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Transforming Government: People, Process and PolicyEvaluation of government e-tax websites: an information quality and system qualityapproachParmita Saha Atanu K. Nath Esmail Salehi-Sangari
Article information:To cite this document:Parmita Saha Atanu K. Nath Esmail Salehi-Sangari, (2012),"Evaluation of government e-tax websites: aninformation quality and system quality approach", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy,Vol. 6 Iss 3 pp. 300 - 321Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506161211251281
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Users who downloaded this article also downloaded:Ally Lee, Yair Levy, (2014),"The effect of information quality on trust in e-government systems'transformation", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Vol. 8 Iss 1 pp. 76-100 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/TG-10-2012-0011Ramlah Hussein, Norshidah Mohamed, Abd Rahman Ahlan, Murni Mahmud, (2011),"E-governmentapplication: an integrated model on G2C adoption of online tax", Transforming Government: People,Process and Policy, Vol. 5 Iss 3 pp. 225-248 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506161111155388Mariam Rehman, Vatcharaporn Esichaikul, Muhammad Kamal, (2012),"Factors influencing e-governmentadoption in Pakistan", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Vol. 6 Iss 3 pp. 258-282http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506161211251263
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Evaluation of government e-taxwebsites: an information qualityand system quality approach
Parmita SahaDepartment of Engineering and Science, Sogn og Fjordane University College,
Sogndal, Norway
Atanu K. NathFaculty of Social Sciences, Sogn og Fjordane University College,
Sogndal, Norway, and
Esmail Salehi-SangariDivision of Industrial Marketing, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology,
Stockholm, Sweden
Abstract
Purpose Despite the growth in adoption of technology by governments, the assessment of qualityin electronically delivered public services has been relatively lacking. Past researches on informationsystems have identified information and service quality, system use, playfulness, and system designquality as critical factors of successful service delivery in e-commerce. The purpose of this paper is toempirically test the applicability of system and information quality criteria in evaluating governmente-services websites. The main research problem identified in this study was what are the system andinformation quality characteristics of government service delivery websites?
Design/methodology/approach Based on a survey of 97 Municipalities from all the 21 regions ofSweden, the authors examine the presence of system quality features, specifically functionality,navigation, and accessibility; and measures of information quality in government websites.A systematic random sampling was chosen as the suitable approach; 290 municipalities are organizedin 21 counties and we have chosen every 3rd number of municipalities from the list. An online surveywas conducted, with 408 valid responses taken. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted forsystem and information quality.
Findings Results indicate that accessibility and the navigation facility are important indetermining a citizens perceived system quality. Information preciseness, timeliness, and sufficiencywere found to be key measures of information quality in government e-services. Furthermore, animportant finding from this research is that theories from information systems (IS), e-commerce, andmarketing were found to be applicable in assessing government e-tax services within the broader areaof government-to-citizen (G2C) service delivery systems. In addition, a quantitative study wasconducted among citizens to determine system and information quality characteristics.
Originality/value The results presented in this paper can help the authorities to identify keyquality criteria for e-tax services that are valued by citizens and consequently improve service levels.Taking the context into consideration, additional variables are incorporated from literature that spansseveral disciplines (IS, e-commerce, and marketing), and some re-specifications are made to identifysystem and information quality criteria in the context of an e-tax filing service, which was the maintheoretical contribution of this study.
Keywords Sweden, Government policy, Public services, Web sites, Information management, Taxes,e-governance, e-tax services, Information quality, System quality
Paper type Research paper
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1750-6166.htm
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Received 16 March 2011Revised 18 July 2011,17 February 2012Accepted 7 March 2012
Transforming Government: People,Process and PolicyVol. 6 No. 3, 2012pp. 300-321q Emerald Group Publishing Limited1750-6166DOI 10.1108/17506161211251281
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IntroductionWith the rapid growth in usage of information technology and the web, governments arealso increasingly using these technologies in delivering services at all levels, with a viewto increase quality of service and achieving efficiency in their operations. E-governmentis stated to be the process by which information and services are electronically deliveredto its customers, which includes citizens, businesses, and public administration alike(Irani et al., 2008). Latif and Masrek (2010) further specify that the key feature ofelectronic government delivery is usage of internet technologies through web-basedinterfaces, enabling people to have access to resources and services anywhereand anytime.
Curtin (2006) identified the purpose of the e-government sites as the tool to providean efficient management of government information to all citizens, giving betterservices to the community, and to empower people through access to information andparticipation in public decision making. While e-government initiatives are responsiblefor managing and organizing a variety of information, Freed (2009) further states thatsuccessful web sites should enable the public to find required information quickly and inan easily searchable manner. Thus, the search function, functionality, and navigationbecome important for the execution of those responsibilities.
Studies show there have been considerable increases in presence and availability ofe-government digital services (GDS) the past few years, with over 83 percent of basicGDSs being available on-line as of 2009 (Colclough and Tinholt, 2009). Based on similarstudies conducted in 2006 and 2007 (Colclough, 2007; Wauters and Colclough, 2006), itmay be surmised that interest in GDS on the part of public administrations hasremained strong and has risen over the years. However, Bavec (2008) points out thatmany available GDSs are scantily accessed or used by citizens, and there are gapsbetween developer expectations and public approval. Thus, in real usage terms theavailability of the GDS do not necessarily translate into the sites being effective interms of the quality desired by citizens.
Markaki et al. (2010) have stressed the need for comprehensive web site evaluationsto understand the influence of factors affecting quality of e-government web sites.They cite three specific areas that can benefit as rationale for such evaluations: properallocation of resources for relevant implementations; construction and operation of ane-government web site being directly related to government images; and the associatedmanagement and service levels. This is further echoed by Luo and Shi (2010), who statethat how to strengthen the evaluation and establish a scientific index system to solvethe problem in the development of e-government web sites has become a problemwhich cannot be ignored.
Quality has emerged as one of the important issues in the industry (manufacturing,healthcare, education and government) during the last several years and in order to gaina competitive advantage it is important to focus on the issue how to improve theirquality. From the customers viewpoint, quality can be achieved when customersexpectations are met regarding the product or service being delivered (Chang et al.,2005). In the context of this study citizens are considered as customer for e-governmentservice. Quality is positioned to provide the key information regarding the quality of thesystem, information and service unit as they impact on stakeholders (Wilkin andHewett, 1999). The assessment of quality has been relatively less studied with respect topublic services (Ray and Rao, 2004). A renewed focus on such could be important since,
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to identify areas of improvement in public services provided, citizen perception of suchservices needs to be objectively measured (Irani et al., 2008). At the same timee-government efforts take on the objective of enhancing efficiency of governmentorganizations, better accountability, as well as quality enhancement of services deliveredalong with creation of new services (Heeks, 2001; Irani et al., 2005; Seifert and Peterson,2002). These efforts have been driven in part by the increased comfort, familiarity, andexposure the citizens now have with information and communication technologies andmore specifically the internet in their myriad applications in their daily lives, particularlyin the commercial sectors. This has also increased citizens expectations that the publicsector needs to reflect similar levels of effectiveness and efficiency in its services delivery(Ebrahim and Irani, 2005). This takes on added importance when we consider that for anyrelationship between citizens and governments to be meaningful, citizens perspectiveson services provided need to be measured in an objective manner in order to identify areasof improvement (Irani et al., 2008). This puts the onus back on assessing quality ofe-government services and the modalities of their provisions.
It is difficult to study every aspect of e-government services within the scope ofa single research. Therefore, it is essential that limit the area where we can focus.Accordingly, this research focuses on government e-tax services in Sweden and the aimis to identify system and information quality criteria of the government tax web site. Theonline tax filing system is a type of government to customer (G2C) electronic service,which provides an opportunity of availing online tax services to taxpayers. Thus, thisresearch is limited to evaluating G2C e-service as a part of the e-government domain.The study also limits its evaluation of system and information quality criteria of e-taxweb sites.
Based on the brief discussion, we arrive at the objective of this paper. The mainresearch question for this paper is formulated as:
RQ1. What are system and information quality characteristics of governmentservice delivery web sites?
The study is conducted in the context of Skatteverket.se, the e-tax web site in Sweden.Compared with other online services delivered by government, online tax filing is oneof the most developed and widely-used services. In the public sector, with the move toonline service being provided, tax authorities tended to be leading edge in adoption ofIT applications. Careful consideration of citizens perception and expectation isimportant in making this service effective and the service delivery process should bemore user friendly compared with the service delivered by traditional channels. Sinceperceived quality is one of the important determinants of web success, user perceptionand expectations need to be identified. The systems need to be clear and simple inorder to be used by the ordinary tax payer (Connolly and Bannister, 2008). Theadvantage of online service delivery lies in the fact that system designers have addedflexibility in designing sites so that the services and the content provided can matchthe needs of the clients. The idea is that such design approaches facilitate navigation,searching of information and retrieval of such, and thus meet the needs of thecitizens (Wang et al., 2005). Irani et al. (2008) have raised a valid criticism thatWang et al.s (2005) model considers e-government web site specific features and isbound to have its limitations when evaluating services based on other platforms.Recognizing the limitations of the application context in view, this study focuses on the
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system and information quality aspects of the e-government web site. Sweden is oneof the leading countries in the Western world that has proactively engaged inincorporating e-governance strategies extensively. E-tax services run by Skatteverketare a primary example of such strategies being put into action, and this study wasconducted within their context.
The major contribution of this research is that it identifies and empirically tests theapplicability of system and information quality criteria taken from extant AREresearch in evaluating government e-services web sites.
In the next section we shall review and discuss previous literature concerningthe study area. We then present the theoretical model and related hypotheses andfollow this by the data and measurements. The analysis and results are subsequentlydiscussed along with their managerial implications. We conclude the paper withrecommendations for future research.
Theoretical backgroundSince the study focuses on evaluating e-government services through system andinformation quality constructs, it may be worthwhile identifying what servicesconstitute e-government services. There is no universally applicable definition ofe-government; however, there are a few characteristics that help identify e-governmentservices (Irani et al., 2006; Al-Sebie and Irani, 2003). They are:
. technology to deliver government services electronically;
. transaction processes and the transformation of e-government services;
. benefit portfolio for delivery of government services electronically to the public;
. citizens as the central focus of service delivery; and
. delivery of government services through a single online point of access defining e-government.
Thus, delivery of government services electronically and keeping citizens as thefocus of service delivery are two recurring themes in literature. Similarly, measuringweb site quality is an important concern for the IS and marketing research areas(Lociacono et al. 2000). Widespread use of internet technology creates a need to identifythe factors that are related to web site success (Liu and Arnett, 2000; Aladwania andPalvia, 2002). Lociacono et al. (2000) established a scale called WEBQUAL for consumerevaluation of web sites with 12 dimensions: informational fit to task; interaction; trust;response time; design; intuitiveness; visual appeal; innovativeness; flow; integratedcommunication; business processes; and substitutability. Based on IS and marketingliterature Liu and Arnett (2000) identified measurement of web site success in the contextof electronic commerce. They have identified system quality, learning capabilities,playfulness, system quality, system use, and service quality as the success factorsfor web sites based on a survey of 1,000 companies. From the results they identifiedfour factors that are important to web site success in e-commerce. These factorsare information and service quality, system use, playfulness, and system design quality.
Kim and Stoel (2004) have tried to determine the dimensions of web site quality andwhich dimensions are significant determinants of user satisfaction in apparel retailers.They conducted a survey on 273 female online apparel shoppers and the study wasconducted from customers perspective. In their study they have used the WEBQUAL
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instrument that was developed by Lociacono et al. (2000). The results found six dimensionsof web site quality: web appearance, entertainment, informational fit-to-task, transactioncapability, response time, and trust. However, not all these factors are determinants of usersatisfaction. Only informational fit-to-task, transaction capability, and response time havea significant impact on user satisfaction. Aladwania and Palvia (2002) have developed aninstrument from users perspectives that covered the characteristics of web site quality.They developed 25 items with four dimensions of web site quality. These dimensions arespecific content, content quality, appearance and technical adequacy.
Based on the IS success model Cao et al. (2005) developed the factors that determinee-commerce web site quality which make a web site effective. They conducted a surveyamong students who are familiar with internet shopping. According to them, four factorsare important to determine web site quality from customers perspective. These factorsare functionality, content, service and attractiveness. Findings from their study indicatethat customers are more sensitive with finding more accurate information, security andfast search facilities. So web sites should be designed accordingly that will create anopportunity for users to find accurate information, easier search facilities, less loadingtime and ensure security. Smith (2001) has developed several criteria to evaluate agovernment web site and they have tested these criteria on a government web site to seetheir applicability. They have divided these criteria into two groups: information contentcriteria and ease to use criteria. Zviran et al. (2005) conducted a study to find out importantfactors that drive user satisfaction from the web site. They have empirically tested usersatisfaction of different web sites and determined two characteristics: usability anduser-based designed. Based on an IS and e-commerce success model Stockdale andBorovicka (2006) developed web site evaluation instrument and tested it through a pilotstudy on tourism web site. Based on the previous studies they developed system quality,information quality and service quality criteria to evaluate a tourism web site.
Following the above discussion, several quality criteria have been identified for theevaluation of web sites from a users perspective. This study tries to identify severalquality criteria for evaluation of government web sites from citizens perspectives andempirically tests them in the context of government e-tax web sites. Quality criteriawere divided further into system and information quality criteria followingthe previous study conducted in this field.
Characteristics of system and information qualityWangpipatwong et al. (2005) stressed that factors related to system quality andinformation quality significantly influence the adoption of e-government web sites.In doing so, they identified functionality, reliability, usability, and efficiency as systemquality characteristics, and observed that efficiency is the most important factor ina government web site. Accuracy, relevancy, completeness, timeliness, and precision,which are information quality criteria in government web sites, are identified in theirstudy. Additionally, they found timeliness and precision to be less important comparedwith other information quality criteria (Wangpipatwong et al., 2005). Barnes and Vidgen(2006) evaluated the quality of the government web site from a users perspective.They adapted the eQual instrument usability, information quality and serviceinteraction to measure government web site quality (Table I).According to the IS success model, system quality is concerned with the measurementof the actual system that produces the output (DeLone and McLean, 1992, pp. 64).
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Table I.Measures of
system quality
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According to McKinney et al. (2002), web site information and system quality are thekey constructs of web customer satisfaction. They defined system quality relative tosite success as the customers perception of a web sites performance in informationretrieval and delivery. Web customers perception of the quality of informationpresented on a web site is defined as web information quality. Information quality isconcerned with the measure of the systems output (DeLone and McLean, 2004). Basedon the IS literature, Chen (2010) identifies the quality antecedents of tax payersatisfaction for online tax payment systems. They also identify information andsystem quality as important quality criteria for government online tax web sites.
System quality in the internet environment measures the desired characteristics of ane-commerce system (DeLone and McLean, 2003, 2004). It is important to evaluate the website functionality that focuses on online service functions provided by the web site.Availability of the web site at all times and the speed of access of the web site is essential.In addition, it is also important to judge navigation characteristics of the web site andevaluate the presence of links for needed information (McKinney et al., 2002; Cao et al.,2002). Information quality is concerned with issues such as the relevance, timeliness, andaccuracy of the information generated by an IS (DeLone and McLean, 2003, 2004). In thee-commerce context, information delivery is an important role of web sites, and quality isconsidered a critical issue (McKinney et al., 2002). Several quality evaluation aspects areessential, including the correctness of the output information, the availability of theoutput information at a time suitable for its use, and the comprehensiveness of the outputinformation content (Bailey and Pearson, 1983). It is also important to consider issuessuch as relatedness, clearness, and goodness of the information (McKinney et al., 2002).
Rai et al. (2002) studied users of a computerized student information system (SIS) andfound system quality and information quality to be determinants of satisfaction. Theyhave taken system quality as ease of use and defined it as the degree to which thesystem is user friendly, and they measured information quality content, accuracy, andformat, the three attributes generated by SIS. Roca et al. (2006) completed their study onunderstanding e-learning continuance intention and found that information quality andsystem quality are significant determinants of satisfaction. Li (1997) conducted a studyon perceived importance of IS success factors. Based on the previous studies, severaladditional factors of IS success have been identified. The results of the study identifiedfive important factors: accuracy of output, reliability of output, relationship betweenusers and the CBIS staff, users confidence in the systems, and timeliness of output.
Iivari (2005) empirically tested DeLone and McLeans IS success model in theorganizations new IS. The results of the study suggested that perceived systemquality and perceived information quality are significant predictors of user satisfactionin the success of individual IS applications. In this study, 24 items that coveredflexibility, system integration, response time, recoverability, convenience, and commonlanguage measured system quality. For measuring information quality, 24 itemswere selected that addressed completeness, precision, accuracy, consistency, currency,and format characteristics. Roldan and Leal (2003) adapted DeLone and McLeans(1992) IS success model and validated it in a Spanish executive information system(EIS). In their research, they conducted a survey, and the respondents for the surveywere EIS users. The results of their study indicate that system quality and informationquality have a significant positive influence on EIS user satisfaction (Table II).
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Au
thor
Des
crip
tion
ofth
em
easu
res
Are
aof
the
stu
dy
DeL
one
and
McL
ean
(200
3)C
omp
lete
nes
s,ea
seof
un
der
stan
din
g,
per
son
aliz
atio
n,
rele
van
ce,
and
secu
rity
Su
cces
sof
e-co
mm
erce
con
tex
t
Bai
ley
and
Pea
rson
(198
3)A
ccu
racy
,tim
elin
ess,
pre
cisi
on,
reli
abil
ity
,cu
rren
cy,
com
ple
ten
ess,
form
atof
outp
ut,
vol
um
eof
outp
ut,
and
rele
van
cy
An
aly
zin
gco
mp
ute
ru
ser
sati
sfac
tion
Bar
oud
ian
dO
rlik
owsk
i(1
988)
Rel
iab
ilit
yof
outp
ut,
rele
van
cyof
outp
ut,
accu
racy
ofou
tpu
t,p
reci
sion
ofou
tpu
t,co
mp
lete
nes
sof
outp
ut
Mea
sure
ofu
ser
info
rmat
ion
sati
sfac
tion
Sed
don
and
Kie
w(1
996)
Ou
tpu
tis
pre
sen
ted
ina
use
ful
form
atS
ucc
ess
fact
ors
inth
eu
niv
ersi
tys
rece
ntl
yim
ple
men
ted
dep
artm
enta
lac
cou
nti
ng
syst
emS
atis
fied
wit
hth
eac
cura
cyof
the
syst
emC
lear
info
rmat
ion
Acc
ura
tesy
stem
Su
ffici
ent
info
rmat
ion
Up
-to-
dat
ein
form
atio
nIn
form
atio
nn
eed
edin
tim
eP
rov
ide
rep
orts
that
nee
ded
Pre
cise
info
rmat
ion
Info
rmat
ion
con
ten
tad
dre
sses
nee
ds
McK
inn
eyet
al.
(200
2)R
elev
ance
:ap
pli
cab
le,
rela
ted
,p
erti
nen
tM
easu
rem
ent
ofw
ebcu
stom
ersa
tisf
acti
onU
nd
erst
and
abil
ity
:cl
ear
inm
ean
ing
,ea
syto
un
der
stan
d,
easy
tore
adR
elia
bil
ity
:tr
ust
wor
thy
,ac
cura
te,
cred
ible
Ad
equ
acy
:su
ffici
ent,
com
ple
te,
nec
essa
ryto
pic
sS
cop
e:w
ide
ran
ge,
wid
ev
arie
tyof
top
ics,
dif
fere
nt
sub
ject
sU
sefu
lnes
s:in
form
ativ
e,v
alu
able
Cao
etal.
(200
5)In
form
atio
nac
cura
cy:
use
ful
info
rmat
ion
,ac
cura
tein
form
atio
n,s
ite
isin
form
ativ
e,u
pd
ated
info
rmat
ion
,h
igh
qu
alit
yin
form
atio
n,
tim
ely
info
rmat
ion
B2C
e-co
mm
erce
web
site
qu
alit
y
Info
rmat
ion
rele
van
cy:
rele
van
tac
cord
ing
tou
ser
Av
aila
bil
ity
ofin
form
atio
nac
cord
ing
tou
ser
nee
ds
and
rele
van
tin
form
atio
n
(continued
)
Table II.Measures ofinformation quality
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Au
thor
Des
crip
tion
ofth
em
easu
res
Are
aof
the
stu
dy
Li
(199
7)A
ccu
racy
ofou
tpu
t,ti
mel
ines
sof
outp
ut,
pre
cisi
onof
outp
ut,
reli
abil
ity
ofou
tpu
t,cu
rren
cyof
outp
ut,
com
ple
ten
ess
ofou
tpu
t,an
dfo
rmat
ofou
tpu
t
ISsu
cces
sfa
ctor
s
Wan
gp
ipat
won
get
al.
(200
5)A
ccu
racy
,ti
mel
ines
s,re
lev
ancy
,p
reci
sion
,an
dco
mp
lete
nes
sF
acto
rsin
flu
enci
ng
the
adop
tion
ofe-
gov
ern
men
tw
ebsi
tes
Roc
aet
al.
(200
6)S
yst
emp
rov
ides
rele
van
tin
form
atio
nA
ccep
tan
ceof
e-le
arn
ing
Sy
stem
doe
sn
otp
rov
ide
easy
-to-
un
der
stan
din
form
atio
nO
utp
ut
info
rmat
ion
isn
otcl
ear
Info
rmat
ion
pre
sen
tati
onin
anap
pro
pri
ate
form
atIn
form
atio
nco
nte
nt
isv
ery
goo
dIn
form
atio
nis
up
-to-
dat
eC
omp
lete
nes
sof
outp
ut
info
rmat
ion
Info
rmat
ion
del
iver
edis
not
suffi
cien
tfo
rp
urp
oses
Rel
iab
ilit
yof
outp
ut
info
rmat
ion
ish
igh
Pro
vid
esin
form
atio
nin
tim
eR
aiet
al.
(200
2)P
reci
sein
form
atio
nac
cord
ing
tou
ser
nee
dS
ucc
ess
fact
ors
inin
teg
rate
dS
ISat
un
iver
sity
Pro
vid
esou
tpu
tth
atis
exac
tly
wh
atth
eu
ser
nee
ds
Su
ffici
ent
info
rmat
ion
toen
able
use
rsto
do
task
sE
rror
sin
the
pro
gra
mth
atu
sers
mu
stw
ork
arou
nd
Sat
isfi
edw
ith
the
accu
racy
Ou
tpu
top
tion
s(p
rin
tty
pes
,p
age
size
sal
low
edfo
r,et
c.)
suffi
cien
tfo
ru
ser
app
lica
tion
sIn
form
atio
np
rov
ided
was
hel
pfu
lre
gar
din
gu
ser
qu
esti
ons
orp
rob
lem
sR
old
anan
dL
eal
(200
3)C
urr
ent
and
tim
ely
info
rmat
ion
Su
cces
sfa
ctor
sin
the
Sp
anis
hE
ISR
elev
ant,
use
ful
and
sig
nifi
can
tin
form
atio
nC
onci
sean
dsu
mm
ariz
edin
form
atio
nA
ccu
rate
info
rmat
ion
Ord
erly
and
clea
rin
form
atio
nR
easo
nab
lean
dlo
gic
alin
form
atio
n
Table II.
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MethodologyThe purpose of the research is to identify the system and information qualitycharacteristics within the context of a government e-tax web site. For this purposeprevious literature was reviewed to identify the system and information qualitycharacteristics. As such, this research is of an exploratory nature, and a quantitativeapproach was chosen to test the aforementioned quality criteria empirically. A surveywas chosen as the preferred method, since it allows the collection of descriptivecross-sectional data (Hair et al., 2007).
Measures developmentFrom the previous literature seven items were selected to measure system quality thatcovered functionality, navigation, accessibility the main characteristics of systemquality. Items were selected from the previous studies done by Liu and Arnett (2000),McKinney et al. (2002), Smith (2001), Aladwania and Palvia (2002), Wangpipatwong et al.(2005), Stockdale and Borovicka (2006) and Cao et al. (2005).
Seven items were selected from previous literature to measure information quality,which were measures of the characteristics of information provided by governmentweb sites. Items were selected per the previous study done by Aladwaniaand Palvia (2002), Liu and Arnett (2000), Bailey and Pearson (1983), Li (1997),Smith (2001), Wangpipatwong et al. (2005), McKinney et al. (2002), Stockdale andBorovicka (2006), Seddon and Kiew (1996), Rai et al. (2002), Cao et al. (2005) andRoca et al. (2006).
Sampling justification and data collectionFor this research, the target population is taxpayers, who by definition mustbe employees. Thus, organizations were incorporated as a mode for simplifying theprocess of contacting employees;, i.e. potential respondents as taxpayers. Here, wemade the choice of selecting municipalities all over Sweden to be the primary type oforganization being targeted. By its nature, a municipality represents the people, andthe employee profiles reflect its citizens, since people from different educationaland other backgrounds are all resident in the employee profiles, just as in thesurrounding society. A total of 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties andwe have chosen every third number of municipalities from the list. As a secondarysource, employees from six universities from different parts of Sweden (by region) wereselected to send out the surveys. Two universities were selected from north and centralSweden, two were selected near Stockholm, and two were selected from southernSweden.
Within each county, listings were made of the municipalities within. A systematicrandom sampling was implemented with every third element within the list beingtargeted as respondent organization. An online survey was administered to theselected sample.
The online survey was hosted on a central server, and an e-mail was sent to possiblerespondents explaining the nature of the survey. Since the e-mails were sent using listsin a particular organization, it was possible to reach a large number of people in a shortamount of time. The survey was left open for two months and during this time, 425 validresponses were received. The response rate was 3.63 percent of the 425 responses.
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Addressing possible common method bias in the current researchIn the current research work, common method bias can arise due to the useof a single respondent to address all the variables in the model. As a result, using it formeasuring both predictive and criterion variables may result in a method effectproduced by the common source. Another possible source of common method bias inthis research is the consistency motif, or respondents answering while looking forsimilarities and trying to maintain consistency. Other sources of common method bias,such as the items of social desirability or characteristic effects, are deemed not applicablein the context of this research.
According to Podsakoff et al. (2003), several ways have been suggested to counterpossible common method bias in behavioral research. We can achieve this by usingseveral procedural remedies:
. Temporal, proximal, psychological, or methodological separation of measurement.Another option is to introduce a temporal, proximal, or psychological separationbetween the measurements. This is aimed at reducing any contextual cues thatmay have been present in one instance. Also, temporal separation can help removeanswers from short-term memory. A locational separation is aimed at theelimination of locational retrieval cues. Due to resource and time constraints withinthe research, it is not possible to collect data from different periods. It is also difficultto find the same respondent group to answer the question a second time.Thus, reducing common method bias through temporal separation is not feasible.However, since the survey is conducted online, it already has eliminated locationalcues from the respondents environments; therefore, a locational separationis in effect here. Also, since the questionnaire is answered online rather than in apredetermined room or laboratory setting, any contextual cues are also eitherabsent or present in any respondent situation, since it is only the computerenvironment. Thus, contextual cues are also removed by using an onlinequestionnaire that reduces common method bias.
. Protecting respondent anonymity and reducing evaluation apprehension. Finally,protecting respondent anonymity and reducing evaluation apprehension arecited as procedures that can be used to reduce common method bias; the surveyis designed accordingly. Statements are highlighted at the beginning of thesurvey noting that responses are completely anonymous, and that the data givencannot be identified with any respondent. Furthermore, providing demographicdata is optional, and the fact is highlighted within the questionnaire. Thesesteps reduce evaluation apprehension and thus reduce the common method bias.
Data analysisIn order to establish the internal consistency of the measurement instruments,reliability analysis was conducted. It was established by calculating coefficientalpha, also known as Cronbachs a, to measure the internal consistency of the scale.All of the items are found to be reliable, since the values are above the recommendedlevel of 0.7. Cronbachs a of the scales system quality (0.874) and information quality(0.863) showed a very good internal consistency of the scales (the Appendix).
Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to get an idea for the factor structure,further examination of the factor structure and measurement purification and validationconfirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted for each construct to refine the
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scales and that gives an idea about different assumed variables truly measure thefactors identified in the research model. CFA was conducted on system and informationquality construct to check whether all the items load satisfactorily.
An exploratory factor analysis was conducted for system quality construct withseven items and information quality construct with seven constructs. From the resulta one-factor solution was derived for both system and information quality constructs.Significant factor loading (more than 0.50) was found for all items for both constructs.
CFA for system qualitySeven items were selected from the previous study and the results from exploratoryfactor analysis were used to measure system quality. A CFA was conducted with theseseven items to see whether items load satisfactorily to measure this construct. At the endof the analysis, four items were selected to measure system quality. Items were omittedin several cases based on the variance explained, the path loadings, and standardizedresidual value, and the factor structure was gradually refined based on the findings fromthe model runs (Figure 1).
We have looked at the overall modification indices and checked whether error termrelated with item identified from standardized residual covariance. Removing the itemswill decrease the x 2 value and improve the model fit. We have looked at the overallmodification indices and checked whether taking more of the same errors can result inan even greater decrease in the x 2 value. In such a case, we found a significant changefor the same error term and we calculated the total decrease that can occur if we were toremove the particular item associated with the error term. Taking out two items willdecrease the x 2 value. So, based on standardized residual covariance and modificationindices, it was decided to take the items out and run the simulation to get a good fit.
Determining the overall fit. Looking at overall model fit, we found that thegoodness-of-fit index (GFI) value is 0.949, which is greater than acceptable level 0.90,value adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) is 0.953, which is also greater thanacceptable value 0.80. Two reliable indicator Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) andcomparative fit index (CFI) values are, respectively, 0.979 and 0.993 and more thanacceptable level. These values should preferably be greater than 0.90. RMSEA value is0.089, which indicates acceptable fit (Tables III and IV).
Figure 1.CFA model forsystem quality
sysq
0.88
sysq7e1
0.940.78
sysq6e2
0.88
0.38
sysq5e30.61
0.51
sysq3e5
0.72
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From the results, we found that all the standardized loadings are over 0.5 and thecritical ratio is more than 1.96. Looking at standardized residual covariance, all thevalues are less than 2.58.
CFA for information qualitySeven items were selected from previous work and the results from exploratory factoranalysis were used to measure information quality. CFA stared with seven items andat the end of the analysis four items load satisfactorily to measure this construct. Basedon standardized residual covariance and modification indices it was decided whichitems are responsible for model misspecification and should thus be removed from themodel to get a better fit. The results are shown in Figure 2.
From the results we can see all the standardized loadings are over 0.50 and criticalratio is more than 1.96, all the standardized residual values are less than 2.58 andmodel fit is good. CMIN/DF (1.130) and RMSEA (0.018) values are acceptable.
Model RMSEA CMIN/DF GFI AGFI CFI TLI IFI
Default model 0.089 4.228 0.990 0.949 0.993 0.979 0.993Saturated model 1.000 1.000 1.000Independence model 0.610 152.504 0.455 0.091 0.000 0.000 0.000
Note: p 0.015, x 2 8.456Table III.
Fit index forsystem quality
Structuralrelation
Regressionweight SE
Criticalratio
Standardized regressionweights
Squared multiplecorrelation
Sysq7 sysq 1.000 0.938 0.879Sysq6 sysq 0.959 0.039 24.772 0.884 0.782Sysq5 sysq 0.559 0.040 14.067 0.614 0.377Sysq3 sysq 0.724 0.041 17.701 0.718 0.515
Table IV.Estimated values forsystem quality items
Figure 2.CFA model for
information quality
infq
0.58
infq6e2
0.76
0.32
infq5e3
0.57
0.73
infq4e4 0.85
0.66
infq2e6
0.81
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The GFI value is 0.997 which is greater than the acceptable level, 0.90; value AGFI is0.986, which is also greater than the acceptable value, 0.80. Two reliable indicators, theTLI and CFI values, are, respectively, 0.999 and 0.100 and more than the acceptablelevel (Tables V and VI).
Discussion on findingsSystem quality is defined for this study as a desired functionality and performancecharacteristic of a government web site and seven items (see Table I for item sourcestaken from previous literature) were selected to measure system quality in this studyand were selected based on previous studies. Items that were selected at the beginningare: this web site provides necessary information and forms to be downloaded (sysq1);this web site provides helpful instruction for performing my task (sysq2); this web siteprovides fast information access (sysq3); this web site quickly loads all the text andgraphics (sysq4); it is easy to go back and forth between pages (sysq5); it only takes a fewclicks to locate information (sysq6); and it is easy to navigate within this site (sysq7).At the end of instrument refinement process, four items (sysq3, sysq5, sysq6, sysq7)were finally taken as measures of system quality in government e-tax filing services.Thus, four items are found to determine citizens perceived system quality. Resultsindicate that easy navigation facility is highly related to determining system quality.Items that are related to navigation facility of the web site and accessibility areimportant to determine citizens perceived system quality. That implies that whencitizens are filing their tax return and other tax-related activities they prefer that the website should have proper and easy navigation facilities and easy information access.These are the main functionality and characteristics of the web sites identified in thisstudy. This finding corresponds to past assertions by McKinney et al. (2002),Lu et al. (2002), Barnes and Vidgen (2006) and Chen (2010), that navigation facilities, fastaccess and evaluating the links for needed information are important characteristics ofweb site evaluation. This further confirms the findings by Freed (2009) that success ofweb sites depends on their ability to serve the public to find information quickly andeasily searchable.
Structuralrelation
Regressionweight SE
Criticalratio
Standardized regressionweights
Squared multiplecorrelation
Infq6 InfQ 1.031 0.065 15.836 0.765 0.585Infq5 InfQ 0.574 0.051 11.254 0.566 0.321Infq4 InfQ 1.045 0.061 17.216 0.852 0.726Infq2 InfQ 1.000 0.811 0.658
Table V.Estimated values forinformation quality items
Model RMSEA CMIN/DF GFI AGFI CFI TLI IFI
Default model 0.018 1.130 0.997 0.986 1.000 0.999 1.000Saturated model 1.000 1.000 1.000Independence model 0.519 110.515 0.510 0.184 0.000 0.000 0.000
Note: p 0.323, x 2 2.259Table VI.CFA fit indice forinformation quality
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Information quality is defined in this study as the characteristics of informationprovided by a government web site. Based on previous literature, seven items wereselected to measure information quality (Table II). The items were identified atthe beginning and are: information on this web site is free from errors (infq1); thisweb site provides information precisely according to my need (infq2); information onthis web site is up-to-date (infq3); this web site provides information I need at the righttime (infq4); information presented on this web site is related to the subject matter(infq5); information on this web site is sufficient for the task at hand (infq6); informationon this web site is sufficient for the task at hand (infq7); and information containsnecessary topics to complete related task (infq8). After scales refinement, four (infq2,infq4, infq5, infq6) were taken to measure information quality in the context ofgovernment e-tax services. These four items covered information precision, informationtimeliness and sufficiency or completeness of the information characteristics. Ourfindings correspond to past researchs identification of information qualitycharacteristics (Bailey and Pearson,1983; Baroudi and Orlikowski, 1988; Seddon andKiew, 1996; Cao et al., 2005; Li, 1997). The results indicate that the provision of timely andprecise information according to citizens need is found to be important. This also standsto reason since timely and precise information is requisite for timely completion andfiling of tax returns. So the next important information characteristic for determiningcitizens perceived information quality is the sufficiency of information availabilityon the web site that helps citizen to complete their tax-related task. According toWangpipatwong et al. (2005), information accuracy, timeliness, preciseness andcompleteness of the information were identified as information quality characteristicsfor government web sites; and accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of informationpresented on the web sites are the important information quality criteria of online taxweb sites identified by Chen (2010).
Theoretical and practical implications of the studyThis study identifies an important determinant of system quality and informationquality in the government tax web site. Based on extensive literature review from theIS, e-commerce, and marketing research areas the system and information qualitycharacteristics were selected and they were tested in government e-service deliverycontext particularly on a Swedish e-tax web site. The results indicate that IS,e-commerce, and marketing theory are applicable in the G2C area; more specifically,government e-tax service delivery. Csetenyi (2000) proposed application of ecommerceand e-business technologies as a means to increase efficiency in the provision ofservices to citizens and businesses.
Navigation facility and accessibility of the online tax web sites are important todetermine citizens perceived system quality, so the study identified the importantsystem quality criteria for online tax web site from the citizens view point. Accordingto Chen (2010), system quality depends on three factors: accessibility, interactivity andease of use. When citizens use the online system to filing their tax return they need tointeract with the authority, download necessary documents, and also need to navigatedifferent pages on the web sites. Good accessibility and interactivity positively affectthe online system quality of web sites. Navigation facilities was identified asan important quality criterion of government web sites (Barnes and Vidgen, 2006).
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From the results it was found that information precision, information timeliness andsufficiency or completeness of the important information characteristics were used toevaluate government e-tax web sites. The implication of the results indicates thatinformation presented should be more precise and should cater to the citizens needs,they should also provide information at the right time and information should besufficient for the citizen to complete the tax-related activities. According to Chen (2010),information quality is the important characteristic of online tax web sites. Chen (2010)measures information quality of tax web sites, focusing on accuracy, timeliness, andcompleteness of information presented in the web sites. To create new users, the taxauthority needs to simplify the interface design to make the system easier to use. Theyshould try to maintain easy design and functionality of the web site where citizens canget fast access to the information, get anywhere on the web site very easily and find thenecessary information. They need to provide a well-organized web site that will helpcitizens to complete their tax related task with a minimal effort.
Along with the theoretical contributions, there are some practical implications of theresearch findings. It is important for the practitioner such as tax authorities and othergovernment organizations that are involved with the delivery of e-services, to be awareof the factors that contribute towards the future maintenance of the quality of thee-government services. The results can help the tax authority to identify the keyquality criteria for the e-tax service web site that are valued by citizens. As a result,that authority can improve its service delivery process.
A citizen survey was conducted to determine their expectations regarding the qualitycriteria of the information presented in the government web sites. According to Connollyand Bannister (2008), among the different online services provided by governments, onlinetax filing is one of the most developed and widely used. Tax authorities have also tended tobe the leaders in IT application implementation in the public sector. It is imperative thatcitizens perceptions and expectations are carefully considered to increase the efficiencyand effectiveness of this service. Earlier studies have mentioned that the needs of citizensand businesses have so far been neglected (Centeno et al., 2005). These findings have ledthis research to stress the need to focus on the factors that work behind the scenes in thesatisfactory provisioning of this service to citizens. Earlier studies also mentioned thathuge investments had been made for e-government service development efforts but acomparatively low level of user acceptance was found for such services. More empiricalresearch was recommended as being need from a users perspective on improving theeffectiveness and quality of e-government services (Hung et al., 2006).
Tax authorities can use the results to retain the current users and, along with that,they can use them to create new users. Both of these are important in making the servicesuccessful. The instrument that was developed for this study will provide a good insightand can act as a reference point in defining reliable quality standards for the web site,which can influence people in using the service more rather than the offline servicealternative for filing tax returns. Tax authorities can take an initiative to establishevaluation methods based on such standards to identify if there is anything lackingin the service delivery process, and take corrective measures as needed.
Conclusion and limitations of the studyThis research explored an important area of e-government particularly in the onlinetax system. It focused on the Swedish online tax system and evaluated Swedish tax
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information-related web sites to find out the important system and information qualitycriteria in place for such web sites. A citizen survey was conducted to identify theimportant information and system quality criteria from a users perspective. Resultsindicate that navigation facility and accessibility are important in determining citizensperceived system quality. Information preciseness, timeliness, and sufficiency werefound to be key measures in information quality in government e-services.
Every research has some limitations, and it is important to present the limitations ofthe present research to place the findings in perspective. The first limitation of thecurrent study is that it was not possible to collect individual online taxpayersaddresses from the tax authorities. Because of personal confidentiality concerns, thetax authority was unwilling to provide the addresses of online taxpayers. Employeesfrom the municipalities and the employees from a number of universities withinSweden who were experienced with the internet tax-filing system were selected as asample for the data collection. The external validity of the research results thus may belimited to Sweden. Another limitation lies in the fact that the items used to measuresystem, information and e-service qualities were selected from different studies. Theseconstructs were measured directly with items, and dimensions were not included inthis study. In the empirical analysis, trace of multidimensionality was not found withinthe items treated in the model. However, there can be additional items used to measurethe variables, and it is proposed that further research may be conducted includingadditional items to judge the dimensionality as well as possible extension of the modeleven further. Within the present study, system and information quality criteria wereproposed in the context of e-tax services, and tested in Sweden. Further testing isproposed to test the applicability of the quality criteria in different geographicallocations and within their respective e-tax or similar comparable services.
In the present study data were collected only from citizens who are experienced withe-tax services. The tax authority itself was not included in the data collection process.The problems or issues encountered by the authorities in implementing the system andinteracting with the citizens can provide valuable input in enhancing the quality of thesystem. Thus, a secondary study is proposed that deals with evaluation of the qualitycriteria from the service provider perspective, i.e. the tax authority.
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Appendix
Corresponding authorDr Parmita Saha can be contacted at: Parmita.saha@hisf.no
Items Cronbachs a
System quality 0.874This web site provides necessary information andforms to be downloadedThis web site provides helpful instruction forperforming my taskThis web site provides fast information accessThis web site quickly loads all the text andgraphicsIt is easy to go back and forth between pagesIt only takes a few clicks to locate informationIt is easy to navigate within this site
Information quality 0.863Information on this web site is free from errorsThis web site provides information preciselyaccording to my needInformation on this web site is up-to-dateThis web site provides information I need at theright timeInformation presented in this web site is related tothe subject matterInformation on this web site is sufficient for thetask at handInformation contains necessary topics to completerelated task
Table AI.Item scale
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