Article Preview
Top1. Introduction
Electronic government (e-government) is an electronic platform designed to share relevant information and encourage participation of individuals and organisations in government programs and activities. The e-government initiative was first introduced in Malaysia in 2004 and it is enjoying a high rate of adoption. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become increasingly ubiquitous. With the emergence of Web 2.0 applications, users can perform real-time interactions with other users within their online communities. Active user behaviours such as the searching for information, evaluating alternatives, making online decisions, and sharing of experience, are influenced by how they perceive the value they gained from using those applications, the ability of using those applications, and others who they regard as important people. In the context of e-commerce, the role of perceived value, perceived behavioural control, and social influence in shaping consumer behaviour has been widely researched but similar studies on e-government services are relatively scarce. Moreover, existing literature on e-government in Malaysia is mostly about the assessment of e-government portals and factors affecting adoption or use intention. A research on how users perceive the value from using e-government portals, their ability to use, and the influence of their important ones may shed light on how e-government portals can be further enhanced to meet the expectation of citizens in terms of information sharing, participation and collaboration with government organisations. This study aims to examine the effect of perceived value, perceived behavioural control, and social influence on attitude toward e-government portals and continuous use intention among older citizens. Older citizens, as the study sample, are selected for the reason that Malaysia is moving toward having ageing population. According to the World Population Ageing Report (2015), older citizens aged 60 and above in Malaysia constituted 9.2% of the total population in year 2015 or 2.785 million people, and the figure is expected to reach 14.4% or 5.196 million people in year 2035. In year 2050, 9.593 million of the population (23.6%) is expected to be older citizens. This ageing population trend is also evident in other neighbouring ASEAN countries, such as Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia World (Population Ageing Report, 2015). These statistics have important implications for the government and other stakeholders in developing sustainable policies, which would address the needs of older citizens in the country particularly in terms of their participations in economic, social, healthcare, and environmental activities.
Providing government services to older citizens through e-government portals is one of the many important initiatives the Malaysian government could take to provide relevant information and encourage older citizens’ participation within the constraint of the limited resources. Nevertheless, to the best knowledge of the authors, the published research on this topic in Malaysia is almost non-existence. Therefore, it is considered timely to investigate factors influencing the older citizens’ attitude toward e-government portals as well as their continuous use intention. In this study, data are collected from 123 older citizens aged above 50 years old and analysed using Partial Least Squares Path Modelling (PLS-PM) technique.
The paper is structured as follows. The next section reviews the literature of older citizens’ attitude toward e-government services, and develops research hypotheses. Research methods about data collection, sampling procedures, and operationalisation of variables are then presented and that is followed by a presentation on research findings. The last section concludes the study by discussing research implications, limitations and recommendations for future research.