Factors for Successful e-Government Adoption: a Conceptual Framework Vinod Kumar 1, Bhasker Mukerji 1, Irfan Butt 1, and Ajax Persaud 2 1Carleton University, Canada 2University of Ottawa, Canada Vinod_Kumar@carleton.ca bmukerji@connect.carleton.ca ibutt@connect.carleton.ca Ajax@management.uottawa.ca Abstract ��� Canada has been the world���s leader in e-Government maturity for the last five years. The global average for government website usage by citizens is about 30%. In Canada, this statistic is over 51%. The vast majority of Canadians visit government websites to obtain information, rather than interacting or transacting with the government. It seems that the rate of adoption of e-Government has globally fallen below expectations although some countries are doing better than others. Clearly, a better understanding of why and how citizens use government websites, and their general dispositions towards e-Government is an important research issue. This paper initiates discussion of this issue by proposing a conceptual model of e-Government adoption that places users as the focal point for e-Government adoption strategy. Keywords: customer orientation, e-Government, adoption, model, Canada 1. Introduction The phenomenon of the Internet has had a transformational effect on society. It has opened a new medium of communication for individuals and businesses and provided opportunities to communicate and get information in an entirely different way. It has made information and services accessible in ways that could not have been conceived just twenty years ago. The growth of the Internet was initially due to private sector interests but governments are now becoming part of this revolution. Governments worldwide have been making significant attempts to make their services and information available on the Internet. A variety of e- Government initiatives have been undertaken to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of internal government operations, communications with citizens, and transactions with both individuals and organisations (Warkentin et al., 2002). In 1995 there were only 142 government websites by 1998 this had increased to 2,617 (Muir and Oppenheim, 2002). A UN study in 2001 reported the existence of more than 50,000 government-managed websites, and that almost all developed countries had launched serious and comprehensive e-Government initiatives with firm commitment and big budgets (White Paper, 2006). The government of Canada appears to have a clear vision and goal of customer centricity and a whole-of- government approach. By transforming its service delivery approaches, it will better connect with citizens while attaining operational efficiencies (Accenture, 2004). With a firm recognition of its target customers ��� Canadian citizens, Canadian businesses, and the international community ��� the government is striving to satisfy their needs. The government of Canada has been receiving high accolade for its e-Government strategy, and it is considered a world leader in e-Government initiatives. Its progress has been publicly recognised by an Accenture study that has ranked Canada first out of 22 countries for five consecutive years (Accenture, 2005). The United Nations judges Canada���s competence in e-Government as ���high���, stating that ���possibly more than any other country it has demonstrated���an intrinsic understanding of e-Government���s potential and reality��� (Government On-Line, 2003). First introduced in 1995, the Canadian website began to evolve in 1999 when the Canadian government made an open commitment to be ���known around the world as the government most connected to its citizens��� (E-Government Case Studies, 2005). The government of Canada allocated $880 million over six years (2000-2005) to support its e-Government program (Government On-Line, 2003). The success of its program, however, extends beyond money, and warrants a retrospective examination. Despite continuously receiving top ranking for its e-Government program, Canada ranks sixth in terms of government website usage globally (Government On-Line, 2004). The Canadian government, therefore, could take some measures to further increase the adoption of its e-Government services. This is in line with the growing interest in e- Government by countries around the world and their interest in increasing citizen adoption and usage of their online government services. This study contributes to the existing knowledge on e-Government in three ways. First, it extends our understanding of e-Government by proposing a centric-centric model that is based on an extended set of variables from the marketing literature. Second, it complements previous research by filling in the need for a theoretical model to inform empirical data collection and analysis. Third, from a ISSN 1479-439X 63 ��Academic Conferences Ltd Reference this paper as: Kumar V, Mukerji B, Butt I and Persaud A (2007) ���Factors for Successful e-Government Adoption: a Conceptual Framework��� The Electronic Journal of e-Government Volume 5 Issue 1, pp 63 - 76, available online at www.ejeg.com

Electronic Journal of e-Government Volume 5 Issue 1 2007 (63 - 76) practical standpoint, after the model has been empirically tested, the results could help other countries, both developing and developed, to make their e-Government strategies more effective. The remainder of this paper is structured into four sections. The following section provides a brief definition of e-Government. In the last three sections we review the relevant literature, provide a description of a conceptual model description, and end with the conclusion. 2. e-Government and its benefits ���e-Government refers to the delivery of [government] information and services online through the Internet or other digital means������ (Muir and Oppenheim, 2002). It is about delivering improved services to citizens, businesses, and other members of the society through drastically changing the way governments manage information (Accenture, 2002). However, the e-Government challenge is not a technological one. Rather, the challenge is to use technologies to improve the capacities of government institutions, while improving the quality of life of citizens by redefining the relationship between citizens and their government (Gautrin, 2004). Initially, e-Government may seem like another option for communication with citizens. But in the face of rising demands from demographic, economic, social, and global trends, e-Government no longer appears to be a matter of choice, but a necessity for any country wishing to enter the 21st century as a competitive nation in the world arena. Governments have been viewed as complex, mammoth bureaucratic establishments with a set of information silos that erect barriers to the access of information and make the provision of services cumbersome and frustrating. With e-Government, the quality of services provided to citizens and businesses can be improved significantly while attaining greater efficiency for all participants. The provision of 24/7 services can improve the level of satisfaction among citizens and enhance their acceptance of the public sector (Stiftung, 2002). E-Government can result in significant cost savings to governments and citizens alike. These potential huge savings are dependent on how quickly adoption rates increase (Eggers, 2004). The services offered by e-Government are categorised into three phases: publishing, interacting, and transacting. Government websites are primarily being used to obtain information to date limited progress has been made in interacting with citizens and online business transactions (Accenture, 2004). Previous studies have emphasised website navigability and aesthetics (Reichheld et al., 2000), personalisation and customisation (Thorbjornsen et al., 2002), customer loyalty programs (Sharp and Sharp, 1997), promotions (Kendrick, 1998), and permission marketing (Seth, 1999) as key strategies for attracting customers to frequently visit a website. The results of these studies can be effectively used in building government websites to increase the adoption of e-Government. So far two models have been proposed in the literature that address e-Government adoption. Warkentin et al. (2002) propose a conceptual model with citizen trust as the underlying catalyst for e-Government adoption. Gilbert and Balestrini (2004) propose and test a model that combines attitude-based and service quality-based approaches. Additionally, a number of frameworks based on the Technology Acceptance Model and the Theory of Reasoned Action have been proposed to explain the consumer adoption of Internet. These frameworks relate adoption to innovation and behaviour. The literature on consumer adoption of e-Government seems to be, at best, fragmented little effort has been made to develop an integrative framework that identifies the appropriate nature of relationships among key drivers of adoption. The objective of this paper is to propose a conceptual model of e-Government adoption using the vast marketing and information systems literature on the adoption of the Internet by individuals. Given the parallels of Internet adoption in the private corporate sector to e- Government adoption, such an approach could enhance our insights into the key drivers of e-Government adoption. Canada���s e-Government initiative is used as a backdrop to elucidate the conceptual model. In the business world, the Internet has changed the way that marketers foster relationships with their customers and also the way customers participate in the marketing process. Wind et al. (2002) observe that the Internet makes it possible for the customer, not the technology or the company, to be at the centre of all marketing and business strategy. Moreover, Wind and Rangaswamy (2001) argue that a customer-centric online marketing strategy goes well beyond providing a functional and aesthetically pleasing website and personalised products, to fully engaging individual customers in all facets of marketing activities. The digital marketplace is infinitely re-configurable to accommodate such an approach. Engaging customers in the marketing process from product design to pricing, distribution, and communication is crucial to building strong, loyal, and profitable customer relationships that could ultimately result in competitive advantage for the firm. This concept of user involvement is also used effectively by the Canadian government to promote e- Government. The Canadian government site continuously evolves based on regular feedback from its users. In fact, the Accenture study applauds Canada���s program of receiving feedback about their needs and satisfaction from its citizens and businesses through the leadership survey the study calls this process the most extensive of any country (Accenture, 2004). Their research includes usability studies, focus groups, www.ejeg.com ��Academic Conferences Ltd 64