The Influence of Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) Communications on Citizens' Adoption of Mobile Government Services

Abstract

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communications is considered an important force determining the purchasing intentions of consumers in the context of e-commerce and marketing fields but few studies have examined this important element of eWOM communications in the context of mobile government. Therefore, this study is aimed at filling this gap by integrating eWOM communications into the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explore its direct impact on the adoption of mobile government services among Chinese citizens (college students). The analysis was conducted by the use of SPSS through regression analysis. The results showed that all the research hypotheses were statistically supported. Specifically, eWOM mobile government communication was found to significantly predict the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and the behavioral intention to adopt mobile government services. The implications of these findings on the development of mobile government services are thoroughly discussed.