Towards the Restoration of Public Trust in Electronic Governments: A Case Study of the E-Filing System in Singapore

Abstract

E-governments are becoming part and parcel of the virtual economic landscape and are plagued by the same lack of consumer trust that inhibits e-commerce transactions. To make matters worse, the political exclusivity and apathetic bureaucracy of public institutions have amplified the level of difficulty in trying to convince the citizenries to come onboard e-government initiatives. In a preliminary attempt to derive possible developmental implications for the restoring of public trust in e-governments, this study explores the success story of the Singapore's Electronic Tax-Filing (e-Filing) system to reveal how trust-building mechanisms have been incorporated into its techno-structure to attract a phenomenal rate of public user acceptance. Specifically, the case examines the means by which process-based, characteristic-based and institution-based trust have been restored in the e-Filing system. This paper concludes by suggesting that the restoration of public trust can only be achieved through a blend of socio-political strategies and Information Technology.