Adoption of e‐government services: an empirical study of the online tax filing system in Taiwan

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence the willingness of the public to adopt online tax filing services.

An online survey was conducted from which 400 valid questionnaires were recovered. The questionnaire data were used to research the degree of acceptance among Taiwanese taxpayers with regard to the online tax filing system. Respondents were classified into existing users (who were sub‐categorised into early adopters and late adopters) and potential adopters.

The results demonstrate that the perceived attributes of trialability and observability significantly influence the adoption intention of late adopters. However, these attributes did not have a significant influence on early adopters. Social norms and the perceived attributes of relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity significantly influence the adoption intention of current users. For potential adopters, only social norms had a significant effect on their intention to use the online tax filing system.

This study recommends that a more convenient and user‐friendly design for online tax‐filing processes would enhance the perception of the system and encourage taxpayers to continue or consider using this e‐government service.

While online tax‐filing systems are getting more attention in e‐government development, little is known about why people are willing to use them. This paper investigates the reasons by applying innovation diffusion theory, social cognitive theory and contingency theory. The results could be applicable to other e‐government services.