The Impact of Trust in Government - Young Voters' Behavioral Intention to Use I-voting in Slovenia

Abstract

In order to create public value and meet the demands of the modern information society, governments and public administrations strongly rely on information technology and e-government, but its acceptance is significantly influenced by the level of citizens' trust in government. This study explores the issue of citizens' trust in government in relation to i-voting in Slovenia, a country with existing interest in i-voting but a low level of trust in government, especially among the young population. The authors analyze how such distrust impacts behavior intention towards i-voting, decomposing trust into a political component and an administrative component, and into local and state levels. Based on a modified version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, the results of 194 respondents show that young student voters' trust in politicians and electoral committees does not affect their intention to use i-voting. However, they trust the local level of government more than the state level, and electoral committees more than politicians.