Abstract:
The effective adoption of electronic government (e-government) services is
crucial for enhancing public services, particularly in developing countries like Sri
Lanka. Understanding the drivers that lead citizens to use and recommend egovernment
services is essential for ensuring long-term engagement and
diffusion. However, despite the significant investments in digital infrastructure,
Sri Lanka continues to experience low adoption rates in the context of egovernment.
The present study investigates the key factors influencing the
adoption of e-government services among Sri Lankan citizens using an extended
theoretical framework, which was developed by integrating the Unified Model of
E-Government Adoption (UMEGA) and the extended Unified Theory of
Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2). The proposed model
encompasses context factors: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social
influence, perceived risk, user factors: price value, facilitating conditions,
hedonic motivation, habit, personal innovativeness in IT, trust in government, and
system factors: perceived information quality, perceived system quality, perceived
service quality. The study collected data from 100 respondents using a structured
questionnaire, employing the convenience sampling technique. The model
explained 42% of the variance in attitude, 59% in use behaviour, and 57% in
intention to recommend. All the context factors significantly affected attitude,
while price value, habit, facilitating conditions, and perceived service quality
impacted use behaviour. Trust in government directly impacts on the
recommendation intention of e-government services. The model disclosed
acceptable model fit (SRMR = 0.057) and moderate predictive relevance (Q² =
0.44 for intention to recommend). The findings underscore the critical importance
of system improvement, trust-building, and user engagement strategies to
enhance peer-driven recommendation of e-government services. These strategies
are essential in the Sri Lankan context to drive adoption and sustained use of
governmental digital services.
