An analysis of foreign residents’ perceptions and behaviors regarding digital government portal services in the Republic of South Korea
| Author | Muhammad Aftab,Seunghwan Myeong |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00208523221084498 |
| Published date | 01 June 2023 |
| Date | 01 June 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
An analysis of foreign
residents’perceptions
and behaviors regarding
digital government portal
services in the Republic
of South Korea
Muhammad Aftab
Namseoul University, Korea
Seunghwan Myeong
Inha University, Korea
Abstract
Governments have made significant investments to deliver information and services to
governmental institutions, citizens, and businesses through e-services. The re-adoption
of such governmental services has been focused on in various studies. However, this
study focuses on the post-adoption of digital government services and information sys-
tem quality. Therefore, evaluating the digital government portal services from the user’s
perspective is important. This study proposes an expanded conceptual framework that
includes confirmation of expectation and perceived functional benefits as mediating vari-
ables based on continuance literature and information systems’performance. Online
and offline surveys were conducted to get the responses of emigrants in the Republic
of Korea to assess the proposed relationship among the variables. Overall, 371 samples
were collected and analyzed. The regression and mediation analyses were performed
using the Macro PROCESS model. The results indicate that confirmation of expectation
and perceived functional benefits significantly predict the foreigners’continuance inten-
tion as Korean digital government websites users. The study also confirms the direct and
indirect impacts of digital government services quality factors on continuance intention
through perceived functional benefits. However, it does not find evidence for the
Corresponding author:
Seunghwan Myeong, Department of Public Administration, Inha University, Michuhol-gu, Inharo-100 Incheon
402-751 Incheon 22212, Korea.
Email: shmyeong@inha.ac.kr
Article
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
International Review of Administrative
Sciences
2023, Vol. 89(2) 536–554
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00208523221084498
journals.sagepub.com/home/ras
influence of confirmation of expectation as a mediator. The research concludes with
positive implications for academicians, governmental policymakers, and the overall
body of knowledge.
Points for practitioners
The results of this study indicate that government officials should concentrate on tech-
nical features and psychological characteristics to understand people’s intention for e-
service continuance. The relation of digital government facilities with perceived func-
tional benefits enables lawmakers to establish responsive and quick service portal sys-
tems. Besides, the government can help users by providing 24-hour customer
support, electronic assistance desks, and users’manuals to increase the consistent use
and efficiency of government systems.
Keywords
continuance intention, digital government, expectations, foreigners, functional benefits,
Korean digital government
Introduction
Digital government concerns have been under discussion in the scientific world for the
last few decades. Since the boost in digital government popularity, a rise in investment
from the government, facilitation in the online facilities provision, and updates in the
operating systems have also been observed. Digital government facilities must modify
their services that improve citizens’resulting in long-term usage of online government
services (Hariguna and Ruangkanjanases, 2021). E-commerce in the corporate sector
increases citizens’experience with digital facilities, anticipating premium quality
service delivery through the state authorities. Users’privacy, responsiveness, functional-
ity, and efficiency level of web portals assess the effectiveness of the government web
portals. Communication and information technologies allow open governmental services,
promote effective and efficient governance, hold the public accountable, and create
awareness (Sarrayrih and Sriram, 2015).
Citizens in any country can select ways of communication with the government
(Finger and Pécoud, 2003). However, citizens’feelings about the services of digital gov-
ernment offered by the government are controversial. Kaisara and Pather (2009) found
that online governmental services are more popular than citizens’physical visits to an
office. On the contrary, Kunstelj et al. (2009) observed continuance improvement in
digital government, but the citizens did not expect premium quality services. Less citi-
zens’interest in continuous use of digital government portals indicates that digital gov-
ernment is not that beneficial to them and did not fulfill the level of their expectations of
the government. This situation is not exclusive to developing countries; developed
nations face a similar problem. Technology is growing fast, and people’s attitude
changes will make digital government services even more challenging. Thus, it is
Aftab and Myeong 537
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