Abstract
Digital services are ubiquitous in today’s world, marking it as the digital age. Public administrations are using information and communication technologies for decades now; however, public e-services are still not widely used by the intended users. Repeatedly, scholars highlight the importance of trust for the successful adoption of public e-services and much research has empirically investigated the role of trust for public e-service adoption. In face of the substantial amount of research, this chapter summarises the current debates surrounding this topic and provides empirical insights on the role of trust for public e-service use in Germany. The insights of both empirical studies, i.e. the literature review and the interviews, result in a generalised model of citizens’ trust in the context of e-government.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abu-Shanab, E., & Harb, Y. (2019). E-government research insights: Text mining analysis. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 38, 892.
Akkaya, C., Wolf, P., & Krcmar, H. (2013). A comprehensive analysis of egovernment adoption in the german household. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik (pp. 1525–1539).
Arduini, D., & Zanfei, A. (2014). An overview of scholarly research on public eservices? A meta-analysis of the literature. Telecommunications Policy, 38(56), 476–495.
Bannister, F., & Connolly, R. (2011). Trust and transformational government: A proposed framework for research. Government Information Quarterly, 28(2), 137–147.
Becker, J., Hofmann, S., & Räckers, M. (2011). Coverage of eGovernment security issues in mass media. In M. Janssen, H. J. Scholl, M. Wimmer, & Y.-H. Tan (Eds.), Electronic government (Lecture notes in computer science) (pp. 296–307). Heidelberg: Springer.
Belanche, D., Casaló, L. V., & Flavián, C. (2012a). Integrating trust and personal values into the technology acceptance model: The case of e-government services adoption. Cuadernos de Economía y Dirección de la Empresa, 15(4), 192–204.
Belanche, D., Casaló, L. V., & Guinaliu, M. (2012b). How to make online public services trustworthy. Electronic Government: An International Journal, 9(3), 291–308.
Bélanger, F., & Carter, L. (2008). Trust and risk in e-government adoption. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 17(2), 165–176.
Bélanger, F., & Carter, L. (2012). Digitizing government interactions with constituents: An historical review of e-government research in information systems. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 13, 363–394.
Bélanger, F., Hiller, J. S., & Smith, W. J. (2002). Trustworthiness in electronic commerce: The role of privacy, security, and site attributes. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 11(3-4), 245–270.
Beldad, A., de Jong, M., & Steehouder, M. (2011). I trust not therefore it must be risky: Determinants of the perceived risks of disclosing personal data for e-government transactions. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(6), 2233–2242.
Ben Rehouma, M., & Hofmann, S. (2018). Government employees’ adoption of information technology: a literature review. In Proceedings of the 19th annual International Conference on Digital Government Research: Governance in the Data Age (pp. 1–10).
Benamati, J., Fuller, M. A., Serva, M. A., & Baroudi, J. (2010). Clarifying the integration of trust and TAM in e-commerce environments: implications for systems design and management. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 57(3), 380–393.
Benbya, H., Nan, N., Tanriverdi, H., & Yoo, Y. (2020). Complexity and information systems research in the emerging digital world. MIS Quarterly, 44(1), 1–17.
Bouckaert, G. (2012). Trust and public administration. Administration, 60(1), 91–115.
Bryson, J. M., Crosby, B. C., & Bloomberg, L. (2014). Public value governance: Moving beyond traditional public administration and the new public management. Public Administration Review, 74(4), 445–456.
Cabinakova, J., Kroenung, J., Eckhardt, A., & Bernuis, S. (2013). The importance of culture, trust, and habitual patterns - Determinants of crosscultural Egovernment adoption. In Proceedings of the 21st European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2013) (pp. 1–13).
Carter, L., Weerakkody, V., Phillips, B., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2016). Citizen adoption of e-government services: Exploring citizen perceptions of online services in the United States and United Kingdom. Information Systems Management, 33(2), 124–140.
Denhardt, R. B., & Denhardt, J. V. (2000). The new public service: Serving rather than steering. Public Administration Review, 60(6), 549–559.
Distel, B. (2018). Bringing light into the shadows: An interview study on citizens’ non-adoption of e-government. Electronic Journal of e-Government, 16(2), 98–105.
Distel, B. (2020). Assessing citizens’ non-adoption of public e-services in Germany. Information Polity, 25(2), 339–360.
Distel, B., & Becker, J. (2017). All citizens are the same, aren’t they? - Develo** an e-government user typology. In M. Janssen, K. Axelsson, O. Glassey, B. Klievink, R. Krimmer, I. Lindgren, P. Parycek, H. J. Scholl, & D. Trutnev (Eds.), Electronic government (pp. 336–347). Cham: Springer.
Distel, B., & Becker, J. (2018). A long and winding road? Analyzing e-government website maturity in Germany. In P. Drews, B. Funk, P. Niemeyer, & L. **e (Eds.), Tagungsband Multikonferenz Wirtschaftsinformatik 2018 (Vol. 2, pp. 621–632). Lüneburg: Leuphana Universität Lüneburg.
Distel, B., & Lindgren, I. (2019). Who are the users of digital public services? A critical reflection on differences in the treatment of citizens as ’users’ in e-government research. In P. Panagiotopoulos, N. Edelmann, O. Glassey, G. Misuraca, P. Parycek, T. Lampholtshammer, & B. Re (Eds.), Electronic participation (pp. 117–129). Cham: Springer.
Distel, B., & Ogonek, N. (2016). To adopt or not to adopt: A literature review on barriers to citizens’ adoption of e-government services. In Proceedings of the 24th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2016) (pp. 1–17).
Ebbers, W. E., Jansen, M. G., Pieterson, W. J., & van de Wijngaert, L. A. (2016). Facts and feelings: The role of rational and irrational factors in citizens’ channel choices. Government Information Quarterly, 33(3), 506–515.
European Commission. (2018). eGovernment Benchmark 2018: Securing eGovernment for all. Retrieved 26 April, 2021, from https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/egovernment-benchmark-2018-digital-efforts-european-countries-are-visibly-paying
Eurostat. (2020a). Individuals using the internet for interaction with public authorities. Retrieved 04 February, 2020, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tin00012/default/table
Eurostat. (2020b). Individuals using the internet for interaction with public authorities, by type of interaction. Retrieved 04 February, 2020, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tin00013/default/table
Gilbert, D., Balestrini, P., & Littleboy, D. (2004). Barriers and benefits in the adoption of e–government. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 17(4), 286–301.
Hendriks, F., Distel, B., Engelke, K.M., Westmattelmann, D., & Wintterlin, F. (2020). Methodological and practical challenges of interdisciplinary trust researches. In B. Blöbaum (ed.) Trust and Communication. Findings and implications of trust research, Cham: Springer.
Hevner, A. R., March, S. T., Park, J., & Ram, S. (2004). Design science in information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 28(1), 75–105.
Ho, A. T.-K., & Ni, A. Y. (2004). Explaining the adoption of e-government features: A case study of Iowa county treasurers’ offices. The American Review of Public Administration, 34(2), 164–180.
Hofmann, S., Räckers, M., & Becker, J. (2012). Identifying factors of egovernment acceptance - A literature review. In Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2012 (pp. 1–19).
Horst, M., Kuttschreuter, M., & Gutteling, J. M. (2007). Perceived usefulness, personal experiences, risk perception and trust as determinants of adoption of e-government services in The Netherlands. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(4), 1838–1852.
Krouwel, A., & Abts, K. (2007). Varieties of euroscepticism and populist mobilization: Transforming attitudes from mild euroscepticism to harsh eurocynicism. Acta Politica, 42(2-3), 252–270.
Lewicki, R. J., McAllister, D. J., & Bies, R. J. (1998). Trust and distrust: New relationships and realities. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 438–458.
Lindgren, I., & Jansson, G. (2013). Electronic services in the public sector: A conceptual framework. Government Information Quarterly, 30(2), 163–172.
Madsen, C. Ø., Hofmann, S., & Pieterson, W. (2019). Channel choice complications: Exploring the multiplex nature of citizens’ channel choices. In I. Lindgren, M. Janssen, H. Lee, A. Polini, M. P. Rodríguez Bolívar, H. J. Scholl, & E. Tambouris (Eds.), Electronic government (pp. 139–151). Cham: Springer.
Madsen, C. Ø., & Kræmmergaard, P. (2015). The efficiency of freedom: Single parents’ domestication of mandatory e-government channels. Government Information Quarterly, 32(4), 380–388.
Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, D. F. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709–734.
Mayring, P. (2015). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse: Grundlagen und Techniken (12th ed.). Weinheim: Beltz.
McKnight, D. H., & Chervany, N. L. (2001). What trust means in e-commerce customer relationships: An interdisciplinary conceptual typology. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 6(2), 35–59.
McKnight, D. H., Choudhury, V., & Kacmar, C. (2002). Develo** and validating trust measures for e-commerce: An integrative typology. Information Systems Research, 13(3), 334–359.
Milne, G. R., Rohm, A. J., & Bahl, S. (2004). Consumers’ protection of online privacy and identity. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 38(2), 217–232.
Moorman, C., Deshpande, R., & Zaltman, G. (1993). Factors affecting trust in market research relationships. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 81–101.
Moyson, S., Van de Walle, S., & Groeneveld, S. (2016). What do public officials think about citizens? The role of public officials’ trust and their perceptions of citizens’ trustworthiness in interactive governance. In J. Edelenbos & I. van Meerkerk (eds.) Critical reflections on interactive governance(pp. 189-208). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Oksüz, A., Walter, N., Distel, B., Räckers, M., & Becker, J. (2016). Trust in the information systems discipline. In B. Blöbaum (Ed.), Trust and communication in a digitized world (pp. 205–223). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Papadomichelaki, X., & Mentzas, G. (2011). Analysing e-government service quality in Greece. Electronic Government: An International Journal, 8(5), 290–308.
Rose, J., Persson, J. S., Heeager, L. T., & Irani, Z. (2015). Managing eGovernment: value positions and relationships. Information Systems Journal, 25(5), 531–571.
Rotter, J. B. (1967). A new scale for the measurement of interpersonal trust 1. Journal of Personality, 35(4), 651–665.
Rotter, J. B. (1971). Generalized expectancies for interpersonal trust. American Psychologist, 26(5), 443–452.
Rousseau, D. M., Sitkin, S. B., Burt, R. S., & Camerer, C. (1998). Not so different after all: A cross-discipline view of trust. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 393–404.
Scheiber, P., Müller, L.-S., Krcmar, H., Exel, S., Motzet, K., & Bastin, M. (2019). eGovernment Monitor 2019: Nutzung und Akzeptanz digitaler Verwaltungsangebote. Deutschland: Österreich und Schweiz im Vergleich. Berlin, München: Initiative D21 e.V., Retrieved 27 April, 2021, from https://initiatived21.de/publikationen/egovernment-monitor-2019/
Sitkin, S. B., & Roth, N. L. (1993). Explaining the limited effectiveness of legalistic “remedies” for trust/distrust. Organization Science, 4(3), 367–392.
Snijkers, K. (2004). Digital administration and the role of trust. Information Polity, 9(3-4), 205–215.
Teo, T. S., Srivastava, S. C., & Jiang, L. (2008). Trust and electronic government success: An empirical study. Journal of Management Information Systems, 25(3), 99–132
Thomas, J. C. (2013). Citizen, customer, partner: rethinking the place of the public in public management. Public Administration Review, 73(6), 786–796.
Van de Walle, S., & Six, F. (2014). Trust and distrust as distinct concepts: Why studying distrust in institutions is important. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 16(2), 158–174.
Verdegem, P., & Verleye, G. (2009). User-centered E-government in practice: A comprehensive model for measuring user satisfaction. Government Information Quarterly, 26(3), 487–497.
Vom Brocke, J., Simons, A., Niehaves, B., Riemer, K., Plattfaut, R., Cleven, A., et al. (2009). Reconstructing the giant: on the importance of rigour in documenting the literature search process. Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2009), 1–12.
Vom Brocke, J., Simons, A., Riemer, K., Niehaves, B., Plattfaut, R., & Cleven, A. (2015). Standing on the shoulders of giants: Challenges and recommendations of literature search in information systems research. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 37(1:9), 205–224.
Warkentin, M., Gefen, D., Pavlou, P. A., & Rose, G. M. (2002). Encouraging citizen adoption of e-government by building trust. Electronic Markets, 12(3), 157–162.
Webster, J., & Watson, R. T. (2002). Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review. MIS Quarterly, 26(2), xiii–xxiii.
Welch, E. W., Hinnant, C. E., & Moon, M. J. (2005). Linking citizen satisfaction with E-government and trust in government. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15(3), 371–391.
Whitmore, A., & Choi, N. (2010). Reducing the perceived risk of egovernment implementations. International Journal of Electronic Government Research, 6(1), 1–8.
Yang, K. (2005). Public administrators’ trust in citizens: A missing link in citizen involvement efforts. Public Administration Review, 65(3), 273–285.
Zucker, L. G. (1986). Production of trust: Institutional sources of economic structure, 1840-1920. Research in Organizational Behavior, 8, 53–111.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Distel, B., Koelmann, H., Schmolke, F., Becker, J. (2021). The Role of Trust for Citizens’ Adoption of Public E-Services. In: Blöbaum, B. (eds) Trust and Communication. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72945-5_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72945-5_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-72944-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-72945-5
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)