Attaining Social Value from Electronic Government

Abstract

We define and elaborate a Social Value framework supporting evaluation and attainment of the broader socio‑political and socio‑economic goals that characterise many electronic government initiatives. The key elements of the framework are the willingness of citizens to (positively) recommend an e‑Government service to others, based upon personal trust in the service provider, and personal experience of the service, based upon experience of service provision and outcomes. The validity of the framework is explored through an empirical quantitative study of citizens' experiences of a newly introduced e‑Government system to allocate public social housing. The results of this study include evidence of generic antecedents of trust and willingness to recommend, pointing the way to more general applicability of the framework for designers and managers of electronic government systems.