Citizen Resistance to e-Government Adoption

The aim of the study was to investigate what the enabling and inhibiting factors are that contribute towards citizen resistance to e-Government adoption. The role of adaptive and maladaptive defence mechanisms in individuals was investigated in relation to perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and user resistance. Survey of 200 residents, with a response of 171 was conducted in a poor township in South Africa. Given the poverty of the residents, University of Pretoria runs subsidized ICT courses for poor families that cannot afford mainstream education. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, which was used to capture information regarding e-government resistance. Descriptive, inferential and cluster analysis was conducted on the data. Using exploratory factor analysis, dimension reduction was achieved which group perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness under the factor of resistance inhibitors; while switching costs, adaptive and maladaptive defense mechanisms were grouped under resistance enablers. However, a further cluster analysis captured adaptive defence mechanisms under resistance inhibitors; while maladaptive defense mechanism remained under resistance enablers. Insights from the analysis reveal that, in a preliminary sense, implementers of e-government should take cognizance of subconscious processes of resistance by citizens to e-government implementation. This may explain in part why there are reported e-government failures throughout the world. Citizens who resort to use of adaptive defence mechanisms are more likely to accept e-government services. Resistance enablers on the other hand related to those subconscious processes that contribute to increased resistance to e-government adoption. The analysis above revealed that maladaptive defence mechanisms and switching costs were clustered as resistance enablers. An adequate understanding of how citizens employ maladaptive defence mechanisms will ensure appropriate intervention strategies are put in place. Such intervention strategies can only be anchored on developing a model of e-Government trust.