How Citizens Accept E-Government Service: A Comparison of Four Theoretical Models

Abstract

E-government offers unprecedented opportunities for innovating and transforming the way public service is delivered. To ensure successful e-government, it is necessary to understand how citizens accept new technology and receive services from e-government. In the context of e-government acceptance, this paper introduces and tests three well-known theoretical models-SERVQUAL, the American Customer Service Index, and the technology acceptance model-adapted from the service quality and technology acceptance literature. In addition, a new process model of e-government acceptance is synthesized and proposed. Using structural equation modeling methods, empirical fittests are carried out to evaluate the potential and explanation power of four theoretical e-government acceptance models. The results show that each model has a high potential for explaining e-government acceptance processes by citizen. Fitted theoretical models imply that the key ingrediencts for successful e-government are service quality, ease of use, and usefulness, which strongly suggests that for successful e-government, citizen focused e-government is crucial. E-government is a moving target, and the results hint at strategic directions for e-government development.