E-GOVERNMENT ADOPTION AMONG CITIZENS: THE CASE STUDY OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS IN A RURAL TURKISH HOSPITAL
Abstract
Rapid technological development enables governments to provide citizens more effective, timely and cost efficient services. Nowadays, many of the public services can be accomplished by utilizing the Internet. In this sense, Internet use in public services, widely known as e-Government, is adopted as an essential intermediary for government organizations on establishing a national ICT infrastructure. Although Turkey was connected to the Internet in 1993, the number of Internet users in Turkey has reached to nearly 37 million people, ranking the country to be one of the top 20 countries in the world. It may be stated that Turkey is still at the beginning of the information society transformation, at the same time, along with the motivation of e-Europe+ project in 2001; Turkish government organizations increasingly utilize the information and communication technologies in their activities. E-Government opportunities focus on the implementation of digital public services through instant access for citizens. However, the adoption and interaction of e-Government among citizens are nontrivial changes, while both of them require respectable period of time. The purpose of this study is to investigate the e-Government adoption levels of citizens in a rural province of Turkey. The study concentrates on the e-Government adoption among health care workers in Atatürk University Research Hospital. A questionnaire was prepared and applied to 200 representative health care workers. The results of the survey indicated that there were still barriers against the adoption of e-Government among health care workers, although the Internet use in public services was increasing. The regression and ANOVA results also suggested the statistically significant relationship between e-Government adoption and education level, income level, internet connection, and computer use level at the 0.05 and 0.10 significance levels.References
Aichhoizer, G. (2004). Scenarios of e-Government in 2010 and implications for strategy design. The Electronic Journal of e-Government, 2(1), 1-10. Retrieved from http://www.ejeg.com/volume2/issue1/p1
Akman, İ., Yazici, A., Mishra, A., & Arifoglu, A. (2005). E-Government: A global view and empirical evaluation of some attributes of citizens. Government Information Quarterly, 22(2), 239-257. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2004.12.001
Andersen, K. M., & Henriksen, H. Z. (2007). E-Government research: Capabilities, interaction, orientation, and values. In D. Norris (Ed.), Current Issues and Trends in E-Government Research (pp. 269-288). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing.
Anderson, J. G. (2007). Social, ethical and legal barriers to e-Health. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 76(5-6), 480-483. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2006.09.016
Andreassen, H. K., Bujnowska-Fedak, M. M., Chronaki, C. E., Dumitru, R. C., Pudule, I., Santana, S., Voss, H., & Wynn, R. (2007). European citizens’ use of e-Health services: A study of seven countries. BMC Public Health, 7(1), 53-60. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-7-53
Anthopoulos, L. G., Siozos P., & Tsoukalas, I. A. (2007). Applying participatory design and collaboration in digital public services for discovering and re-designing e-Government services. Government Information Quarterly, 24(2), 353-376. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2006.07.018
Ball, E., Chadwick, D. W., & Mundy, D. (2003). Patient privacy in electronic prescription transfer. Security & Privacy, IEEE, 1(2), 77-80. doi: 10.1109/MSECP.2003.1193217
Basoglu, N., Daim, T. U., & Topacan, U. (2012). Determining patient preferences for remote monitoring. Journal of Medicine Systems, 36(3), 1389-1401. doi: 10.1007/s10916-010-9601-1
Basu, S. (2004). E-Government and developing countries: an overview. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 18(1), 109-132. doi: 10.1080/13600860410001674779
Cheong, H. J., Shin, N. Y., & Joeng, Y. B. (2009). Improving Korean delivery system in health care: Focusing on national e-Health system. International Conference on eHealth, Telemedicine, and Social Medicine, 2009, p. 263-268, 1-7 February 2009. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org
Chen, H. (2002). Digital government: Technologies and practices. Decision Support Systems, 34(2002), 223-227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0167-9236(02)00118-5
Chen, H., Huang, W., Li, D., Shen, H. Z., Zhang, P. Z., & Klamo, L. (2005). A comparative study of strategic issues of digital government implementations between developed and developing Countries. In W. Huang, K. Siau & K. K. Wei (Ed.), Electronic Government Strategies and Implementation (pp. 191-213). Hershey, PA: Idea Publishing Group.
Centeno, C., van Bavel, R., & Burgelman J. C. (2005). A prospective view of e-Government in the European Union. The Electronic Journal of e-Government, 3(2), 59-66. Retrieved from http://www.ejeg.com/volume3/issue2#
Çayhan, B. E. (2008). Implementing e-Government in Turkey: A comparison of online public service delivery in Turkey and the European Union. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 35(2008), 1-11. Retrieved from http://www.ejisdc.org/
del Hoyo-Barbolla, E., Arredondo, M. T., Ortega-Portillo, M., Fernández, N., & Villalba-Mora, E. (2006). A new approach to model the adoption of e-Health. Electrotechnical Conference, 2006. MELECON 2006, IEEE Mediterranean, p. 1209-1212. 16-19 May, 2006, Malaga, Spain. doi: 10.1109/MELCON.2006.1653319
Dixon, B. E. (2007). A roadmap for the adoption of e-Health. E-service Journal, 5(3), 3-13. doi: 10.1353/esj.2008.0001
Dogac, A., Hülür, Ü., Çaylan, M., Yüksel, M., & Heywood, J. (2010). eHealth strategies country brief: Turkey. October 2010, European Commission. Retrieved from http://ehealth-strategies.eu/database/documents/turkey_countrybrief_ehestrategies.pdf
Dünnebeil, S., Sunyaev, A., Blohm, I, Leimeister, J. M., & Krcmar, H. (2012). Determinants of physicians’ technology acceptance for e-Health in ambulatory care. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 81(11), 746-760. doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2012.02.002
Ebrahim, Z., & Irani, Z. (2005). E-Government adoption: architecture and barrriers. Business Process Management Journal, 11(5), 589-611. doi: 10.1108/14637150510619902
Fitzgerald, G., Piris, L., & Serrano, A. (2008). Identification of benefits and barriers for the adoption of e-Health information systems using a socio-technical approach. Proceedings of the ITI 2008 30thInternational Conference on Information Technology Interfaces, p. 601-606, June 23-26, 2008, Cavtat, Croatia. Retrieved from http://hnk.ffzg.hr/bibl/iti2008/PDF/(108)/108-05-113.pdf
Gallant, L. M., Irizary, C., & Boone, G. M. (2008). Exploring the technology adoption needs of patients using e-Health. In E. V. Wilson (Ed.), Patient-Centered E-Health (pp. 201-216). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Goh, D. H., Chua, A. Y., Luyt, B., & Lee, C. S. (2008). Knowledge access, creation and transfer in e-Government portals. Online Information Review, 32(3), 348-369. doi: 10.1108/14684520810889664
Goroll, A. H., Simon, S. R., Tripathi, M., Ascenzo, C., & Bates, D. W. (2009). Community-wide implementation of health information technology: The Massachusetts eHealth collaborative experience. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 16(1), 132-139. doi: 10.1197/jamia.M2899.
Greenhalgh, T., & Russell, J. (2010). Why do evaluations of eHealth programs fails? An alternative set of guiding principles”. PLoS Medicine, 7(11), 1-5. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000360
Grönlund, Å. (2002). Electronic government-Efficiency, Service Quality and Democracy. In Å. Grönlund, (Ed.), Electronic Government: Design, Applications & Management (pp. 23-50). Hershey, PA: Idea Publishing Group.
Hardey, M. (2001). E-Health: The Internet and the transformation of patients into consumers and producers of health knowledge. Information Communication & Society, 4(3), 388-405. doi: 10.1080/13691180110044416
Ho, A. T., & Ni, A. Y. (2004). Explaining the adoption of e-Government features: A case study of Iowa county treasurers’ office. The American Review of Public Administration, 34(2), 164-180. doi: 10.1177/0275074004264355
Huang, W., Seitz, J., & Wickramasinghe, N. (2010). Manifesto for e-Health success. PACIS 2010 Proceedings. Paper 25. Retrieved from http://www.pacis-net.org/file/2010/S16-03.pdf
Republic of Turkey Social Security Institution (2010). The Medula System: A case of the Social Security Institution, Good Practice in Social Security Report, International Social Security Association. Retrieved from http://www.issa.int/Observatory/Good-Practices/The-Medula-System
Internet World Stats (2012). Top twenty countries with the highest number of Internet users. Retrieved from http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm
Janssen, M. & Kuk, G. (2009). E-Government business models: Theory, challenges and research issues. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), E-Government Diffusion, Policy, and Impact: Advanced Issues and Practices (pp. 1-12). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Kaya Bensghir, T., & Yıldız, M. (2002). Perceptions of e-Government in Turkey. Turkish Public Administration Annual, 27-28(2001-2002), 41-57. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/2085724/Perceptions_of_E-Government_in_Turkey
Köse, İ., Akpınar, N., Gürel, M., Arslan, Y., Özer, H., Yurt, N., Kabak, Y., & Dogac, A. (2008). Turkey’s national health information system (NHIS), e-Challenges 2008, Stokholm, Sweden.
Kreps, G. L., & Neuhauser, L. (2010). New directions in eHealth communication: Opportunities and challenges”. Patient Education and Counseling, 78(3), 329-336. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2010.01.013
Kuntalp, M., & Akar, O. (2004). A simple and low-cost Internet-based teleconsultation system that could effectively solve the health care access problems in underserved areas of developing countries. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, 75(2), 117-126. doi:10.1016/j.cmpb.2003.11.004
Landau, S., & Everitt, B. S. (2004). A handbook of statistical analyses using SPSS. London: Chapman & Hall/CRC.
Lau, F., Price, M., & Keshavjee, K. (2011). From benefits evaluation to clinical adoption: Making sense of health information system success in Canada. Healthcare Quarterly, 14(1), 39-45. Retrieved from http://www.longwoods.com/content/22157
Layne, K., & Lee, J. (2001). Developing fully functional e-Government: A four stage model. Government Information Quarterly, 18(2), 122-136. doi: 10.1016/S0740-624X(01)00066-1
Long, S. & Freese, J. (2001). Regression models for categorical dependent variables using Stata. Lakeway Drive, Texas: Stata Press.
Jung, M. L., & Loria, K. (2010). Acceptance of Swedish e-Health services. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 16(3), 55-63. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S9159
Mandil, S. (2004a). Review of and Recommended Improvements to Turkey eHealth Strategy, World Health Organization, Geneva. Retrieved from http://www.saglik.gov.tr/EN/dosya/2-545/h/turkeyehealthbu.pdf
Mandil, S. (2004b). Turkey e-Health Strategy Towards the start of Implementation, World Health Organization, November 2004, Geneva. Retrieved from http://www.saglik.gov.tr/EN/dosya/2-547/h/turkeytowardsstartofimplementation.pdf
Marche, S., & McNiven, J. D. (2003). E-Government and e-Governance: The future isn’t what it used to be. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 20(1), 74-86. doi: 10.1111/j.1936-4490.2003.tb00306.x
Naralan, A. (2008). Factors affecting e-Government (in Turkish). Atatürk University Journal of Graduate School of Social Sciences, 12(2), 457-468. Retrieved from http://e-dergi.atauni.edu.tr/index.php/SBED/article/view/562/554
Neuhauser, L., & Kreps, G. L. (2003). Rethinking communication in the e-Health era. Journal of Health Psychology, 8(1), 7-23. doi: 10.1177/1359105303008001426
Niinimäki, J. & Forsström, J. (1997). Approaches for certification of electronic prescription software. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 47(3), 175-182. doi: 10.1016/S1386-5056(97)00101-9
OECD (2011). National strategies and policies for digital identity management in OECD countries, OECD Digital Economy Papers, No. 177, OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/5kgdzvn5rfs2-en
Oktay, E., Özen, Ü., & Alkan, Ö. (2009). Searching the factors having credit card: A survey study in Erzurum (in Turkish)”. Dokuz Eylül University Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, 24(2), 1-22. Retrieved from http://www.iibf.deu.edu.tr/dergi
Özata, M. (2009). Effects of e-Health projects performed by the Ministry of Health and Social Security Institution on the presentation of health service (in Turkish). Journal of Azerbaijani Studies, 12(2), 444-464. Retrieved from http://dspace.khazar.org/jspui/handle/123456789/814
Patel, H. & Jacobson, D. (2008). Factors influencing citizen adoption of e-Government: A review and critical assessment. ECIS 2008 Proceedings. Paper 176. Retrieved from http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2008/176
Reddick, C. G. (2005). Citizen interaction with e-Government: From the streets to servers?. Government Information Quarterly, 22(1), 38-57. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2004.10.003
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Development Information Society Department (2012). E-Transformation Turkey project. Retrieved from http://www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr
The Ministry of Health of Turkey (2006). Family medicine: The Turkish model, Ankara. Retrieved from http://www.saglik.gov.tr/EN/dosya/2-1065/h/familymedicine.pdf
The Ministry of Health of Turkey (2007a). e-Transformation in health, Ankara. Retrieved from http://www.saglik.gov.tr/TR/dosya/1-34311/h/esaglik-ing07.pdf
The Ministry of Health of Turkey (2007b). The fundamental necessities of hospital information systems for the integration of the Saglik-Net (in Turkish), Ankara. Retrieved from http://www.saglik.gov.tr
The Ministry of Health of Turkey (2012). E-prescription system. Retrieved from http://www.e-saglik.gov.tr/erecete.aspx
The Ministry of Health of Turkey (2013). What is hospital appointment center? Retrieved from http://hastanerandevu.gov.tr
The National E-Government Official Website of Turkey (2013). The number of registered users, services and organizations. Retrieved from https://www.turkiye.gov.tr/
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (2008). What is electronic identity verification system? Retrieved from http://www.ekds.gov.tr/
The World Bank (2011). A definition of e-Government. Retrieved from http://web.worldbank.org
Tsinakis, M., & Kouroubali, A. (2009). Organizational factors affecting successful adoption of innovative eHealth services: A case study employing the FITT framework. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 78(1), 39-52. doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2008.07.001
TURKSAT (2009a). E-Government gateway. Retrieved from http://www.turksat.com.tr/english/v2/e-Government-gateway
TURKSAT (2009b). Electronic identity management system applications. Retrieved from http://www.turksat.com.tr/english/v2/ict-services/electronic-identity-management-system-applications
West, D. M. (2004). E-Government and the transformation of service delivery and citizen attitudes. Public Administration Review, 64(1), 15-27. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2004.00343.x
Wilson, E. V., Balkan, S., & Lankton, N. K. (2010). Current trends in patients’ adoption of advanced e-Health services. Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, p. 1-9, 5-8 January, 2010, Hawaii, United States. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org
World Health Organization (2006). eHealth: Tools and services-needs of the member States, Geneva. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/
World Health Organization (2010). Telemedicine: Opportunities and developments in Member States: Report on the global survey on eHealth 2009, Geneva. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/goe/publications/goe_telemedicine_2010.pdf
Yasar, G. Y. (2011). ‘Health transformation programme’ in Turkey: an assessment. International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 26(2), 110-133. doi: 10.1002/hpm.1065
Yildiz, M. (2007). E-Government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward. Government Information Quarterly, 24(3), 646-665. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2007.01.002
Yurt, N. (2012). Health in European Union and Turkey: Policies and Applications (in Turkish). In M. Z. Sobacı & M. Yildiz (Ed.), E-Government: Contemporary Develepment of the Relation Between Public Administration and Technology (in Turkish) (pp. 429-449). Ankara: Nobel Publishing.
Copyright information
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 - CC BY 3.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
