Investigating the role of intermediaries in adoption of public access outlets for delivery of e-Government services in developing countries: An empirical study

The study investigates the role of intermediaries in influencing the adoption of public access outlet that are being set up for delivery of e-Government services, especially in rural areas. In order to identify possible factors of adoption, an exploratory study is first carried out with stakeholders. Findings of the exploratory study, supported by extant literature on technology acceptance, service quality and trusting belief, form the basis for the proposed research model which is empirically tested with 328 respondents from 77 villages in 12 districts in India using Partial Least Square (PLS) technique with hierarchical modelling. Findings of the study suggest that the behaviour of the intermediaries manning these outlets, reliability of the outlet and facilities available at the outlet have significant effect on the service quality of the outlet, which in turn, has a positive effect on citizens' intention for availing e-Government services. Other factors of adoption that are identified to be significant are ease of obtaining service, usefulness of the outlet and positive word-of-mouth among the user community.