Linking public sector social media and e-government website use to trust in government

• We examine how citizens’ use of government websites and social media relate to satisfaction and perceptions of government trustworthiness.
• Greater use of public sector social media is found to be positively related to satisfaction and perceptions of public sector trustworthiness.
• Greater use of e-government websites is found to be negatively related to satisfaction and perceptions of public sector trustworthiness.

This study examines how citizens' use of e-government websites and public sector social media accounts relates to their satisfaction and perceptions of public sector trustworthiness. Drawing upon data from a 2012 sample of 1100 Seoul citizens, findings reveal that greater use of e-government websites is negatively related to citizens' satisfaction and perceptions of public sector trustworthiness. Conversely, use of public sector social media accounts is positively related to satisfaction and perceptions of public sector trustworthiness. Drawing upon the concept of psychological distance, these findings are interpreted to suggest that forms of e-government conducive to the transmission of less detailed information (social media) may be more effective at improving relationships between citizens and their government than forms of e-government that are more commonly used to transmit detailed information (e-government websites).