An assessment of the impact of citizens use of e-government and online mass media on their levels of trust in government

Abstract

Citizens trust in government is important to the pursuit of a happy and prosperous society, as well as to achieving an effective government. For this reason, a substantial amount of scholarly resources are dedicated to deriving a better understanding of the factors that influence people to trust their government: many researchers have proposed, over the course of the past decade, that e-government may be used as a tool that drives trust in government to higher levels. The argument is that, by using e-government, citizens develop a better understanding of their government, as well as more reasonable expectations of government performance, which, in turn, leads to higher levels of trust in government. Guided by such logic, governments the world over have embraced e-government as a means of enhancing levels of citizens trust in government. Yet, empirical assessments of the relationship between citizens use of e-government and trust in government have returned mixed results, which caused many to question the utility of e-government as a means of building up citizens' trust in government. The objective of this study is to clarify the influence of citizens use of e-government on their levels of trust in government, by considering, in greater detail, the process by which citizens use of e-government may affect their levels of trust in government. To this end, this study suggests that citizens use of e-government influences the relationship between citizens predisposition to trust in general and their levels of trust in government. Additionally, perceptions of government performance are proposed to mediate the relationship between citizens predisposition to trust in general and trust in government. These relationships are examined within the context of Seoul, a city that is well known for its advanced e-government. In order to substantiate the analysis related to the use of the e-government itself, the influence stemming from citizens use of online mass media was also examined in parallel. The findings of this study indicate that citizens use of e-government positively influences the relationship between their predisposition to trust in general and their trust in government, but that this positive influence is mediated by their perceptions of the government's performance. In addition, the extent of this positive influence of e-government decreases with increased frequency of use of e-government. Another interesting finding was that citizens frequency of use of online mass-media, which is often argued to be negatively biased in its portrayal of government, was found to have effects on trust that are very similar to those that were found to result from the citizens use of e-government. These findings serve to clarify some of the confusion regarding the relationship between citizens use of e-government and trust in government. Additionally, they offer insight into how the government may make more effective use of this tool in order to foster higher levels of citizen trust in government.