The effects of information literacy on trust in government websites: Evidence from an online experiment

Abstract Information and communication technologies in use in government systems can bring about expected benefits only when citizens are willing and able to use such systems. Previous studies from various disciplines provided a fundamental understanding of human behavior with technology adoption that focused mainly on the technical and supply sides of this adoption. We argue that it is necessary to move away from an assumption that users form a homogeneous group under the phenomenon of the digital divide. Having conducted an online experiment, this study empirically examined the effects of personal factors, particularly the perceived information literacy, and the perceived information overload, on the user’s perceptions on the usefulness and trust in a government website. We find that the higher an individual perceives one’s information literacy, the more he or she trusts the website, and this is mediated by one’s perceived information overload (negatively) and perceived usefulness (positively). This research provides a more balanced understanding of the behavior of e-government adoption, supplemented with the details of citizen engagement factors, and specifies meaningful practical implications for successful e-government policies.