ABSTRACT

E-government offers opportunities for improving the interactions between citizens, governmental and public institutions, private sector organizations, and public employees. Despite this, the take-up of e-government services has been vastly uneven in many societies with considerable digital divides existing. This study identifies the determinants of use of e-government in Spain through an analysis of the Survey on Equipment and Use of information and Communication Technologies in Households. A Path Analysis Model was used to identity the variables that explain why almost half of the Spanish population does not make use of E-government and how these variables are related. Two large groups of variables were found to be important: digital skills and trust in the Internet. Digital skills were affected by an individual citizens’ resources, such as their educational level and economic resources, as well as by age and gender. Meanwhile, their trust in the Internet was shaped by other attitudes and beliefs – mainly their concern about being targeted by advertising. These findings have important consequences for the design of policies to address digital inclusion across Europe and elsewhere, which need to focus on building citizen's trust.

摘要

电子政务为改善公民、政府和公共机构、私营部门组织和公共雇员之间的互动提供了机会。尽管如此，在许多存在相当大的数字鸿沟的社会中，电子政务服务的使用情况仍然非常不平衡。本研究通过对家庭信息和通信技术设备和使用调查的分析，确定了西班牙使用电子政务的决定因素。路径分析模型用于识别解释为什么几乎一半的西班牙人口不使用电子政务的变量以及这些变量之间的关系。发现有两大组变量很重要：数字技能和对互联网的信任。数字技能受到个人公民资源的影响，例如他们的教育水平和经济资源，以及年龄和性别。同时，他们对互联网的信任受到其他态度和信念的影响——主要是他们担心成为广告的目标。这些发现对欧洲和其他地方的数字包容性政策设计产生了重要影响，这些政策需要专注于建立公民的信任。