Understanding Citizens' Adoption of New Technologies Used in Delivery of Public Service and Information
by Yavuz, Nilay, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO, 2010, 241 pages; 3446071

Abstract:

Along with the growing popularity of e-government, public agencies increasingly have technology options in providing services to citizens, including mobile phone and web-based applications, information kiosks, and smart cards among others. Whether citizens will embrace these new technologies that are used in the delivery of public service and information has been a question both in academia and practice. On the other hand, the determinants of acceptance have not been well understood.

Accordingly, this study aims to answer two main research questions: 1) What are the individual, social, technological, and contextual factors that affect citizens' adoption of new technologies used in e-government context? 2) Are adoption factors similar for different technologies? The study examines citizens' adoption of three different technologies in using public transportation service. Two of these technologies, Chicago Card and Chicago Card plus, are transaction technologies in the form of a smart card. The third technology, Chicago Transit Authority website, is used both as an information and transaction technology.

Using data from Chicago Transit Authority Customer Experience Survey conducted in year 2008, the study tested a model of citizens' technology adoption in e-government context. The study finds that individual characteristics such as lifestyle and intensity of public service use, technology usage context such as availability of other advantageous options and presence of incentives for technology use, and presence of facilitating conditions such as availability of resources, skills, and self-efficacy matter for citizens' technology adoption in e-government context, but the extent to which they are important may depend on the characteristics of the technologies, such as complexity, cost, features, and benefits. In addition, the findings from exploratory analyses indicate that adoption factors also differed for men and women within a single technology. Findings also imply that when public agencies offer a variety of technologies with different levels of complexity, benefits, and costs according to the characteristics of different market segments using their services, they may be in a better position to address digital disparities, and provide a more equitable distribution of benefits by including a diversity of people that can take advantage of the technology.

 
AdviserEric W. Welsh
SchoolUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
SourceDAI/A 72-04, p. , Mar 2011
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsPublic administration; Transportation planning
Publication Number3446071
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