Explanatory factors of the preference and use of electronic administration in Spain

Abstract

Currently, many governments offer their citizens public services through the internet (eGovernment). This article analyzes three factors that could explain the use of eGovernment: sociodemographic profile of citizens, levels of quality of public services offered in this way, and the degree of citizen satisfaction with these services. The results show that citizens who prefer to use the internet as a means of contact or who use eGovernment are characterized as being young people, undergraduate students or with a university degree. On the other hand, those who do not use electronic administration or who prefer the face-to-face channel are mostly elderly people or those with basic education. Secondly, although citizens perceive a high quality and have a high degree of satisfaction with these public services, this does not translate into high rates of use of eGovernment. Finally, increasing the use of electronic administration implies in using simple, intuitive and user-friendly interfaces, especially targeting the elderly and those with basic education.