Developing an Instrument for E-Public Services’ Acceptance Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Abstract

Governments worldwide spend billions from their allocated IT budgets to deliver convenient electronic services to their citizens. As a result, it is important to encourage citizens to use these services to avoid potential failures. Yet, few empirical studies exist that cover the relevant issues of adoption from the perspective of citizens in developing countries. Moreover, the need for a well-validated instrument to capture citizen adoption of such services is vital, given the vast investment in technology and the potential cost-saving implications. This study integrates elements from the most popular theories, including adoption technology acceptance model (TAM), innovation diffusion theory (IDT), and theory of planned behavior (TPB), in conjunction with web trust models. It develops an instrument to measure citizens’ acceptance of electronic public services by utilizing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) within the structural equation modeling technique. Findings of a large scale data sampling of citizens in Saudi Arabia indicate that the proposed measurement model is an acceptable fit with the data. Overall, the findings supply a rigorous instrument for measuring citizens’ acceptance of e-public services, providing further insights for researchers and offering policy makers a suitable tool with which to study proposed strategies.