Continual usage intention of platform-based governance services: A study from an emerging economy

Abstract

Several emerging economies have embarked on a path of digitization to provide lean governance through platform-based applications. Platforms and ecosystems can play vital roles in the proliferation of technologies, which can facilitate a digital transformation of society aimed at equitable and efficient service delivery to citizens. Despite being innovative, citizen-centric, and citizen-inclusive, such platforms has been observed to be rare in emerging economies. Our study assesses the factors that lead to the intention to continue to use these platforms, with the objective of establishing a revised approach to better governance through these platform-based services. A conceptual framework is proposed, based on an integration of various models, and tested using primary data from citizens subscribing to platform-based government services. The results indicate that a continuous availability of such services has better predictive power for the continual-use intention. A unique contribution of the study worth highlighting is the significance of the factor, “sovereign structural assurance,” a pre-requisite for strengthening the degree of control. Based on this study's findings, it is recommended that platforms should invest in controls for structural assurance. These interventions can serve as contrivances that create a sustainable model for such services. A successful convergence of the factors would accelerate the government services by transforming the public service landscape.