Identifying the factors affecting individuals’ trust to use social media for e-government services: a conceptual model

Abstract

Trust is an important determinant towards individuals’ acceptance to use social media for e-government services. However, despite of its growing importance there is a dearth of prior research to investigate the antecedents that can develop individuals’ trust for the usage of social media as a technology platform for e-government services. To address this gap, this paper aims to identify those factors that can affect individuals trust in using social media for e-government services. This paper proposes a new model that identifies trust enabling factors to use government social media services from multiple perspectives which are: individual characteristics, government factors, risk factors and social media characteristics. The findings of this paper can be useful for government organizations in assisting them to develop appropriate strategies for enhancing citizens trust towards such services.