E-government and citizen adoption of innovations: factors underlying citizen use of the internet for state tax filing

Electronic government has been embraced by many organizations seeking to dramatically improve service delivery, but results to date have often fallen short of expectations. This dissertation is focused on state revenue agencies and their electronic tax filing mechanisms for state individual income taxes. It asks: What factors best explain whether a taxpayer adopts the new technology, filing electronically rather than by paper? Once they have adopted e-filing, what factors predict taxpayers’ satisfaction with the process? Findings are based on a survey sent to 1,000 taxpayers in each of eight states. Previous studies have suggested that demographic factors play a role in adoption, with technology adopters more likely to be younger, male, and educated. This study looks for the impact of other factors, including beliefs about how user-friendly the system is, how beneficial using the system is to them, their computer competence, and service cost by specifically controlling for demographic factors as these additional factors are examined. The additional variables are suggested in part by Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Path analysis, regression analysis, and a variety of cross-tabulations and t-tests were performed to analyze the data that was generated from the completed surveys. A total of 927 responses were received from 8,000 that were mailed representing a response rate of 12%. The results of the analyses showed that the TAM is an appropriate underlying framework for assessing the factors influencing adoption of electronic filing of state tax returns and the theoretical model was validated. Unlike most of the previous studies on national online tax filing in Taiwan, the results showed no difference in satisfaction with online versus filing by paper. However, deeper analysis into the segment that filed by paper showed that this group reports high rates of satisfaction primarily affected by ease of use, compatibility, and cost. Isolating this group for additional future research is important because they are equivalent to non-adopters of e-government services. Demographic variables like income, education and ethnicity were not significant factors affecting filing method. When controlling for demographic variables only age and gender emerged as a significant factors for filing method with younger males being more likely to file electronically. When controlling for demographic factors, none emerged as significant factors influencing satisfaction. By gaining an understanding of the underlying adoption factors, state revenue agencies will be able to make changes that will improve adoption of e-file systems, with resulting gains in costs savings, productivity, and customized service to taxpayers. Additionally, the study has broader implications since it also shows what factors are most important when any public agency is attempting to encourage citizens to adopt online, co-production approaches to government services. Consequently, the results of this research help to inform evaluations of the theoretical models of e-government and of citizen adoption of innovations.