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Computers in Human Behavior 71 (2017) 299e306

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Computers in Human Behavior

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Qualitative approach to determine user experience of e-government services

Rajiv Kumar*, Amit Sachan, Arindam Mukherjee Indian Institute of Management Ranchi, Suchana Bhawan, 5th Floor, Audrey House Campus, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 834008, India

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history: Received 9 September 2016 Received in revised form 5 February 2017 Accepted 6 February 2017 Available online 7 February 2017

Keywords: E-government Qualitative approach Experience Behavior Value India

* Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected]

iimranchi.ac.in (A. Sachan), [email protected] 1 E-government: E-Gov.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.023 0747-5632/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

a b s t r a c t

E-government (E-Gov1) services provide new opportunities to citizens by allowing them to use gov- ernment services (paying electricity bill, e-filing, e-ticketing, get information about government policies & schemes etc.) anytime from anywhere irrespective of geographical location and releases citizens bound by government official hours. Experience plays an important role to change users' intention to adopt, that impacts their behavior and attitude too. The aim of this study was to investigate how citizens experience e-Gov services and how that experience influences their behavior. The study also investigates how users value e-Gov services. The study has used a qualitative approach involving 31 citizens of India, where e- Gov services are still at an early stage. The findings highlight the extent to which citizens are moving from traditional ways of using government services to using it electronically. The study also takes into account the effect of these technological innovations in government settings from a participant's perspective. The implications for researchers and practitioners are then discussed, with emphasis on government need to develop competent e-Gov services.

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Government is shifting to a new concept of providing extensive access of government services electronically from devices like computer, laptop, smart-phones and other handheld devices, which are much more integrated into daily human life (Second Administrative Reforms Commission, Promoting e-Governanc, 2008). In fact, while the traditional ways of accessing government services are limited to the office location, spatial dimensions and official hours, the e-government (e-Gov1) services are not related to a specific location but distributed in terms of access anytime and anywhere within an area enriched with the internet and computer technologies. Hence, citizens can access governmental services from anywhere anytime.

Various researchers and institutions have tried to define e-Gov in different ways but all headed towards a single notion and en- compasses a generic and unique mission - presenting government systems using information and communication technology (ICT) to serve citizens better (Evans & Yen, 2006; Muir & Oppenheim, 2002;

.in (R. Kumar), amitsachan@ n (A. Mukherjee).

Norris, Fletcher, & Holden, 2001; Reddick, 2006; Shareef, Archer, Kumar, & Kumar, 2010). Technological innovations change the way citizens access and consume information and the way in which government reach citizens and deliver their services. Online banking, credit card services and other mode of online payments are emerging as a promising means of supporting and using e-Gov services. In the paradigm of public service contents (outcomes), e- Gov services are categorized into different types by different research and organizations (Fath-allah, Cheikhi, Al-qutaish, & Idri, 2014). Each type of service levels represents a different service pattern, stakeholder orientation, types of interaction, levels of technological sophistication, security requirements, and reengin- eering processes (Dorner, 2009; Holden, Norris, & Fletcher, 2003; Moon, 2002; Shareef, Kumar, Kumar, & Dwivedi, 2011). From the end users' perspectives, services at each stage have significant difference in terms of functionality and characteristics (Gottschalk, 2009).

Despite diffusion, substantial growth and development of e-Gov universally, it is not clear whether citizens are ready to embrace these services in developed and developing countries (Carter & Belanger, 2005). Diffusion, acceptance, and success of e-govern- ment initiatives are contingent upon citizens' willingness to adopt these services. Although e-Gov systems have significant impact on public administrations, organizations, individuals, and society, so

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far only a few thorough and systematic studies have been under- taken on the subject to comprehensively integrate overall factors leading to its successful implementation (Jaeger, 2003). E-Gov theories and concepts are still in a premature stage (Shareef et al., 2011). Researchers from different disciplines have addressed this from their respective speculations and conceptualized in a scat- tered fashion (Heeks & Bailur, 2007). E-Gov discipline is an inter- esting area for scholars and practitioners, still there is a gap in the literature concerning the new dynamics in citizen's behavior and their experiences. For instance, previous studies (Al-adawi, Yousafzai, & Pallister, 2005; Carter & Belanger, 2005; Gilbert, Balestrini, & Littleboy, 2004; Klievink & Janssen, 2009; Kumar, Mukerji, Butt, & Persaud, 2007; Riley, 2003; Tung & Rieck, 2005; Wang & Liao, 2008) largely focused on citizens' acceptance of e- Gov services, without taking into account the effect of e-Gov ser- vices on citizens' experience.

Limited research on e-Gov users' experience motivated us to look into other similar areas of research e.g. e-services and e- retailing. There are a range of research (Berry, Carbone, & Haeckel, 2002; Dorner, 2009; Martin, Mortimer, & Andrews, 2015; Meyer & Schwager, 2007; Novak, Hoffman, & Yung, 2000; Pantano & Priporas, 2016; Rose, Clark, Samouel, & Hair, 2012; Rowley, 2006; Sorooshian, Salimi, Salehi, Nia, & Asfaranjan, 2013; Verhoef et al., 2009; Zhang & Prybutok, 2005) on e-service and e-retailing where customer experience is one of the key themes in these literature including the relationship between elements of the web experience and consumer behavior, customer satisfaction, inten- tion to buy and loyalty. The findings of these studies suggest that there are changes in shopping behavior due to change in customer experience over time in this new e-service environment (Dennis, Alamanos, Papagiannidis, & Bourlakis, 2016; Novak et al., 2000; Verhoef et al., 2009). Hence, one can predict that similar to e-ser- vice and e-retailing, government service experience might change over time due to the implementation of e-Gov which can be accessed by citizens' from devices like computer and smart-phones connected to the internet. This change in experience may modify e- Gov service users' behavior in terms of search, communication, transaction and participation. However, users' behavior in terms of adopting a new technology-driven system is a very robust and complex subject. Extensive study and research is expected in this area to focus on the criteria necessary for citizens to adopt tech- nology that will enable successful implementation of e-Gov.

The purpose of this research study is to investigate e-Gov users' motivation to change their behavior and develop understanding of this new users' experience and how it might create value for e-Gov users.

2. Literature review

Technology-based self-services (e-services) are changing the way in which service providers and consumers interact. This has raised a host of research and practice issues relating to the delivery of e-service (Rowley, 2006). Researchers have described e-service experience as self-service experience (Dabholkar, 2000; Meuter, Ostrom, Roundtree, & Bitner, 2000; Zhu, Wymer, & Chen, 2002). Online service delivery is different from conventional way of ser- vice delivery. Researchers have focused on explaining e-service experiences, and the relationship between e-service experience and consumer behavior, customer satisfaction, intension to use and loyalty (Rowley, 2006; Zhang & Prybutok, 2005). Lee and Lin (2005) and Yang, Peterson, and Huang (2001) have advocated that expe- rience is an important element in the establishment of trust and relationship with consumers. According to Meuter et al. (2000), consumers are particularly satisfied with e-service when their needs are met, when the services are consistent with their

preference for control, when they are faster and more flexible than the alternative, and when they deliver as expected. Problems occurring in the e-service system can result in a failure of service (Zhang & Prybutok, 2005) and may lead to loss of valuable oppor- tunities to build loyalty (Wachter, 2002). Apart from determining the success and failure of e-commerce, e-services are becoming increasingly important in providing consumers with a superior experience (Yang et al., 2001). Firms need to recognize that web experience presents an opportunity of strengthening its brand positioning to online consumers. On the other hand, it is also important for government and e-government service providers to recognize the important of e-government experience for the suc- cess of e-government projects (Kolesar & Galbraith, 2003; Rowley, 2004).

Similar to e-retailing, in e-government, the citizens' interaction or contact with the government is through technology, such as the websites. During an e-government service encounter, citizens have to rely entirely on sight and sound, whereas the traditional service experience can use all senses (Rowley, 2006). E-government is sometimes described as a relatively impoverished experience due to the absence of face-to-face interaction which is seen as central to relationship development (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Malhotra, 2000). Unlike traditional service, e-government services are not constrained by distance and opening hours, and are therefore deliver convenient. Convenience is linked with control for customer (Rowley, 2006). Citizens are presented with clearly defined choices in relation to a number of characteristics of the e- government services with which they engage. Since individuals personality may impact their perceptions of control and locus of control (Bradley & Sparks, 2002), different individuals may expe- rience e-government services differently.

In conclusion, technology mediation, which we describe as a defining characteristic of e-service, generates two inherent char- acteristics: e-service as information service, and e-service as self- service, each of which in their turn contribute to the nature of the e-service experience (Rowley, 2006). Technology readiness or stage of e-service adoption may have an impact on the service experience (Tsikriktsis, 2004; Zeithaml, 2002). The complementary body of work on the antecedents to e-service adoption also sug- gests caution in interpreting customer evaluations of e-service, particularly when their experience of e-service is much more limited than their experience of services mediated through human service agents (Bitner, Ostrom, & Meuter, 2002; Dabholkar, Michelle Bobbitt, & Lee, 2003; Yang & Jun, 2008). A related approach is to regard the e-government service experience as consisting of a number of service components, each of which evaluated separately by the web site visitors (Bauer, Hammerschmidt, & Falk, 2005; Santos, 2003; Zeithaml, 2002). There are mainly four types/levels: information service (view and collect government information), two-way communication ser- vices (communicate with government electronically, e.g. email), transaction services (transact electronically with the government), and participation services (online medium for public involvement) (Hiller & B�elanger, 2001; Layne & Lee, 2001). Each of these service levels represents a different service pattern, with unique stake- holder orientation, various types of interaction, varied levels of technological sophistication, unique security requirements and specific processes (Dorner, 2009; Holden et al., 2003; Moon, 2002; Shareef et al., 2011). From the end users' perspective services of each stages have significant difference in term of functionality and characteristics (Gottschalk, 2009), hence users experience them differently. The need to identify the scope and elements in the service experience is also acknowledged by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Malhotra (2005). In summary, technology mediation makes e- government services different from conventional way of accessing

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government services, and this suggests a re-evaluation of concepts of e-government service (Li & Zhao, 2003).

As discussed, literature in e-service context especially in e- commerce have discussed consumers experience, but further un- derstanding is required in the e-government context. Researchers in e-government context have been more inclined toward studying the e-government adoption (Al-adawi et al., 2005; Carter & Belanger, 2005; Carter, Weerakkody, Phillips, & Dwivedi, 2016; Gilbert et al., 2004; Klievink & Janssen, 2009; Rana, Dwivedi, Williams, & Weerakkody, 2016; Rehman, Esichaikul, & Kamal, 2012; Riley, 2003; Shareef et al., 2010, 2011; Tung & Rieck, 2005; Venkatesh, Sykes, & Venkatraman, 2014; Wang & Liao, 2008), neglecting the e-government experience context. Therefore, this study addresses this specific research gap and explores how citi- zens are responding to the e-Gov service use scenario. It has been debated that the best way to find out what users value is to ask them. In an internet commerce study aimed to find what the customer values, Keeney (1999) conducted an interview of over one hundred individuals about their experience of using internet commerce. Keeney (1999) argued that since different people have different values and their way of expression is different, it is useful to ask many prospective customers. Due to the increasing attention from scholars and practitioners on e-Gov, users' behavior appears to be a promising area. A qualitative research approach is chosen to fulfill th research gap. Understanding and interpreting the funda- mental meaning attached to e-Gov users' behavior and producing relevant insights are the main focus of this research.

3. Method

3.1. Research design

Our research purpose is to examine and describe the experience of e-Gov service uses in India. The study is exploratory in nature. Thus, a qualitative approach was chosen. Researchers (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998, pp. 1e34) have argued that “qualitative research study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them”. It further stressed that “qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials including personal experience and interview”. Alvesson (Alvesson, 1996) states that the arguments for qualitative research are based on its increased possibility for broad and rich descriptions and its sensitivity for ideas and meanings of individual concerned. There is also an increased likelihood of developing empirically supported new ideas and theories and, finally its increased relevance and in- terest to practitioners.

In order to shed light on e-Gov service users' experience this research holds an interpretivist perspective (Gray, 2013). Collins (1998, p. 190) argues that to make a real contribution to the study and practice of change one should adopt an interpretive approach that highlights relevant issues surrounding change, attitude and behavior of individuals. The interpretivist approach focuses on understanding concepts via interpretation and contributes in the process of building theory rather than testing, explaining, or pre- dicting assumptions (Harrison & Reilly, 2011; Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009; Tadajewski, 2006). The interpretivist approach supports the ontological assumption that the nature of reality is socially constructed (Tadajewski, 2006).

3.2. Sample profile

The participants of this study are e-Gov service users. A total of thirty-one users participated in the study. There were 12 females and 19 males aged between 18 and 44 years who had prior

experience of using e-Gov services. The technological competence of these age group participants was the primary rationale in selecting this audience. Most participants had access to e-Gov services either from their home computer or from office worksta- tion. Target participants also had access to e-Gov service from their smart-phones or similar handheld devices. Majority of them were highly educated (6 are under-graduate,12 are graduate,10 are post- graduate, and 3 are Ph.D). Sample for this study was working professional and students. Moreover, most interviewees defined their level of competence in using government services through internet as excellent (9 respondents), good (12 respondents), and sufficient (10 respondents).

3.3. Data collection and analysis

Qualitative data collection requires information rich partici- pants (Creswell John & Plano, 2007), hence selection of participants is an important task. Since the objective of this study was to explore the e-government users' perspective about their experience of e- government services, citizens who actively access e-government websites and are therefore information rich participants were tar- geted. The logic for such a sample was that they can better explain about their experience with e-government services. Participants were recruited through non-probability, purposeful, and snowball sampling (Miller & Chandler, 2002). We have conducted a face-to- face in depth interview with all participants. In-depth interviews reduce the “distance” between interviewer and interviewee (Stokes & Bergin, 2006) as it more efficient and provides more qualitative information, more statistics, more depth, more representation and more value. Participants were asked about:

(1) their perception about e-Gov services; (2) how e-Gov services respond while transacting; (3) what is their experience while searching/finding information

in government websites and how they ascertain authenticity of the content;

(4) what is their experience while transacting with government websites;

(5) what is their experience while participating with govern- ment through government websites;

(6) how e-government changed their behavior in availing gov- ernment services and whether there was any impact on their lifestyle;

(7) how they value e-Gov services; and (8) what were the aspects found lacking in e-Gov services and

what were the problems faced by them while using these services.

The interviews took place in MarcheApril 2016 with partici- pants who were all residing in India. Moreover, the choice of India as a referring country is justified by the fact that it is a developing country where the usage of e-Gov services is still at an early stage compared with other developed countries like the US and UK, where it is an established procedure. A semi structured interview guide that consisted of eight questions was designed to explore how change in participants' behavior was prompted by internet and how perceptions of this new experience emerged in the e-Gov service landscape. The questions in context of e-Gov were designed to draw more information from personal experiences. Five de- mographic questions were also asked to the participants. Average duration of each interview was 40 min, and in order to record the discussion a professional audio recorder was used with the concurrence of the interviewee. The interviewer becomes more attentive to the interviewee if interview is recorded, thus increasing the accuracy of data collection (Patton, 1990). Recording the

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discussion allowed the author to transcribe each interview completely to facilitate the content analysis process. Handwritten notes were also taken during the interview sessions and after completion of each interview the discussion were transcribed. MAXQDA (version 12) software was used to content analysis. The data generated by MAXQDA software was systematically structured by a set of variables and categories. To identify the themes, a total 117 useable statements from each interview were considered. The statements representing similar meanings were assigned to a sin- gle sub-dimension. To maintain uniformity, these sub-dimensions were labeled based on their visibility in literature. Considering counting as a useful moderator of research bias (Creswell, 2009), priority was given to dimensions showing higher frequencies.

4. Findings and discussion

The service experience associated with e-Gov environment is very different from a service experience that is mediated through a human service agent. The analysis of citizens' responses towards the potential of adopting e-Gov services yields several important insights about e-Gov and citizens behavior literature. In particular, we distinguish between three characteristics of using e-Gov ser- vices: its experience, change in behavior, and its value.

While most respondents judged their modality to be conve- nient, fast and easy, they specified their reasons for preferring this modality (when compared to the traditional way of using govern- ment offices). The first and largely recognized experience of using e-Gov services by both the male and female respondents is time savings. Gilbert et al. (2004) have concluded that time savings and convenience as the benefits that drive citizens to access e-gov- ernment services. An explanation might be that the interviewed range of population gives a lot of value to their time, and this is the prime motivation pushing them to change their behavior towards using e-Gov services.

A respondent (#3, male, 44 years old) stated: “I like using e- government services because it saves time. I do not need to visit government offices or counters that are bit far from my house. It also helps me to get rid of long manual procedures in government offices".

Citizens have experienced e-Gov services to be very fruitful and find it effective and convenient. Convenience in time- and effort- saving characteristics facilitated by the website (Curran & Meuter, 2005) promote citizens' use of e-Gov services by making the on- line channel more preferable than the offline channel for accessing a public service (Muthitcharoen, Palvia, & Grover, 2011). Thus, users have identified convenience as a key channel characteristic and value the e-Gov service from this dimension.

Respondent (#30, Female, 25 years old) stated “E-government websites have enhanced my effectiveness in searching for infor- mation and accessing other types of available government services. It is convenient and value for time and money. Earlier I used to visit government offices which are far away, but now I get most of the information and access to government services from my computer itself".

Respondent (#19, female, 41 years old) supported: “Using gov- ernment services through internet is more convenient than visiting government offices, because with this I can only see what best fits my interest”.

Respondent (#11, male, 20 years old) stated: “I don't like phys- ically going to the government offices. E-government services are faster and I can access it from anywhere - from my home and office without waiting in a long queue”.

Respondent (#1, male, 34 years old) added “It is painful to stand in queue for longer hours. Earlier we used to go to the hospital early morning to register for a patient to get doctors consultation in OPD.

But now the online services gave relief to us. We do online regis- tration which saves our time and relieve us from the pain of standing in long queue".

Moreover, our findings specify the importance of usefulness as a driver of positive citizens attitudes towards the e-Gov service environment (Bhattacherjee, 2001). Government websites are key sources for citizens to obtain information on public policies, regu- lations, and services. The accuracy of information available on government websites influence citizens' use of the websites (Cullen & Houghton, 2000).

Respondent (#29, female, 34 years old) specified: “I usually use e-Gov services because government offices don't give too much attention to my requirement and spend limited time with us. Sometime we get partial or wrong information and need to visit again or try to confirm from other channels”.

Respondent (#2, female, 31 years old) specified: “Most of the time I don't find government officials and staff on their seat or cabin. We need to wait for them for long hours and sometimes need to revisit them. This is a very pathetic scenario for the government services. The e-government systems gave us relief by accessing government services from my laptop".

An important motivation concerned the utilization value emerging from e-Gov services in accordance with previous studies that highlighted perceived usefulness as a driver of acceptance (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989).

Respondent (#5, female, 25 years old) stated: “I got my first job interview call just 3 days before the scheduled interview. I was so tense for a train ticket, because one needs to book at least 2e3 months in advance to get a confirmed train ticket. On my friend's suggestion, I was able to get confirmed train tickets by breaking my journey in multiple trains through the internet … and finally, I got my first job. It was a pleasant experience".

Another respondent (#11, male, 20 years old) specified: “Sud- denly I had to plan to travel to meet my uncle who was ill. Within short time, it was not possible to go to a ticket counter, which were far from my home and I was not having any vehicle. I checked in internet, and found that a few tickets were still available. I booked it immediately and got a confirmed ticket. It was amazing and very useful".

Another important experience of using e-Gov services was its compatibility with the respondents' lifestyle, which was signifi- cantly valued by many e-Gov users. Rogers (1995), and (Moore & Benbasat, 1991) have proposed compatibility as a good predictor of usage behavior. Most of the interviewers live alone and work during the weekdays. They hardly find any time to visit government offices. E-Gov services provide them a platform to access govern- ment services through internet at their convenience.

Respondent (#7, Male, 35 years old) specified: “I am a working professional and my office remains open on Saturdays too. Earlier it was hard for me to visit government offices on week-days, but now I can access these services through e-Gov portal from anywhere anytime".

Corruption has become an increasingly salient issue in India today (Sukhtankar & Vaishnav, 2015). This forces citizens to adopt alternate methods like paying bribes, using influence, approaching middlemen etc. to avail government services. In majority of the instances, the agents act as a channel through which bribes are facilitated to government officials for getting work done or getting it done faster. E-Gov services are able to restrict corruption to some extent and people are happy to get rid of corruption as well as these touts/intermediaries. E-Gov services are transparent and allow citizens to obtain information about the service through passive, active, and interactive information seeking strategies (Venkatesh, Thong, Chan, & Hu, 2016). Information obtained helps citizens in reducing their uncertainty about the service task and workflow.

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Respondent (#14, female, 39 years old) stated “Earlier we had a notion that without bribing and help of touts/middle men it is not easy or almost impossible to avail most of the government services. But now my behavior and attitude towards government has changed because e-Gov provides self-service facilities without any bribe or interference of middle men".

Further respondent (#7, male, 36 years old) added: “E-govern- ment helps us to get rid of brokers, agents and middle men. Especially like in applying for a passport or even for obtaining a license it does help. Earlier it used to take lot of time for getting a passport issued. We could not even we did not even use to get proper information like what is the status of my application, when police verification will be done etc. Whenever I went to the pass- port department I would have to stand in a long queue. Behavior of passport office staff was not that good and most were arrogant. However, when I got passport for my mother and my younger brother everything had moved online. We were able to track application status, were informed in advance about police verifi- cation schedule, and everything was done smoothly without any bribe or help from intermediary. So it did make things a lot easier and convenient."

In the context of transparency, e-Gov services treated every citizen equally without giving any preference to anyone based on their profile like status, job, rank etc (Bertot, Jaeger, & Grimes, 2012; Bhatnagar, 2003, pp. 1e9). Many nations have embraced ICTs as a means to increase government transparency and to reduce cor- ruption (Bertot et al., 2012).

Respondent (#12, male, 29 years old) argued: “E-government services treat everyone equally, and don't give any preference to anyone. E-government services are anonymous in nature, so I would say that it is more transparent and treat everyone equally irrespective of their job profile or economic".

In addition, perceived image contributes to positive users' experience (Moore & Benbasat, 1991). According to the DOI theory (Rogers, 1995), image influences the acceptance and use of an innovation. Image refers to citizens' perceptions that adopting e- Gov makes them superior to others in the society. Interaction with e-Gov systems, instead of using traditional government offices, is perceived to give these citizens superior status. Several researchers have, therefore, included this construct in their proposed model of e-Gov adoption (Phang, Sutanto, Li, & Kankanhalli, 2005; Tung & Rieck, 2005).

Respondent (#26, male, 40 years old) explained: “Government offices are accessible to everyone. Lower ranked people gather in these office premises. I don't like to go there and stand with lower ranked people in queue or wait for government officials who are less qualified then me. It defames my image. Using e-Gov service gives high value and respect to me in the society, where people think I am qualified and literate ".

Respondent (#23, female, 21 years old) stated: “For a female visiting government offices is affront because stupid illiterate people stare at us. Also government offices are hub of touts and agents and most of them are illiterate and uncivilized. It is also not prestigious to be there as it gives some wrong perceptions about me in the society. I always use government service to maintain my social status".

Similar to previous comments respondent (#27, female, 30 years old) added: “Our society is of closed culture, where female doesn't have too many freedom like going alone to some other places. In addition, it is not acceptable that some female visit government offices. My father has died few year ago and my mother is not educated. Being a girl, it is not acceptable in society for me to go government offices due to social binding. However, I got computer education through government scheme and now I am able to use government services from my home through internet without any

hesitation or social binding. It made our life easy and others too appreciate me for the same".

Since the adoption of e-Gov might reflect the adopters' famil- iarity with modern technology, higher level of education, compe- tence in using computers and the internet, and perception of modernism, these phenomena impart some degree of social values and prestige to adopters. Researchers (Shareef et al., 2011) argued that image has social, behavioral, and also cultural aspects and depends on an individual's personal behavioral ideology.

Similarly, the ease-of-use of e-Gov services contributes to the perception of a positive users' experience, in accordance with the previous studies (Shareef et al., 2011; Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003) that highlighted its importance.

Connectedness is a feature that is revealed by the study as one which is valued by the users. E-government sites also allow users to build online communities where they can connect and interact with other users who have similar interests (Bertot et al., 2012). Government of India provides citizens a platform to connect with government through websites (“Digital India,” n.d., “My Gov,” n.d.). Citizens can participate for government policy formation and add value to the decision-making process. Government of India en- courages citizens to participate by sharing idea, giving feedback and participate in polling and discussions. It helps citizens to connect to the government as well as similar community where a large number of people participate and discuss. Government is also using social networking websites like twitter, facebook and others to connect to citizens to address public grievances where one can file complaint, put suggestion and comments (“Government's ‘Twitter Seva’ to address telecom consumers' grievances,” 2016).

Respondent (#27,female, 30 years old) explained: “I feel that the government is nowadays making policies interactively, and I feel worthwhile being connected with government in their policy making process Today government is consulting with large number of people and encouraging them to express their views. Govern- ment also records those views. I feel happy discussing these ideas and views with a community through this platform”.

Due to poor internet connectivity, citizens also experience challenges accessing e-Gov services especially in times of some emergency, during high-priority events like booking train tickets through Tatkal scheme and when monetary transactions are involved. Slow and unreliable internet connection is a major barrier in accessing e-government websites as revealed by researchers (Vassilakis, Lepouras, Fraser, Haston, & Georgiadis, 2005).

Respondent (#26, male, 40 years old) explained: “Internet connectivity is not good at my home, therefore I avoid using any emergency e-government services for any emergency or for ser- vices where financial transaction risks are involved".

Poor reliability and quality of government websites dissatisfy the users and discourage citizens from using them. This gives poor experience to their users and results in citizens to be dependent on conventional government channels. In a report, Narasimhan, Sharma, and Kaushal (2012) has highlighted that website inacces- sibility is the largest and most common barrier to effective e- governance in India. In this report, 7800 government websites were identified for accessibility audit. However, only 5815 websites were analyzed because the remaining 1985 (around 25%) websites did not open and hence could not be tested. The non-availability of government websites on such a large scale seems to imply that either the list is not being updated or the websites are not being maintained.

Respondent (#07, male, 35 years old) responded: “Many e- government services are not up to the expectation, we are still dependent on conventional government services. For example to book tickets through the Tatkal scheme, I prefer to book from railway ticket booking counter rather than IRCTC which is slow or

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almost of no use during the Tatkal ticket booking window". Similarly respondent (#31, female, 27 years old) explained:

“Most of the government websites don't provide updated infor- mation and many times do not open. Majority of the information are obsolete or incomplete. This forces me to rely on conventional government systems".

Speed is a major issue in online train ticket booking (e-ticketing) in India especially during booking a Tatkal ticket. Government has taken some actions to improve the speed and reliability of train e- ticketing operations and is constantly trying to enhance respon- siveness. In a bid to improve the train e-ticketing experience for the Indian passengers, Indian Railway has launched enhanced e-tick- eting system through the IRCTC website in 2014 (“New IRCTC website can book 7200 tickets in a minute,” 2014). The booking capacity of the website, which has crashed earlier while booking Tatkal tickets, has been increased to 7200 tickets per minute as against 2000 earlier. The whole process has been made to be much faster and easier (“New IRCTC website can book 7200 tickets in a minute,” 2014). With the launch of the system, 1,20,000 concur- rent users can book e-tickets simultaneously against the earlier capacity of 40,000 concurrent users. In 2015, Indian Railway has taken another initiative to install five high-capacity servers to speed up its e-ticketing operations so as to reach 300,000 concur- rent users simultaneously booking train tickets (“IRCTC to install five more servers to strengthen its e-ticketing system,” 2015). In the same year, initiative was taken to increase its network band- width from the existing 1.4 GBe1.7 GB in order to enhance the performance of e-ticketing operations.

India is a federal country and there are three levels of govern- ment - Central, State and Local body. All three levels have some independent power and each level of government delivers some services to their citizens electronically. The quality of service de- livery varies from state to state. In addition, the quality of central government e-services differs from the service provided by state and local government. This research explored how citizens perceive the difference in service quality for different levels of government. It was found that in most cases services delivered by central gov- ernment electronically was more robust, of better quality and more trustworthy then state and local government.

Respondent (#5, male, 43 years old) argued: “E-government services delivered by central government are more robust, of better quality and trustworthy compared to state government e-services. Most of the state government websites do not have latest updated information. Sometimes one can find less relevant information and many times websites do not open. Local government websites are even worse and hardly provides any relevant information that is useful to us".

Citizens have argued that they have mixed experience with different e-Gov services. They have explained that some e-Gov services are good and meet their expectations; however many are not that effective and useful and some are of no use.

Respondent (#8, male, 34 years old) argued: “My experience of using e-government services have been quite mixed. When it comes to services like train ticket booking or online passport gen- eration, I feel they have helped me a great deal and I am quite satisfied with those services. Even though there is scope for improvement on these services, when it comes to services like fil- ing online complaints, their performance is clearly not what is expected from them ".

Summarizing the above we observe that time savings, conve- nience, ease-of-use, corruption avoidance, fairness in process, transparency, image, trustworthiness and connectedness are the key factors that give improved experience of e-Gov services to citizens and change their behavior by avoiding visiting government offices. Citizens value the e-Gov services from multiple dimensions

like time savings, convenience, enhancement of their image etc. Although e-Gov services have positive impact on citizens' attitude and behavior, citizens experience challenges like unreliable service, delay in response, website unavailability, inaccurate and insuffi- cient information, and transaction failure with several e-Gov ser- vices that lead to their dissatisfaction and keep them dependent on conventional government mode of government service delivery. Respondents also explained that e-government services at different levels of government have mixed experience. Users found central government websites comparatively better than state and local governments' websites in terms of performance and ease of use.

5. Conclusion

This study has explored how citizens experience e-Gov services and how they perceive then emerging benefits. Citizens can now experience government offices at their home itself by accessing public services from their laptop/desktop/smartphone or similar devices. This research has revealed how e-Gov service experience changes users' behavior to use government services electronically rather than through conventional government channels. Our research shows the extent to which citizens are willing to adopt e- Gov services and change their behavior towards using public ser- vices primarily to avoid standing in long queues or for steering clear of earlier problems in government offices such as misbehavior by their office staff and receipt of inaccurate or partial information. Ease-of-use, convenience, customer support and security have changed citizens' behavior and attitude towards using e-Gov ser- vices instead of visiting government offices. Customer support in- tegrated with e-Gov services boosts users' confidence by helping them in finding answers to their queries while using these services. Customer support also facilitates citizens by responding promptly via email, phone or other medium for issues encountered by them while using e-Gov services. This research further explains in detail how positive e-Gov experience creates value for citizens by saving their time and money, supporting their lifestyle, enhancing their perceived image and how these act as drivers for the new user's behavior.

The citizens also have varied experience with different levels of government-delivered electronic services. Citizens have mixed experience with same e-Gov services delivered by different state governments. This study has therefore revealed that not all gov- ernment websites are user friendly and some of their quality is not up to the mark. Citizens have a more satisfying experience with central government websites and they have a feeling that in most of the situations these are more robust than state government web- sites. Citizens also feel that generally the state government web- sites are more robust, beneficial and appealing compared to the local government websites. However, the current services are not sophisticated enough to provide a satisfactory experience due to a limited set of features and poor service quality in terms of access and design. Citizens experience slow e-Gov websites; sometimes these websites do not even load. Citizens also experience login failures, transaction failures in some cases and some of the e-Gov websites do not even have updated information - that result in anxiety. This study has also revealed citizens' experience of prob- lems while using e-Gov services due to unavailability of internet everywhere or poor internet quality. The continuous evolution of e- Gov services and various initiatives and efforts by government and associated agencies, particularly integrated services through a single sign-on single portal will provide experience that is more satisfying to citizens.

Summarizing the paper on one hand highlights the extent to which citizens are moving from conventional channels to electronic channels, while analyzing the effect of these technological

R. Kumar et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 71 (2017) 299e306 305

innovations in government settings from a user's perspective. On the other hand, it shows the extent to which this channel might substitute the conventional government service channels, while pushing government to integrate government services with elec- tronic channels opportunities. Therefore, our research explores citizen dynamics in the new e-Gov scenario by deepening our un- derstanding of citizens' point of view through a qualitative approach. This study recommends that to meet citizens needs via electronic services, government should take into account the changes in citizens' dynamics, their increasing use of technology, and ability of technology to satisfy some citizens' needs. The study also recommends that government should take action to improve internet connectivity at all places and government websites must be more user friendly, fast, and have the latest and complete information.

6. Limitations and direction for further research

Although this study has significant contribution, it is not free of limitations. This study was qualitative in nature. Hence rather than generalization, the focus was explicitly on obtaining a depth in understanding. Quantitative approach and analysis could be employed in forthcoming studies to support and validate the findings. Another limitation is that the sample used in this study was sufficient for the purposes of this study and allowed reasonable conclusions to be drawn, but it cannot be considered representative of all e-Gov users in India. Larger and more representative samples within India can be considered for the next study to strengthen the current findings. There is also an opportunity to further extend and verify the findings to other developing countries that are at similar e-Gov service maturity stage.

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