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TG
6,3

Factors influencing e-government

adoption in Pakistan

258

Computer Science and Information Management Program,

Asian Institute of Technology, Klong Luang, Thailand, and

Mariam Rehman and Vatcharaporn Esichaikul

Muhammad Kamal

Received 20 December 2010

Revised 23 June 2011,
7 October 2011
Accepted 2 December 2011

Brunel Business School, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK

Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify critical factors that enable citizens to adopt
e-Government services in a society which is at a rudimentary stage of e-Government adoption. To
achieve the objective of the research study, an integrated conceptual model has been proposed and
validated which is based on sound theoretical conditions, keeping in view the local context of Pakistani
society.
Design/methodology/approach An integrated conceptual model is proposed highlighting a
comprehensive set of potential factors influencing the adoption of e-Government services. The
conceptual model was developed using related literature review and also by conducting expert reviews
with government officials, academic researchers and software engineers in Pakistan.
Findings From expert reviews, the results indicate that awareness, trust in the internet and trust in
the government are the significant variables specific to the context of Pakistani society. The results of
this study prove that awareness is a significant variable having influence on the citizens intention to
use e-Government services, either to get information or to perform a transaction using the government
web site. Information quality is found to be a significant variable when getting information from the
government website. Perceived ease of use, service quality and transaction security are significant
variables which influence the citizens intention to perform transactions with the government.
Research limitations/implications An integrated conceptual model is a robust way to explore
the key factors that have great influence on e-Government adoption. The target respondents for this
study are internet users. In future, the research work will be extended by including technology divide
citizens called offline respondents, i.e. less frequent internet users. The results of online and offline
respondents are compared so that the perception of technology divide citizens may also be included to
identify the factors influencing the adoption of e-Government services.
Practical implications The key findings are useful for policy makers and decision makers, for a
real understanding of the needs of the citizens. The proposed model can be used as a guideline for
e-Government strategy formulation and implementation for the Government of Pakistan.
Originality/value To address the originality, an integrated conceptual model is proposed to
overcome the shortcomings of the previous models by adding factors and their respective variables
to make the model more comprehensive. Later, the proposed conceptual model is customized and also
validated according to the local context of Pakistani society.
Keywords Pakistan, E-government, Internet, Citizen participation, Trust, E-government services,
Adoption factors, Technology acceptance model, Diffusion of innovation
Paper type Research paper

Transforming Government: People,

Process and Policy
Vol. 6 No. 3, 2012
pp. 258-282
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-6166
DOI 10.1108/17506161211251263

1. Introduction
Governments efforts are moving towards improving the process of providing services
to the citizens. Most of governments are still facing troubles such as:

[. . .] bureaucratic tendencies in governance systems, centralized decision making patterns,

complexity of redundancies in the public sector, lack of co-ordination and information
sharing in public sectors, and the lack of effective information and communication
technologies (ICT) infrastructure (Srivastava and Teo, 2008).

e-Government
adoption
in Pakistan

A revolution in ICT has changed the way of interaction between government and their
citizens. These changes have turned into a new form of government called
e-government. E-government is defined as:

259

[. . .] the use of ICT and internet to enhance the access to and delivery of all facets of
government services and operations for the benefits of its stakeholder groups which includes
citizens, businesses, and government itself (Srivastava and Teo, 2008).

For successful implementation of e-government, citizens willingness to adopt

e-government is considered as the most dominating aspect. To address this aspect,
research work aims to identify the critical factors which influence the citizens intention
to adopt e-government services. In order to implement the concept of e-government
adoption, there are various models proposed by various researchers, i.e. technology
acceptance model (TAM), diffusion of innovation (DOI), and DeLone and McLean IS
success (D&M) model, which explain users acceptance of a technology. These models
have been followed to validate the proposed conceptual model.
1.1 E-government in Pakistan
Heeks (2008) has analyzed that 50 percent of e-government projects partially fail,
35 percent totally fail and only 15 percent of e-government projects are successful. It is
evident from the facts that a large number of the e-government projects failure cases
belong to developing countries. Therefore, there is a need to give a great deal of attention
to these countries to make e-government projects successful. Despite the failure of
e-government projects, developing countries are also facing a lot of challenges such as
lack of a proper ICT infrastructure, lack of awareness about available e-government
services and a lack of citizens trust in the government as well as the internet, which are
basis for e-government project failure. In developing countries, e-government is
considered to provide high level of services to the citizens, increasing transparency among
processes and also lowering cost (Electronic Government Directorate (EGD, 2005)). In this
regard, the Government of Pakistan (GOP) has developed the EGD. The major goals of the
GOP are to increase efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability and also
to deliver services to the citizens efficiently and cost effectively (EGD, 2005).
According to the UN Survey 2010, the Southern Asian region remains below the
world average and Pakistan stands at sixth position out of nine countries in this region.
Pakistan was declared as a country with deficient e-government capacity, holding an
e-government development index value below 1.0, i.e. 0.2755. Pakistan was ranked at
146th position according to the latest survey conducted by the United Nations in 2010,
while it was positioned in 131st position among the countries of the world in a survey of
2010 (UN E-government Survey, 2010). Like other developing countries, Pakistan is also
facing a lot of challenges while implementing e-government project in the country. The
major concerns encountered after conducting expert reviews were awareness about
available e-government services, lack of trust of the citizens on the internet as well as on
the government. In addition, the adoption rate of e-government services in Pakistan is
very low. The e-government project was launched in 2005 in the country, but still did not

TG
6,3

260

find much progress which is quite obvious from e-government development index value.
Therefore, there is a need to foster the adoption of e-government services in Pakistan.
2. E-government adoption: a literature perspective
Heeks (2008) has analyzed that only 15 percent of e-government projects are successful.
The statistics indicate that failure rate of e-government projects is very high. The key
problem associated with the high failure rate of e-government projects is the lack of
awareness about the potential factors that may help citizens to adopt e-government
services (Sang and Lee, 2009). The most important point for successful implementation
of e-government is the willingness of the citizens to adopt e-government (Shareef et al.,
2009). The vast review of literature was performed to come up with the factors
influencing the intention of the citizens to adopt e-government services. According to
the model proposed by Gilbert et al. (2004), the major factors were perceived relative
benefits, perceived barriers, visual appeal, experience, financial security, information
quality, low stress and trust. The significant variables were time, cost, financial
security, trust and information quality. The findings show that perceived ease of use
was not a significant variable, which was contradictory with other research studies.
Carter and Belanger (2004) proposed an integrated model containing TAM, DOI
and the web trust model. The findings showed that perceived usefulness, relative
advantage and compatibility were significant factors in increasing citizens intention
to adopt e-government services. Belanger and Carter (2005) surveyed the students
to identify the most influential factors for the adoption of e-government services.
They used the DOI model to conduct their study. The findings revealed that
relative advantage, compatibility, image and ease of use were significant factors for
citizens intention to adopt e-government services. Carter and Belanger (2005) found
that perceived ease of use, compatibility, and trustworthiness were the significant
factors for the adoption of e-government services. Phang and Sutanto (2005) proposed a
model that was based on TAM. The target respondents for their research study were
senior Chinese citizens. The results of their study revealed that perceived ease of use
and internet safety have influence over the perception of senior Chinese citizens about
usefulness of e-government. Akman et al. (2005) inspected the role of education and
gender in the adoption of e-government services. Their findings show that females are
less frequent users of e-government services than males and also level of education was
directly associated with the adoption of e-government services.
Dimitrova and Chen (2006) administered an online questionnaire in the USA
and identified perceived usefulness, perceived uncertainty and civic-mindedness as
influential adoption factors. Chang et al. (2006) explore an e-government service in Taiwan
that is called the online tax filing and payment system (OTFPS). The questionnaire was
distributed among the users of the service through e-mails. The study shows that
perceived usefulness, ease of use, perceived risk, trust, compatibility, external influence,
interpersonal influence, self efficacy and facilitating conditions were the influential factors
for the adoption of OTFPS, an e-government service. Kumar et al. (2007) proposed the
model which overcomes the limitation of the existing models by adding a new dimension
of service quality and satisfaction. The dimensions of the model were user characteristics
including perceived risk, perceived control and internet usage experience, web site design
including perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, service quality and satisfaction.
AlAwadhi and Morris (2008) proposed an integrated model called united theory of

acceptance and use of technology (UTUAT). The indicators of the model were
performance expectancy, effort expectancy, peer influence, facilitating conditions, gender,
academic course and internet experience. The findings revealed that performance
expectancy, effort expectancy, peer influence and facilitating conditions were significant
variables of e-government adoption in Kuwait. Bwalya (2009) proposed an integrated
conceptual model that combines existing models with culture awareness and ICT
infrastructure. The findings generated from this study were related to the creation of an
ICT-enabled environment for the adoption and use of e-government. The objective was to
make citizens aware about available e-government services. Elena (2009) proposed a
model to find out determinants of trust in e-government. The determinants were age,
perceived usefulness, perceived quality, risk perception, privacy concerns, perceived
organizational trustworthiness, trust in technology, propensity to trust, years of internet
experience, income and education. The results show that age and privacy were significant
variables influencing trust. It was also concluded that the elder people had less trust in
e-government. In addition, Lean et al. (2009) proposed a theoretical framework to measure
the intention of Malaysian citizens to use e-government services. The proposed model was
based on TAM and DOI. The findings show that trust, perceived usefulness, perceived
relative advantage and perceived image had a significant relationship with citizens
intention to adopt e-government services.
2.1 Problem statement
After reviewing the literature on e-government adoption from the citizens perspective
(Bwalya, 2009; Al-Busaidy and Weerakkody, 2009; Al-Sobhi et al., 2009; Elena, 2009;
Hussein et al., 2011a, b; Dwivedi et al., 2011), it is concluded that the proposed models
are quite narrow in their scope by having focus on partial issues and also,
methodologically, they do not provide strong theoretical framework (Heeks and Bailur,
2007). In addition, there are only few studies that have comprehensively integrated all
factors of e-government adoption ( Jaeger, 2003).
Therefore, the need arises to propose a strong theoretical framework. In this regard,
an integrated conceptual model is proposed to present a complete picture of the
influential factors for the adoption of e-government services.
The objectives for this study are:
(1) to identify the critical factors influencing the adoption of e-government services;
(2) to determine the intention of the citizens to adopt e-government services at
different levels of service maturity, i.e. information and transaction level; and
(3) to propose an integrated conceptual model highlighting a comprehensive set of
potential factors influencing the intention of the citizens to adopt e-government
services and also to customize according to the local context of Pakistan.
3. Research model
The research model measures citizens intention of adoption at different levels of
e-government services, e.g. the information and transaction levels. An integrated
conceptual model presents the factors and their respective variables found in
the literature with an extension of quality of service, web site design, trust, e-readiness
and security factors containing the variables of service and information quality,
paralingual web support, trust in the internet and trust in the government, awareness,

e-Government
adoption
in Pakistan
261

TG
6,3

262

information and transaction security, respectively. The proposed model is an extension

of the model proposed by Rehman and Esichaikul (2010).
Table I summarizes e-government literature that highlights the importance of
selected variables on citizens intention to adopt e-government services.
3.1 Intention to adopt e-government services
E-government is a multi-dimensional construct. In the proposed conceptual model, it is
defined that e-government adoption is affected by demographic factors including age,
gender, education and internet experience, web site design including perceived ease of
use, perceived usefulness and paralingual web support, e-readiness including ICT
infrastructure and awareness, quality of service covering the aspects of service quality
and information quality. Service quality including reliability, availability and speed of
delivery while security including sense of perceived risk, transaction and information
security and trust including the variables of trust in the internet and trust in the
government. These factors are the proposed multi-dimensional constructs for the
adoption of e-government services.
3.2 Quality of service
The government should plan in terms of the user perspective how information will be
organized and delivered to the citizens (Stiftung, 2002). Parasuraman et al. (1988) designed a
scale to measure quality, i.e. SERVQUAL. The dimensions of the scale are tangibles,
reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The dimensions of reliability,
assurance and responsiveness had been adopted to evaluate reliability, availability and
speed of delivery. These dimensions require that information available on the government
web site should be reliable, available 24/7 and also able to respond to citizens needs quickly.
These parameters will enhance citizens satisfaction with the system and adoption as well.
3.3 Web site design
The web site design can be measured with the variables of perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use. Davis (1989) has defined perceived usefulness as the extent to
which the work can be done more quickly, an enhancement in job performance, and an
increase in productivity and effectiveness. It is also concluded that perceived usefulness
directly affects e-government adoption. Davis (1989) has defined perceived ease of use as
the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of
effort. A positive relationship was found between perceived ease of use and adoption
(Venkatesh and Davis, 2000). The variable of paralingual web support was added by the
researcher. The variable of paralingual web support will enhance the citizens intention
to adopt e-government services.
3.4 Security and trust
Citizens perception plays a vital role in the adoption of e-government services (Government
On-Line, 2004). Citizens had a great concern about the protection of their personal
information, i.e. credit card number, which they are supposed to provide to the system for
communication with the government. The reliable e-government system enhances citizens
trust and ultimately pushes them to adopt such systems. The citizens are concerned about
how their personal information will be treated, who will use that information, where it will
be stored and for what purpose it will be used. Therefore, the major concern is related to the

Web site design

Perceived usefulness (PU)

Awareness (AW)

E-readiness
ICT infrastructure (IN)

Transaction security (TS)

Information security (IS)

Security
Perceived risk (PR)

Variables

Davis (1989), Phang and Sutanto (2005), Hung et al.

(2005), Gefen et al. (2002), Warkentin et al. (2002),
Irani et al. (2010), Shih (2004), Sang et al. (2010),
Azmi and Kamarulzaman (2010), Hussein et al.
(2011a, b), Dwivedi et al. (2011)

Mofleh and Wanous (2008)

Bwalya (2009), Ibrahim and Irani (2005),

Karunasena et al. (2011)

Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001), Government On-Line

(2004)

Warkentin et al. (2002), Bwalya (2009), Azmi and

Kamarulzaman (2010), Schaupp and Carter (2010)
Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001), Government On-Line
(2004)

Literature reviewed

(continued)

Perceived usefulness is the degree to which the citizen

believes that the web site would provide all the required
information
Perceived usefulness is operationalised as the extent to
which the work can be done more quickly, an
enhancement in job performance, and an increase in
productivity and effectiveness. This variable is
extracted from TAM

The government should provide an ICT-enabled

environment which can be good starting point for the
citizens who intend to use e-government services.
Government should provide ICT hubs so that citizens
may access e-government services from anywhere even
if they do not have computers and internet facility at
their homes
Peoples knowledge of e-government in their country
and also availability of electronic resources are the
major concerns
Awareness is found to have significant impact on
citizens intention to adopt e-government services

Perceived risk is the risk of exposing and losing

personal information through online interaction
It is a measure to ensure that personal information of
the citizens is kept confidential to increase the rate of egovernment adoption
It is a measure to ensure that citizens can transact
online securely

Definition

e-Government
adoption
in Pakistan
263

Table I.
Variables of the proposed
conceptual model

Intention to adopt e-government

services to get information (INT_1)
Intention to adopt e-government
services to get information (INT_2)

Trust in the government (TG)

Trust
Trust in the internet (TI)

Information quality (IQ)

Speed of delivery (SQ)

Availability (SQ)

Reliability (SQ)

Quality of service
Service quality (SQ), reliability,
availability speed of delivery,
information quality

The degree to which a person believes that using a

particular system would be free of mental and physical
effort. This variable is extracted from TAM
Paralingual is a web support methodology for
presenting information in more than one language

Al-Sobhi et al. (2009), Sang et al. (2010), Schaupp and

Carter (2010), Hussein et al. (2011a, b)
Mofleh and Wanous (2008), Al-Busaidy and
Weerakkody (2009), Hussein et al. (2011a, b)
Lean et al. (2009), Irani et al. (2009), Lin et al. (2011),
Lee et al. (2011)
Added by the researchers

The intention of the citizens to get information from the

government web site
The intention of the citizens to conduct transaction
with the government web site

Trust level that citizens have on their governments

Trust level that citizens have on the internet

Quality of service is one of the major elements for online

Tassabehji and Elliman (2006), Chutimaskul et al.
(2008), Parasuraman et al. (1988), Hussein et al. (2011a, business environments. It is important to understand
the needs of the citizens and also tailor those services
b), Dwivedi et al. (2011)
according to their needs
Parasuraman et al. (1988)
Reliability is the ability to perform the promised
service dependably and accurately
Parasuraman et al. (1988)
Availability is a measure to ensure availability of
service all the time. This measure is mapped to
assurance dimension of SERQUAL
Parasuraman et al. (1988)
Speed of delivery is a measure to respond the users
quickly. Speed of delivery is mapped to responsiveness
dimension of SERVQUAL
Chang et al. (2006), DeLone and McLean (2003),
Information quality has been defined by the degree to
Tassabehji and Elliman (2006)
which users are provided with quality information
regarding their needs. Information quality shows
users perception about the output produced by an
information system. The parameters for information
quality are relevance, timeliness and accuracy

Phang and Sutanto (2005), Hung et al. (2005),

Warkentin et al. (2002), Azmi and Kamarulzaman (2010),
Hussein et al. (2011a, b)
Segovia and Jennex (2009)

Perceived ease of use (PEOU)

Definition

264

Paralingual web support (PW)

Literature reviewed

Table I.

Variables

TG
6,3

personal information of the citizens while communicating with the government.

If the government is able to maintain citizens trust on the system then citizens usage of
e-government services will be high. According to one survey conducted in 22 countries,
results show that citizens still prefer to have face-to-face communication as compared with
online communication with the government (Accenture, 2005). Therefore, governments
should have a transparent system so that citizens can blindly rely on online system of
communication with the government. The major issues to pay attention to for online
communication are security and privacy so that citizens feel secure while transacting and
also their personal information is protected from unwanted access.
3.5 E-readiness
E-government requires an ICT-enabled environment so that every citizen is able to
access the required resources easily. Bui et al. (2003) define e-readiness as the aptitude of
an economy to use ICT to migrate traditional businesses into the new economy.
In addition, to promote e-government adoption, there must be ICT hubs or service
centers so that citizens can have access to available e-government services. In this way,
the citizens who do not have resources, i.e. a computer, a laptop and internet connection
at home or office are still able to access e-services. According to the experts, awareness is
found as a major concern for the adoption of e-government services within the context of
Pakistani society.
3.6 Intention to adopt e-government services
The intention of the citizens to adopt e-government services is a dependent variable of
the proposed conceptual model. The dependent variable is measured in two ways,
i.e. intention of the citizens to get information (INT_1) and to conduct transaction
(INT_2) with the government web sites.
3.7 Level of e-government
The independent variables will affect the dependent variable while moderating the
relationship by the level of e-government for which e-government services are utilized
(Figure 1).
4. Research methodology
The paper aims to identify citizens perception about the factors influencing the citizens
intention to adopt e-government services in Pakistan. The research methodology
employed is quantitative based on online survey. In addition, this study attempts
to examine whether or not the conjectured relationship has been substantiated.
The detailed research methodology of this study is shown in Figure 2.
4.1 Identification of variables and scale of measurement
Online survey was used to collect data for this research. The questionnaire was
distributed among the citizens via e-mail along with the web link. The online survey was
the best option to get quick response and also to get large geographical coverage because
of global reach of the internet. The questionnaire consisted of seven sections; six of them
were related to the conceptual model of this study. All of the questions were closed-ended
and measured on five-point Likert-type scale. Section I of the questionnaire was mainly
related to the questions on the respondents profile such as e-mail address, gender, age,

e-Government
adoption
in Pakistan
265

TG
6,3
Security

Website Design

Perceived Risk

Perceived Usefulness

266

Level of E-government
Information Security

Perceived Ease of Use

Transaction Security
Paralingual Web Support

Intention to adopt egovernment services

E-Readiness

Quality of Service

ICT Infrastructure

Service Quality

Awareness

Information Quality
Trust

Figure 1.
Proposed conceptual
model for the adoption of
e-government in Pakistan

Trust in the internet

Trust in the government

Start of
Research

Expert Reviews for

Factors Confirmation

Instrument Validation

Instrument Development

Sampling Technique and

Sample Size
Determination

Pilot Testing

Data Collection and

Analysis

Research Findings

Revised Proposed
Conceptual Model
(On the basis of Literature
Review and Expert Reviews)

Identification of
Variables and Scale of
Measurement

End of
Research

Research Design

Proposed Conceptual
Model

Data Collection and

Analysis

Figure 2.
Research methodology

Literature Review
Acquiring Background
Knowledge

highest academic qualification, internet experience, mode of communication with the

government, awareness about e-government and awareness about the Pakistani
e-government web site. Section II consisted of nine items measuring web site design,
including the variables of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and paralingual
web support. Section III consisted of six items measuring e-readiness, including the
variables of ICT infrastructure and awareness. Section IV consisted of eight items

measuring security, including the variables of information security, transaction security

and perceived risk. Section V consisted of six items measuring trust, including the
variables of trust in the internet and trust in the government. Section VI consisted of six
items measuring quality of service, including the variables of information quality and
service quality. Finally, Section VII consisted of two questions to measure intention of
the citizens to adopt e-government services.

e-Government
adoption
in Pakistan
267

4.2 Sampling technique and sample size determination

The population of this research is Pakistani citizens who are internet users with or without
experience of using e-government services. According to Hair et al. (1998), each independent
variable is expected to have ten data records. Since, there are 13 independent variables
which will lead to 130 respondents, i.e. ten samples per independent variable (Stevens, 1996):
Sampling is a process of selecting sufficient number of elements from the population. By
selecting the right sample, it would be possible to generalize the characteristics of the
elements to the population elements (Sekaran, 2003).

To manage the response bias, the sample data were collected from various groups,
i.e. government officials, academic researchers, software engineers, business personnel
and university students to have a great mix of citizens perception. The data were
collected from each sub-groups in equal proportion. The actual sample size used for
this study is 138 respondents.
4.2.1 Sample demographics. The responses were collected from 138 respondents.
A total of 78.5 percent of the respondents were male while only 21.5 percent of the
respondents were female; 41.5 percent of the respondents were aged between 20 and
30 years while 36 percent were aged between 31 and 40 years. Most of the respondents
fall in these two ranges, i.e. 20-30 and 31-40 years. These statistics shows that young
people are more inclined towards the usage of e-government services as compared with
the old aged people who are only 9 and 9.5 percent in their age segments of 41-50 and
above 50, respectively. There were only 4 percent of respondents who were less than
20 years in their age. Most of the respondents had an educational degree of graduate and
post-graduate levels. The response yielded 42.5 percent graduate and 43 percent
post-graduate participants. A total of 3.5 percent of the participants were from high
school, i.e. considered as matric in the context of local Pakistani society. About
11 percent of the respondents were from a level which is considered as intermediate
in the context of local Pakistani society.
4.2.2 Internet experience. In general, most of the respondents were internet users with
a lot of internet experience; 15.5 percent of the respondents had an internet experience of
one to three years, 19 percent had an internet experience of four to six years, 34 percent
had an experience of seven to nine years and 26 percent have an experience of more than
nine years. These statistics shows that most of the respondents have great experience of
internet usage. There were only 5 percent of the participants who had an internet
experience of less than one year.
4.2.3 E-government awareness. According to the survey conducted, 72 percent of the
participants were aware about e-government while 28 percent of the respondents were
not even aware about e-government. Only 54.5 percent of the respondents were aware of
the existence of the Pakistan e-government web portal, i.e. www.pakistan.gov.pk.
The detailed results are shown in Table II.

TG
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268

Usage/awareness

Ranges defined

Internet usage experience

Less than 1 year

1-3 years
4-6 years
7-9 years
More than 9 years
Male
Female
Middle
Matric
Intermediate
Graduate
Post-graduate
Less than 20
20-30
31-40
41-50
Above 50
Yes
No
Yes
No

Gender
Education

Age

E-government awareness
Table II.
Descriptive statistics
of respondents

Pakistan e-government portal awareness

Responses (in %)
5.0
15.5
19.0
34.0
26.0
78.5
21.5
0.0
3.5
11.0
42.5
43.0
4.0
41.5
36.0
9.0
9.5
72.0
28.0
54.5
45.5

4.3 Instrument development

To expedite the process of instrument development, survey instrument items were
adopted from the previous studies within the domain of internet-based IS systems,
e-commerce and e-government. These instrument items were modified as per research
needs. In addition, new survey instrument items were added to provide greater clarity.
The citizens perception was measured on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 to 5,
where 1 denotes strongly disagree while 5 denotes strongly agree. The new survey
instrument items were pre-tested for clear wording and grammatical mistakes in sentence
formation. The statements were revised on the basis of feedback received after pre-testing.
4.4 Instrument validation
4.4.1 Reliability analysis. Reliability analysis was performed to test the reliability of
scale constructs (Kline, 1999). Table III shows the values of alpha coefficients along
with their type of reliability level. Hinton et al. (1980) defined that the reliability may
fall into four categories, i.e. excellent reliability (0.90 and above), high reliability
(0.70-0.90), moderate reliability (0.50-0.70) and low reliability (0.50 and below).
Constructs

Table III.
Reliability of the
model constructs

Web site design

E-readiness
Security
Trust
Quality of service

No. of items

Cronbach a coefficient

8
6
7
6
6

0.906
0.835
0.906
0.878
0.845

Type
Excellent reliability
High reliability
Excellent reliability
High reliability
High reliability

The value of the Cronbach a coefficient for all the constructs is greater than 0.80. Therefore,
these all constructs are found to be reliable (Kline, 1999). According to the results, two
constructs showed excellent reliability, while others have high reliability. Therefore, the
survey instrument items are considered as internally consistent.
4.4.2 Construct validity. Factor analysis using principal component analysis (PCA)
was performed to validate the constructs. The varimax rotation method was used to
rotate the matrix and also to improve the results ( Jolliffe, 1986). The results generated
from the analysis are illustrated in Table IV with all items loaded on their expected
factors. The rotated component matrix shows the factor loadings. All items loaded
above 0.40, which is the minimum recommended value in IS research (Straub et al., 2004).
It is evident from Table IV that all the variables loaded properly on their expected
factors except PR_2 and PW_1 which do not load on their respective factors as
specified in the proposed conceptual model.

Survey instrument items

PU_1
PU_2
PU_3
PU_4
PEOU_1
PEOU_2
PEOU_3
PEOU_4
IN_1
IN_2
IN_3
AW_1
AW_2
AW_3
PR_1
PR_2
PR_3
IS_1
IS_2
IS_3
TS_1
TS_2
TI_1
TI_2
TI_3
TG_1
TG_2
TG_3
RL_1
AW_1
SD_1
IQ_1
IQ_2
IQ_3

Web site design

0.754
0.789
0.756
0.787
0.705
0.766
0.737
0.689

Factor loadings
E-readiness Security Trust

0.743
0.759
0.531
0.657
0.759
0.768

0.578

0.638
0.785
0.680
0.772
0.775
0.795

0.574
0.649
0.622
0.604
0.710
0.632

e-Government
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in Pakistan
269

Quality of service

0.483
0.636
0.795
0.797
0.752
0.528

Table IV.
Factor analysis

TG
6,3

270

5. Research findings
In order to test the effect that independent variables have on the citizens intention to
adopt e-government services, the data are analyzed using stepwise regression analysis.
5.1 Variables affecting intention to adopt e-government services
The study attempted to explore any changes in respondents intentions through the
intention question which asked respondents whether they intend to use e-government
services for information or transaction purpose:
Stepwise regression is used to find the most parsimonious set of predictors that are most
effective in predicting the dependent variable. The variables are added to the regression
equation by keeping in view the statistical criteria of maximizing R 2 (Hair et al., 1998).

At the first stage of the analysis as shown in Table V, the predictors of perceived
usefulness, perceived ease of use, paralingual web support, ICT infrastructure, awareness,
service quality, information quality, trust in the internet, trust in the government,
perceived risk, information security and transaction security were used to determine the
citizens intention to adopt e-government services. From the statistical analysis,
a significant model emerged at p , 0.001. The model explains 21.8 percent of variance in
citizens intention to adopt e-government services.
Information quality and awareness are found to be significant variables which
influence citizens intention to adopt e-government services to get information from the
government web site.
At the second stage of the analysis as shown in Table VI, the predictors of perceived
usefulness, perceived ease of use, paralingual web support, ICT infrastructure, awareness,
service quality, information quality, trust in the internet, trust in the government,
perceived risk, information security and transaction security were used to determine
the citizens intention to adopt e-government services to conduct transaction with the
government. A stepwise regression analysis was performed. From the analysis,
Model
Table V.
Intention to adopt
e-government to get
information

1
2

R2

Adjusted R 2

SE of the estimate

Durbin-Watson test

0.424
0.467

0.179
0.218

0.173
0.206

0.927
0.908

1.387

Notes: 1 predictors: (constant), Information_Quality; 2 predictors: (constant), Information_

Quality, Awareness; 3 dependent variable: INT_1

Model
1
2
3
4
Table VI.
Intention to adopt
e-government to transact

R2

Adjusted R 2

SE of the estimate

Durbin-Watson test

0.519
0.600
0.632
0.647

0.269
0.360
0.400
0.419

0.264
0.350
0.386
0.401

1.136
1.067
1.037
1.024

1.627

Notes: 1 predictors: (constant), Service_Quality; 2 predictors: (constant), Service_Quality,

Transaction_Security; 3 predictors: (constant), Service_Quality, Transaction_Security, Awareness;
4 predictors: (constant), Service_Quality, Transaction_Security, Awareness, Perceived_Ease_Of_
Use; 5 dependent variable: INT_2

a significant model emerged at p , 0.001. The model explains 41.9 percent of variance in
citizens intention to adopt e-government services to conduct transaction through the
government web site.
Service quality, transaction security, awareness and perceived ease of use are
significant variables which influence citizens intention to adopt e-government services
to conduct transaction with the government web site.
Figures 3 and 4 show the validated models for intention of the citizens to adopt
e-government services to get information and to conduct transactions with the
government web site, respectively. The b-values along with their significance are
shown on the paths from independent variables to the dependent variables.

e-Government
adoption
in Pakistan
271

5.2 Intention to adopt e-government services

The results for intention to adopt e-government services are shown in Table VII.
The results indicate that 81 percent of the citizens have an intention to adopt
e-government services for the purpose of getting online information while 60 percent of
the citizens are willing to access e-government services for transaction purposes with the
government. The respondents were asked about their mode of communication with the
government as to whether they preferred to use online e-government services or
face-to-face interaction with the government. The results indicated that 44 percent of
participants preferred face-to-face interaction rather than using e-government services.
Although most of the respondents were educated and also had good internet experience
they still prefer to have face-to-face interaction with the government department instead
of using e-services.

Website Design
Perceived Usefulness

Security
0.105

Level of E-government

0.074

Perceived Risk

0.087

Perceived Ease of Use

Paralingual Web Support

0.065

Information Security

Information Services
0.014

Transaction Security

0.048

0.011

E-Readiness

Intention to adopt egovernment services

R2 = 21.8

Quality of Service
0.134

Service Quality
0.366**

ICT Infrastructure

0.036

0.149

Information Quality

Awareness
0.204**

Trust
Trust in the internet
Trust in the government

Figure 3.
Validated model for
citizens intention to adopt
e-government services to
get information

TG
6,3
Security

Website Design
Perceived Usefulness

272

Perceived Ease of Use

0.068

0.155**

Level of E-government

0.123

Transaction Services

0.129
0.252**

Perceived Risk
Information Security
Transaction Security

0.006

Paralingual Web Support

Intention to adopt
e-government services
R2 = 41.9

E-Readiness
ICT Infrastructure

0.373**

0.066
0.106

Awareness

Service Quality

0.111

0.164**

0.171

Information Quality

Trust

Figure 4.
Validated model for
citizens intention to adopt
e-government services to
conduct transaction

Trust in the internet

Trust in the government

Intend to use government services

Table VII.
Intention to adopt
e-government services

Quality of Service

To get information
To transact

Yes, possibly yes (%)

Not sure (%)

No, possibly no (%)

81
60

12
15

7
25

These results reflect low usage of e-government services to conduct a transaction,

i.e. 60 percent as compared with other segments of respondents, i.e. 81 percent to get
information from the state government web site. Citizens still rely heavily on face-to-face
contact with the government in the context of Pakistani society. These findings are also
congruent with other e-government research in the developing world (Thomas and
Streib, 2003; Kampen et al., 2005; Welch and Hinnant, 2003).
5.3 Research synthesis
According to the proposed conceptual model, the factors of web site design, e-readiness,
trust and quality of service directly influence the intention of the citizens to adopt
e-government services. In addition, it is also assumed that the security factor indirectly
influences citizens intention to adopt e-government services depending on the type of
e-government services, i.e. to get information or to conduct transaction with the
government (Al-adawi et al., 2005). The results from the study prove that e-readiness
including awareness, and quality of service including information quality are significant
variables which influence the citizens intention to get information from the government
web site. Moreover, web site design including perceived ease of use, e-readiness including

awareness, quality of service including service quality, security including transaction

security are significant variables which influences citizens intention to conduct
transactions with the government web site. The citizens are highly concerned about
information quality when getting information from the government web site, while to
conduct transactions with the government web site, they are concerned about transaction
security and service quality. For example, Ministry of Railways (www.railways.gov.pk)
claims to provide information about train schedules, but the information is not updated
regularly. In order to respond to the needs of passengers, the information provided on the
web site should be reliable, available, up-to-date and accurate. Similarly some sectors in
Pakistan like electricity corporations, gas companies and the Revenue Department claim
to provide e-government services to citizens for information and transaction purposes, but
in reality the links to conduct a transaction with the government web site are broken,
causing citizens concerns about transaction quality and security.
It is with these backgrounds that the variables of awareness, trust in the internet and
trust in the government were incorporated into the proposed conceptual model after
conducting experts reviews to make the study specific to Pakistan. The results confirm
the relationship of awareness and intention of the citizens to adopt e-government
services. In the context of Pakistan, awareness was found to be one of the potential
contributors to the adoption of e-government services. In addition, low internet usage in
the country, which is 10.9 percent of the whole population, leads to low usage of
e-government services (Internet World Stats, 2011). The government should initiate
awareness campaigns among the citizens to boost the adoption of e-government
services. However, the relationship of trust variables and intention the citizens was not
found to be significant. The reason for its non-significance could be respondents who are
highly educated and who also have great internet usage experience. Therefore, it can be
assumed that these citizens did not consider trust as a significant concern for adoption as
they are already well aware of internet technology.
On the basis of critical factors identified, the research has come up with an integrated
conceptual model to overcome the shortcomings of existing models (Kumar et al., 2007;
AlAwadhi and Morris, 2008; Mofleh and Wanous, 2008; Bwalya, 2009; Lean et al., 2009;
Elena, 2009), by integrating the adoption factors based on existing literature, and also
incorporating country-specific variables to make the model comprehensive. The model
presents the factors and their respective variables found in the literature with an
extension of quality of service, web site design, trust, e-readiness and security factors
containing the variables of service and information quality, paralingual web support,
trust in the internet and trust in the government, awareness, information security and
transaction security, respectively. In addition, the proposed model may also serve as
a starting point for decision makers to develop a better understanding of critical factors
influencing e-government adoption in Pakistan.
5.4 Summary of findings
The summary of findings for citizens intention to adopt e-government services to get
information from the government web site are shown in Table VIII. Information quality
and awareness are found to be significant variables. The values of beta state that
information quality has the greatest effect on citizens intention to adopt e-government
information services followed by awareness, as shown in Table VIII. To lead to an intention
to adopt e-government information services, first citizens must be aware of available
services provided by the government to get information from the government web site.

e-Government
adoption
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273

TG
6,3

274

Table VIII.
Summary of findings
to get information

Relationships
PU ! INT_1
PEOU ! INT_1
PW_1 ! INT_1
ICT ! INT_1
AW ! INT_1
SQ ! INT_1
IQ ! INT_1
PR ! INT_1
IS ! INT_1
TS ! INT_1
TI ! INT_1
TG ! INT_1

p-value

Findings

0.105
0.065
2 0.048
0.011
0.204
0.134
0.366
0.074
0.087
0.014
0.036
0.149

0.199
0.441
0.538
0.924
0.011 *
0.217
0.000 *
0.370
0.290
0.865
0.687
0.095

Not supported
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported
Supported
Not supported
Supported
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported

Note: *p , 0.05

The summary of findings for citizens intention to adopt e-government services

to conduct a transaction with the government web site are shown in Table IX. Perceived
ease of use, awareness, service quality and transaction security are found to be
significant variables.
The b-values show that service quality has the greatest impact on citizens intention
to adopt e-government transaction services followed by transaction security, awareness
and perceived ease of use as shown in Table IX. In order to conduct transactions with the
government web site, citizens concerns are highly associated with the quality of
transaction services and the security of transactions while dealing with the government.
6. Conclusion and future work
The research study was carried out in order to identify the critical factors that influence
citizens intention to adopt e-government services in Pakistan. The intention of citizens
to adopt e-government services was explicitly measured in terms of getting information
or conducting a transaction with the government:
Relationships

Table IX.
Summary of findings
to conduct transaction

PU ! INT_2
PEOU ! INT_2
PW_1 ! INT_2
ICT ! INT_2
AW ! INT_2
SQ ! INT_2
IQ ! INT_2
PR ! INT_2
IS ! INT_2
TS ! INT_2
TI ! INT_2
TG ! INT_2
Note: *p , 0.05

p-value

Findings

0.068
0.155
0.006
0.066
0.164
0.373
0.171
0.123
0.129
0.252
0.106
0.111

0.539
0.038 *
0.933
0.509
0.028 *
0.000 *
0.080
0.196
0.163
0.000 *
0.219
0.217

Not supported
Supported
Not supported
Not supported
Supported
Supported
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported
Supported
Not supported
Not supported

The results from the statistical analysis concluded that awareness and information
quality strongly influence citizens intention to adopt e-government services to get
information from the government web site. Citizens are highly concerned with
information quality when they intend to use e-government services to
get information.
In addition, perceived ease of use, awareness, service quality and transaction
security influence citizens intention to conduct a transaction with the government.
In this case, citizens are concerned about the security of their personal information
while transacting with the government and also issues of service quality,
i.e. reliability and availability of required information and also a quick response
from the government web site.
Moreover, the citizens who intend to use e-government services to conduct a
transaction with the government understand the ease of use associated with these
e-services. Therefore, this variable was found to be significant. The variable of
awareness about available e-government services was also found to be significant
in both cases of either getting information or conducting a transaction with the
government web site.
An integrated conceptual model is proposed by combining the constructs of
TAM, D&M, the DOI model and the SERVQUAL dimensions of service quality.
To make the model more comprehensive, country-specific variables were also
incorporated into the model after conducting experts reviews. The proposed
model contributes to the existing body of knowledge by integrating the adoption
factors into a unified model to present a complete picture of the influential factors
of adoption. The model provides basis for deep insight into the unified model
which can be used as a guideline for policy makers to develop strategies; and also
to boost-up the adoption of e-government services.

6.1 Implications of the study

Key findings are generated which can be useful for the policy makers and decision
makers in knowing about the needs of the citizens. In addition, understanding of
adoption factors will drive policy makers to formulate and develop strategies to increase
the intention of the citizens to adopt e-government services either to get information or to
conduct transaction with the government web site. An interactive e-government web
site can attract the citizens to make use of government web site by providing up-to-date
and precise information. In this way, citizens can easily access their required
information, which will increase their satisfaction and ultimately adoption of
e-government services. In addition, the government should look into the concerns of
transaction security, which will lead to the more usage of e-government services for
transaction purposes. The increased usage of e-government services can bring much
more benefits such as operational excellence, cost and time savings, increased efficiency,
effectiveness and quality of public services. The government should implement cyber
laws to make citizens feel secure and comfortable while they are transacting with the
government, which will increase the adoption rate of e-government services. Most of the
citizens in Pakistan are unable to access e-services because of limited resources and lack
of awareness about available e-government services. The government should make
citizens aware of e-government services to boost the usage of those services.

e-Government
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275

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276

In addition, the government should assure citizens about the availability and reliability
of information provided on the government web site, which will increase their trust on
the government web sites leading to the adoption of e-government services.
6.2 Limitations and future work
The citizens are prime users of e-government services. Their willingness to adopt
e-government services is a significant aspect for the development of any country. In
this study, the survey was conducted online by sending invitation e-mails along with a
web link to the target respondents of the study. The sample data might not be a good
representation of the whole population because most of the respondents in this sample
are educated and experienced internet users. Therefore, the results produced from this
study might be biased. It is possible that their intention to adopt e-government services
will be higher as compared with the less frequent internet users because they have easy
access to the internet and a computer at home as well as in their working environment.
Therefore, the need also arises to explore the adoption behavior of offline
respondents or less frequent internet users. Future work should explore and compare
the adoption behavior of online and offline respondents (frequent and less frequent
internet users) to come up with the findings at a more concrete level.
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e-Government
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About the authors
Mariam Rehman is a PhD candidate at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand.
Mariam Rehman is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: mariam.
rehmanait@gmail.com
Vatcharaporn Esichaikul is an Associate Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology in
Thailand.
Muhammad Kamal is a Research Fellow at Brunel Business School, Brunel University, UK.

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Web site design

PU_1
E-government services can save my time, compared with the traditional way of
dealing with the government
PU_2
E-government services can improve the service quality that I will receive,
compared with the traditional way of dealing with the government
PU_3
I think that e-government web sites will provide valuable services for me
PU_4
A state government website would enhance my effectiveness in searching for
and using government services (e.g. license renewal)
PEOU_1 E-government services make it easier to do my task (e.g. online tax payment,
online ticket purchase)
PEOU_2 A state government website would enable me to complete transactions with the
government quickly (e.g. online payment of utility bills)
PEOU_3 I believe that interacting with e-government services would be a clear and
understandable process
PEOU_4 It would be easy for me to become skillful at using state government services
Would the support of local language on e-government services be helpful to
PW_1
understand the contents of the service?
E-readiness
IN_1
Is government providing adequate facilities (e.g. ICT hubs, service centers or
internet cafes) to access e-government services?
IN_2
I have the resources necessary to use e-government services at home (e.g.
availability of computer, availability of internet)
IN_3
I have the resources necessary to use e-government services at work (e.g.
availability of computer, availability of internet)
AW_1
I have the knowledge necessary to use e-government services (e.g. skills for the
usage of e-government services)
AW_2
The government is fulfilling its responsibility to make people aware and educate
them about the existence of e-government services
AW_3
The government is giving training to citizens to make best use of online services
Security
PR_1
The decision of whether to use e-government services is risky
PR_2
I feel that the risks outweigh the benefits of using an e-government service

Variables Instrument items

Belanger and Carter (2008)

Elena (2009)

Kaisara and Pather (2009)

(continued)

Venkatesh et al. (2003), AlAwadhi and Morris

(2008)
Venkatesh et al. (2003), AlAwadhi and Morris
(2008)
Venkatesh et al. (2003), AlAwadhi and Morris
(2008)
Kaisara and Pather (2009)

Kaisara and Pather (2009)

Added in this study

Davis (1989), Venkatesh et al. (2003)

Davis (1989), Venkatesh et al. (2003)

Venkatesh et al. (2003), Carter (2008)

Venkatesh et al. (2003), Carter (2008)

Davis (1989), Carter (2008)

Venkatesh et al. (2003), Carter (2008)

Venkatesh et al. (2003), Carter (2008)

Elena (2009)

Researchers

Appendix

e-Government
adoption
in Pakistan
281

Table AI.

282
Carter (2008), Belanger and Carter (2008)
Added in this study

McKnight et al. (2002a, b), Carter (2008)

McKnight et al. (2002a, b), Carter (2008)
McKnight et al. (2002a, b), Carter (2008)

McKnight et al. (2002a, b), Carter (2008)

McKnight et al. (2002a, b), Carter (2008)

McKnight et al. (2002a, b), Carter (2008)

Added in this study

Doll and Torkzadeh (1988), Wang and Liao (2008)
Doll and Torkzadeh (1988), Wang and Liao (2008)
Stephens (2004)

Added in this study

Elena (2009)

Elena (2009)

Elena (2009)

Elena (2009)

Belanger and Carter (2008)

Elena (2009)
Elena (2009)

PR_3
TS_1
TS_2

In general, I believe that using e-government services over the internet is risky
I feel it is unsafe to transact with an e-government service
Hackers may be able to intrude governmental services and can also steal my
personal information stored on the web
IS_1
My personal information may be used in an unintended way by the government
agency
IS_2
The governmental services may allow another party access to my personal
information without my consent
IS_3
Someone can snatch my personal information while I am sending the information
to a governmental website
Quality of service
AV_1
E-government services enable me to access government information when I need
it, i.e. 24/7 everyday
RL_1
E-government services are more reliable to deal with than the traditional way of
dealing with the government
SD_1
E-government services are able to respond to citizens needs quickly
IQ_1
E-government services provide the precise information you need
IQ_2
E-government services provide up-to-date information
IQ_3
E-government services contents are easily accessible via the e-government web
site
Trust
TI_1
The internet has enough safeguards to make me feel comfortable with interacting
with the e-Government services
TI_2
I feel assured that legal and technological structures adequately protect me from
problems on the internet
TI_3
In general, internet is now a robust and safe environment to transact with the
government agencies
TG_1
Government services can be trusted to carry out online transactions faithfully
TG_2
The government provided services through the internet are trustworthy
TG_3
The government provided e-services keeps citizens best interests in mind
Intention to adopt e-government services
INT_1
I intend to use e-government services to get the information
INT_2
I intend to use e-government services to transact with the government

Researchers

Table AI.

Variables Instrument items

TG
6,3