Antecedents of Trust Using Extended Technology Acceptance Model For Government Social Media Services

Abstract

In recent years, e-government services have evolved from static-websites to more interactive social media platforms. It has helped to improve government public relationship through interactive participation, engagement and collaboration. However, the potential values of social media-based e-government services cannot be carved out without addressing citizens’ trust to use such services. Trust has been mentioned as a significant factor in adoption of e- government services. However, limited focus has been projected on how to build trust of citizen in e-government services from multiple dimensions. Furthermore, there is a lack of prior investigation on citizens’ trust factors in context of using social media for e-government services. To address this problem, this study aims to determine those factors that can influence trust of citizens that can lead towards their intention to use social media for e-government services. An integrated model was developed based on multiple dimensions of citizens’ trust which are: individual characteristics, government factors, risk factors and social media characteristics. The model reflects antecedents of citizens’ trust and its impact on their intention to participate on social media for the services of e-government. A survey methodology was employed to collect responses from citizens in all four provinces of Pakistan. As a result, 615 valid responses were received and analysed by using Structural Equation Modelling with PLS-SEM approach. The findings show that the intention of citizens to engage on social media for the services of e-government is affected by trust which can be attributed by factors that include: disposition to trust, perceived privacy, perceived security, benevolence, information quality, structural assurances and perceived ease of use. Whereas, uncertainty avoidance, ability and integrity were found to be insignificant factors. The identified factors in this study explain 59.5 % of the variance in trust to use social media for the services of e-government, thus showing a good explanatory power of the model. The outcomes of this study have significant theoretical and practical contributions related to enhancement of trust of citizens and their willingness to engage in social media for the services of e-government in Pakistan.