandeis 1890). Right to life is the
common law regarding the right of individuals to have full protection in person and in property
(Warren and Brandeis 1890). It has been established that, generally, consumers are concerned about

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)

maintaining their privacy (Culnan and Armstrong 1999; Culnan 1993; Dinev and Hart 2003; Hoffman
et al. 1999a; Smith et al. 1996). To mitigate these privacy concerns, trust in online companies has been
established as an important determinant of consumer behavior in the context of e-services (Liu et al.
2004; Luo 2002; Malhotra et al. 2004). Most recently, e-commerce researchers have started to study
trust in online contexts (Gefen et al. 2003; McKnight et al. 2002a; Pavlou 2002). Mayer et al. (1995)
proposed an integrative definition of trust as the willingness of a trustor party to be vulnerable to the
actions of trustee party based on the expectation that the trustee party will perform a particular action
important to the trustor party, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control the trustee party.
Consumers perceive significant risks and uncertainty when dealing with online services, because of
factors such as, uncertainty about vendor attributes and behavior, inability to inspect the product and
services, inability to monitor the actions of the online company, privacy and security of personal
information et cetera. Risk perception is defined as the subjective probability of suffering a loss in
pursuit of a desired outcome. In the absence of direct measures to control social complexity in an
online environment, trust is often viewed as an important factor to reduce risk and uncertainty
(Luhmann 1979). Trust in companies increases the likelihood that consumers will participate in eservices transactions (McKnight et al. 2002b). in attention to above reasons, we added mentioned
constructs to research model. Other constructs of the model which is adapted of TAM & TPB is
defined as below.
Personal innovativeness Defined as the willingness of an individual to try out any new
information technology (Agarwal and Prasad 1998: 206). Perceived usefulness is defined as the extent
to which a person believes that using a particular system will enhance his or her job performance
(Davis, 1989: 320., Venkatesh et al,2003: 447). Perceived ease of use is defined as the extent to which
a person believes that using a particular system will be free of effort (Venkatesh & Davis,2000:187;
Venkatesh et al,2003:450). Self Efficacy is defined as peoples judgment of their capabilities to
organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performance
(Bandura,1986: 391.,Taylor & Todd,1995a: 149-150). Perceived facilitating conditions Defined as the
degree to which an individual believes that an organizational and technical infrastructure exists to
support use of the system(Venkatesh et al,2003: 453). Attitude toward the behavior reflects an
individuals evaluation or general feeling toward a target behavior. It indicates an individuals positive
or negative evaluation about performing the behavior. The attitude toward a behavior is a product of
beliefs about the behavior and the individuals evaluation of the outcome resulting from that behavior
(Fishbein & Ajzen,1975: 216). Social influences defined as the degree to which an individual
perceives that important others believe he or she should use the new system (Venkatesh et al, 2003:
451., Mathison,1991: 181). Perceived behavioral control reflects an individuals perception of ease or
difficulty of performing a target behavior. It is a product of control beliefs about a certain behavior and
the individuals perceived facilitation of each control belief (Taylor & Todd,1995a: 149-150).
Behavioral intention is defined as ones intention to adopt a certain behavior(Morris & Dillon,1997:
61).

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)


Figure 4: Research model

Personal
innovativeness

H2
H10

H3
Perceived
usefulness

Attitude

H4
Perceived ease
of use

H11
Social influences

Behavioral intention

H5
Security
concerns

H12

H6
privacy
concerns
Trust beliefs

Self efficacy

Perceived facilitating
conditions

Perceived risk

H7
H8

H13
Perceived behavioral
control

H9

In this study the following Thirteen hypotheses will be addressed:


H1. perceived ease of use of consumer have a positive relationship with perceived usefulness of
e-government services.
H2. Personal innovativeness of consumer have a positive relationship with attitude towards egovernment services.
H3. perceived usefulness of consumer have a positive relationship with attitude towards egovernment services.
H4. perceived ease of use of consumer have a positive relationship with attitude towards egovernment services.
H5. A high level of security concern will increase risk perception.
H6. A high level of privacy concerns will increase risk perception.
H7. A high level of trust beliefs will reduce risk perception.
H8. Self efficacy of consumer have a positive relationship with perceived behavioral control.
H9. Perceived facilitating condition of e-government services have a positive relationship with
perceived behavioral control.
H10. Favorable attitudes towards e-government services will increase the consumers intention
to use.
H11. Social influences of consumer have a positive relationship with intention to use egovernment services.
H12. Risk perception negatively influences consumer intention towards e-government services.
H13. Perceived behavioral control positively influence intention to use e-government services.

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)

4. Research Method
The data were collected using a paper questionnaire survey. First, this study used a stratified cluster
sampling frame based on the geographical direction in Tehran city, including: north, south, west and
east as a cluster. within each cluster, three zones and in each of zone, two e-services offices is selected
randomly. Therefore we selected 24 offices among 69 ones in Tehran city. 16 questionnaires is
distributed between individuals who were customers of these offices. Then, 349 usable responses of
384 questionnaires were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). To verify
the construction of the research model and measurement instruments, several professors and users were
also interviewed to modify the research model and the construction of the questionnaire.

4.1. Instrument Development and pre-test


In order to measure the study variables, we adapted the measurement instruments from previous
research reviewed by changing the software name or technology to electronic services office. We had
the instruments reviewed by E-government professionals (faculty members in the Sistan &
Balouchestan university) to test the face and content validity of the instruments scores. Minor
adjustments in the wording of three items in the adapted PU and BI instruments were recommended
and made. We calculated cronbach alpha coefficients to test the reliability of the scores. All the scales
had a cronbach alpha of above 0.7 which is an acceptable level to declare reliability of scale scores
(Nunnally, 1978). Table 1 shows the cronbachs alpha for the scales.
Table 1:

Cronbachs alpha coefficients of the instruments used in the study

Variable
Personal innovativeness
Perceived usefulness

Cronbach alpha coefficient


0.715
0.891

Perceived ease of use

0.875

Security concerns
privacy concerns
Trust beliefs

0.844
0.794
0.832

Self Efficacy

0.806

Perceived facilitating
conditions
Attitude
Social influences
Perceived risk
Perceived behavioral control
Behavioral intention

0.734

Source
Agarwal & Prasad 1998,
Venkatesh et al. 2003, Davis 1989, Koufaris,
2002, Thompson et al 1991, Compeau and
Higgins 1995.
Venkatesh et al. 2003, Davis 1989, Koufaris,
2002, Davis et al 1989, Thompson et al 1991.
Smith et al. 1996, Salisbury et al 2001,
Malhotra et al. 2004, Smith et al. (1996)
Koufaris & Hampton-Sosa 2002, Bhattacherjee
2002,
Venkatesh et al. 2003, Compeau and Higgins
1995.
Venkatesh et al. 2003, Thompson et al 1991.

0.902
0.820
0.854
0.741
0.914

Pavlou and Fygenson 2006,


Moore & Benbasat 1991, Davis et al 1989.
Pavlou 2003, Malhotra et al. 2004,
Pavlou and Fygenson 2006,
Venkatesh et al. 2003, Davis 1989.

4.2. Statistical Analysis


This study used both of descriptive statistics and inductive statistics methods for data analyzing.
Demographic profile of respondents are showed in table 3. we used the structural equation modeling
(SEM) for hypotheses testing. Hair et al. specified the two main reasons for using SEM as including:
(1) to provide a straightforward method for dealing with multiple relationships simultaneously, while
also providing statistical efficiency; and (2) to assess relationships comprehensively, while providing a
transition from exploratory to confirmatory analysis. SEM is especially suited for testing a series of
relationships constituting a large-scale model or an entire theory. In fact, SEM has been identified as an
appropriate covariance-based approach in studies with a strong basis on a priori theory. This study is
well suited for confirmatory testing of the fit of the proposed theoretical model to observed data using

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)

SEM. This study selected LISREL for Windows (version 8.8) as the SEM approach for estimating the
model.

5. Results and Discussions


5.1. Respondents Profile
This section reports the analysis results. Regarding reliability, the survey had strong internal
consistency with all multiple-item constructs achieving Cronbachs alpha of 0.71 or higher. Moreover,
regarding validity, previously validated measurements were used to ensure the validity of the
measurements. Among 349 usable respondents (profiled in Table 2), results show that respondents are
predominantly male (73.1 percent male versus 26.9 percent female). Regarding age distribution, people
ages between twenty-one and forty dominate among respondents (67.65 percent). Moreover, regarding
educational level, respondents who have bachelors or higher degrees are dominant (87.9 percent).
Finally, married respondents outnumber unmarried users (73.9 percent compared to 26.1 percent,
respectively). Therefore, we could conclude that married middle- aged males, with bachelor degree or
above, were predominant among respondents in our study.
Table 2:

Demographic profile of all respondents

Variable
Gender

Age

Education
Marriage status

Male
Female
<20 years old
21-30 years old
31-40 years old
41-50 years old
>50 years old
Senior high school graduate
Bachelor
Master or above
Single
Married

Count
255
94
27
110
126
84
2
42
211
96
91
258

Percentage
73.1
26.9
7.7
31.45
36.2
24.1
0.55
12
60.4
27.5
26.1
73.9

5.2. Structural Model Results


The first step in model estimation involved examining the model fit results of the hypothesized model.
Some common fit indices reported in structural equation modeling are designed to identify model
goodness-of-fit. Common criteria for SEM such as; Chi-square/degree of freedom, p-value, GFI
(goodness-of-fit index), AGFI (adjusted goodness-of-fit index) and RMSEA (root mean square error of
approximation), have been suggested and the results are presented in Table 3.
The number of degrees of freedom (df) is the number of values in the final calculation of a
statistic that are free to vary. chi-square is examined the difference significance between given model's
covariance structure and the observed covariance matrix. Chi square is also affected by the size of the
correlations in the model: the larger the correlations, the poorer the fit. Relative chi-square, also called
normal or normed chi-square, is the chi-square fit index divided by degrees of freedom, in an attempt
to make it less dependent on sample size. Carmines and McIver(1981: 80) state that relative chi-square
should be in the 2:1 or 3:1 range for an acceptable model. Ullman (2001) says 2 or less reflects good
fit. Kline (1998a) says 3 or less is acceptable. Some researchers allow values as high as 5 to consider a
model adequate fit (ex., by Schumacker & Lomax, 2004: 82), while others insist relative chi-square be
2 or less. Less than 1.0 is poor model fit.
The p-value is a function of the data and is therefore itself a random variable. If the hypothesis
used to compute the p-value is true, then for continuous data, p will be uniformly distributed between

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)

zero and one. the p-value is the probability, under the assumption of a hypothesis H0, of obtaining data
at least as incompatible with H0 as the data actually observed.
Goodness of fit indexes (GFI & AGFI) determines if the model being tested should be accepted
or rejected. These overall fit tests do not establish that particular paths within the model are significant.
If the model is accepted, the researcher will then go on to interpret the path coefficients in the model
("significant" path coefficients in poor fit models are not meaningful).
RMSEA is a popular measure of fit, partly because it does not require comparison with a null
model and thus does not require the author posit as plausible a model in which there is complete
independence of the latent variables. Also, RMSEA has a known distribution, related to the non-central
chi-square distribution, and thus does not require bootstrapping to establish confidence intervals.
RMSEA is computed as ((chisq/((n-1)df))-(df/((n-1)df)))*.5, where chisq is model chi-square, df is the
degrees of freedom, and n is number of subjects. there is good model fit if RMSEA less than or equal
to .05. There is adequate fit if RMSEA is less than or equal to .08. More recently, Hu and Bentler
(1999) have suggested RMSEA .06 as the cutoff for a good model fit.
Table 3:

Results of the model goodness-of-fit

Fit index
Chi-square/degree of freedom
p-value
GFI (goodness-of-fit index)
AGFI (adjusted goodness-of-fit index)
RMSEA (root mean square error of
approximation)

Recommended Criteria
<3
>0.05
>0.9
>0.9

Results in this study


2.74
0.118
0.93
0.92

<0.05

0.044

In these results, the structural model presented here indicates adequate fit with the observed
data, compared with the suggested fit criteria.
The second step in model estimation was to examine the significance of each hypothesized path
2
in the research model, as well as the variance explained (R value) by each path. LISREL reports raw
and standardized estimates for all specified paths, along with standard errors and test statistics for each
path. The results are shown in Fig. 5 (the measurement model and belief correlations are omitted for
clarity). Twelve of the hypothesized thirteen paths are significant at the 0.01 or 0.05 level.
Fig. 5 displays all structural relationships among the studied constructs. The figure indicates
that variance in E-services office acceptance intention explained by the model is 72 percent, which is
very high given that numerous factors may affect acceptance intention for this services. Variance in
individual intention towards E-services office adoption was totally explained 72 percent by attitude,
perceived behavioral control, perceived risk, and social influences. As noted in the TPB, intentions to
accept the E-services office can be effectively explained by attitude, social influences, and perceived
behavioral control. Furthermore, the results showed that variance in individual intentions towards
accepting the E-services office can be explained by the large proportion of attitudes and perceived
behavioral control in the sample, along with a relatively small proportion of perceived risk and social
influences.
In this context of the E-services office acceptance, attitude is mainly determined by perceived
usefulness, perceived ease of use, and Personal innovativeness. perceived ease of use is not significant
in explaining variance of perceived usefulness toward E-services office acceptance. Regarding total
variance of attitude, perceived usefulness can explain 41 percent of the variance, along with perceived
ease of use (28 percent), Personal innovativeness (18 percent). Furthermore, total variance of selfefficacy to accept these services can explain 49 percent of the perceived behavioral controls variance,
and 36 percent of the variance can be explained by facilitating conditions. Regarding total variance of
perceived risk, trust beliefs can explain 32 percent of the variance, along with privacy concerns (18
percent) and security concerns (11 percent). Therefore, perceived usefulness, trust beliefs, privacy

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)

concerns, and self-efficacy are more important than other determinants for the E-services office
acceptance.
Figure 5: Results of the model
Personal
innovativeness

Perceived
usefulness

Perceived ease
of use

Security
concerns
privacy
concerns

0.26
0.26

0.53
0.53

0.69
0.69

Social influences
R
R22=0.12
=0.12

0.188
0.188

0.39
0.39

0.152
0.152

0.241
0.241

Perceived risk

Behavioral intention
R
R22=0.72
=0.72

-0.302
-0.302

22

R
R == 0.408
0.408

Trust beliefs

-0.483
-0.483

Self efficacy

0.571
0.571

Perceived
facilitating conditions

Attitude
R
R22== 0.69
0.69

Perceived behavioral
control R
R22== 0.58
0.58

0.419
0.419

0.424
0.424

denotes significance at the p<0.05 level


denotes significance at the p<0.01 level
denotes not significant

As shown in figure.5, twelve of the thirteen hypotheses were significantly supported, and only
hypothesis H1was not empirically supported in this study. The results indicate that perceived ease of
use did not significantly affect perceived usefulness of e-government services.
Consistent with the proposed research model, the results suggest that privacy and security
concerns, and trust beliefs had effects on risk perception. Among these effects, trust had the largest
effect followed by privacy and security concerns. The effect of privacy concerns on risk perception
was larger than that of security concerns. As the consumers get more experienced and sophisticated
using the Web, the security concerns which they may have had at the beginning are not reflected in
their risk perceptions. Its likely that they have adopted protective measures on their own to protect
their privacy online. In contrast to privacy concerns, security concerns are evolutionary beliefs. These
beliefs can be transformed over time with more awareness and Internet experience. As consumers
become familiar with ongoing threats of privacy intrusion, such as the uses of information gathering
technologies like spyware, malware and adware; they are more likely to adopt protective measures.
Such protective measures may be installing and updating firewall, virus definition files, anti-spyware
tools et cetera. With the adoption of protective measures, consumers become more confident in taking
part in e-government services since they are able to mitigate their security concerns to some extent.
The effect of trust was the largest among the predictors of risk perception. Online government
develop trust beliefs in consumers by assuring them of their expertise in performing electronic

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)

transactions, being fair in its conduct of customer transactions and keeping the customers best
interests in mind. Besides these actions, online government can also encourage consumers to do
affaires with them by assuring the protection of their personal information. Such measures include the
use of trust and security seals on their websites. By developing trust in consumers, online government
are able to compromise the effects of privacy and security concerns to a greater extent and thereby
encourage the consumers to take part in e-government. Developing trust beliefs is a necessary
condition for consumers to participate e-government since the online government have no
opportunities of creating personal relationships as in an offline environment.
Furthermore, risk perception had effects on behavioral intention. Similarly, attitude, perceived
behavioral control, and social influences had a positive and direct effect on intention to take part in egovernment services. Among the predictors of intention, attitude was the most influential followed by
perceived behavioral control, perceived risk and social influences. attitude is the most important
implying that consumers are most likely to decide to take part in e-government based on their favorable
opinion of the online government.

Conclusion
An empirical study was conducted to identify determinants of user acceptance for e-Government
services. Some preliminary lessons can be drawn from the above analytical results. Clearly, much of
the path significance and variance explained are consistent with prior empirical findings (Jarvenpaa et
al. 1999; Jarvenpaa et al. 2000; Kimery and McCord 2002; van der Heijden 2003 Pavlou and Gefen
2004 Miyazaki and Fernandez. 2001)). That is, e-Government services acceptance intention can be
explained in terms of attitude, perceived behavioral control, perceived risk and social influences. The
academic value of this study is threefold. First, this study proposed a comprehensive theoretical
framework to identify determinants of e-Government services acceptance. Second, by comparing two
intention-based theoretical models (TAM and TPB), this study confirmed that the proposed model has
2
a high explanatory power for intention (R = 72 percent). Compared with previous studies, the total
variance in intention to accept e-government services was higher or comparable to prior studies (e.g.,
2
2
2
R = 70 percent in Venkatesh et al., R = 60 percent in Taylor and Todd, and R = 62 percent in
Mathieson). Third, the sample group was real user of e-services offices. Thus, the validity of the
findings is not limited. In addition, managerial implications for government policy makers, government
agencies, and system developers are also discussed. The findings can provide useful recommendation
to development of practice and policy making, which are customer oriented and evidence based. For
governmental policy makers responsible for future strategic planning of e-Government services or
effective e-services offices in particular, this study provides the following recommendations:
Several studies pointed out lacked appropriate performance measurements for e-Government
services. The eight important antecedents (i.e., personal innovativeness, perceived usefulness,
perceived ease of use, security concerns, privacy concerns, trust beliefs, self-efficacy, and
perceived facilitating condition) of user acceptance of e-services offices were identified.
Accordingly, to effectively evaluate the performance of e-Government services, we suggest that
policy makers can improve strategic planning for e-Government services investments through
monitoring these eight factors as performance indicators.
to retain e-Government service adopters, we suggest policy makers that marketing strategies
for e-Government services seeking to increase user loyalty and retention can focus on these
eight points. Alternatives include improving user interface of e-Government services,
enhancing services security mechanisms, employing mass media marketing, and increasing the
availability of necessary hardware and software for e-Government service use. Furthermore, for
supporting and marketing e-Government service adoption, we suggest that policy makers
should emphasize the advertising of adopters successful experience to attract non-adopters.

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European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences - Issue 24 (2010)

Social influences significantly affect adopters intention to use e-services offices, as well as
perceived behavioral control significantly affects adopters intention to use. hence, we suggest
that policy makers should make plans of action on enhancing external and internal influences
for citizens and continuously increasing users self-efficacy and providing resources required to
use e-Government services for citizens.
For governmental agencies responsible for developing implementation strategies for eGovernment services, this study provides the following recommendations:
Important determinants of e-Government services use in sequence are attitude, perceived
behavioral control, perceived risk and social influences. To successfully implement eGovernment services given constraints in resources, we suggest that governmental agencies can
set priorities based on the relative importance of the factors.
To increase positive attitude towards e-Government services, we suggest that governmental
agencies should develop implementation strategies that emphasize the usefulness and ease of
use of e-Government services.
To manipulate social influences, we suggest governmental agencies that marketing strategy
should seek to produce family members, friends and peer impacts. For example, encouraging eGovernment service adopters to enhance their referred groups (family, friends and peer)
influence through various channels; endorsing e-Government service by well-known stars.
To increase perceived behavioral control in using e-Government services, we suggest
governmental agencies that a market segment focus on high self-efficacy user will clearly be
the most efficient means of achieving an increase in perceived behavioral control. high selfefficacy users have higher perceived behavior control than other users. Relatively, their
perceived behavior control has a strong multiplier effect on e-government service adoption. We
thus can train and educate citizens to increase users self-efficacy.
Privacy concerns, security concerns, trust, and perceived risk are key factors influencing user
acceptance of the e-Government services. Therefore, we suggest that system developers should
provide a user-friendly interface, reinforce security mechanisms and privacy protected tactics
for e-Government services.

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