Barriers to the Use of Electronic Government as Perceived by Citizens at the Municipal Level in México

Abstract

The benefits of e-government services depend on the number of citizens who take advantage of them. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational research study was to determine barriers to e-government use as perceived by citizens at the municipal level in Mexico. The technology acceptance model (TAM), the diffusion of innovations (DOI) theory, and models of web trust formed the theoretical framework of the study. Several hypotheses tested the relation of demographic variables, TAM, DOI, and web trust constructs to the intention of using e-government services of 149 taxpayers of the city of Chihuahua, Mexico, who did not to use the e-government services for payment provided by the government of their municipality. The findings of this study show that trust in the Internet, trust in government, perceptions of convenience, perceptions of compatibility, access to the Internet, perceptions of ease of use, and perceptions of relative advantages are related to the intention to use e-government services. Conversely, awareness of the existence of e-government services, income level, family structure, age, literacy level, computer literacy level, gender, and possession of bankcards are not individually related to the intention to use e-government services of those persons who made face-to-face payments at the treasury office.