e-Government Adoption in India: a Mixed Method Approach

Potential benefits and popularity of e-government (e-Gov) have attracted researchers and practitioners across countries. E-Gov adoption is an important area to research. Extant e-Gov adoption models are narrow in their scope and focus on partial issues. Methodologically they do not provide strong theoretical framework and have not comprehensively integrated all factors of e-Gov adoption. Therefore, the need arises to explore the factors that influence citizens to adopt e-Gov services. In order to assess e-Gov services, numbers of e-Gov maturity stage models have been proposed by researchers, consulting firms, and international organizations. Characteristics of different type of e-Gov services differ and different service maturity levels offer different modes of service with different levels of association of technology. As a result, adoption criteria for e-Gov services of different maturity stages might have significant implications on their adoption. The critical factors that influence citizens to adopt e-Gov services at different maturity levels may vary. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that influence citizens to adopt e-Gov services and the factors to adopt e-Gov at different stages of service maturity. In addition, the study will also identify the factors that will influence users to move from using e-Gov services of one maturity stage to another maturity stage. Qualitative as well quantitative research methodologies are used for the purpose of this research. Qualitative research will be used to develop theories and suitable here because e-Gov research is in premature stage. Findings from qualitative research will be further validated by quantitative technique.