Cross-Cultural Analysis of European E-Government Adoption

Abstract

In terms of adoption, the topic of e-government has focused on the supply side (or government-related issues) such as strategies and policy, challenges, technical issues, evaluation of the usability of e-government Websites; however, less attention has been given to the demand (or citizen’s) perspective. Recent studies of the citizen adoption of e-government services suggest that trust, security, and transparency are the major issues for e-government adoption. The aim of this study was to explore whether cross-national differences in the adoption of e-government (Internet users who visited public authorities’ websites in last three months to obtain information, download, and file forms) are associated with differences among national cultures as described in Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long-Term Orientation).

Keywords: e-government, e-government adoption, European e-government, European Culture, Cross-cultural difference

JEL Classification: H7, H77