Privacy preservation instruments influencing the trustworthiness of e-government services

Abstract

Trust is one of the most critical factors that determine willingness to use e-government services. Despite its significance, most previous studies investigated the factors that lead to trusting such services in theoretical aspects without examining the technical solutions. Therefore, more effort is needed to preserve privacy in the current debate on trust within integrated e-government services. Specifically, this study aims to develop a model that examines instruments extracted from privacy by design principles that could protect personal information from misuse by the e-government employee, influencing the trust to use e-government services. This study was conducted with 420 respondents from Oman who were familiar with using e-government services. The results show that different factors influencing service trust, including the need for privacy lifecycle protection, privacy controls, impact assessments, and personal information monitors. The findings reveal that the impeding factors of trust are organizational barriers and lack of support. Finally, this study assists e-government initiatives and decision-makers to increase the use of services by facilitating privacy preservation instruments in the design of e-government services.