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A stigma power perspective on digital government service avoidance

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Abstract

The digital-by-default policy for government services implemented in many European countries can pose challenges to marginalized citizens, such as people with disabilities. Prior research on electronic inclusion and the digital divide has mainly considered technology-related concerns, such as Internet anxiety, preventing people with disabilities from using digital government services. Yet, these concerns may insufficiently account for the fact that people with disabilities may suspect that governments provide new services only to reduce costs and forgo the need for more meaningful social change. Therefore, we draw from stigma power theory to understand how perceptions of stereotyping and discrimination contribute to the avoidance of digital government services among people with disabilities. Our results indicate that overcoming underutilization of digital government services among people with disabilities requires a holistic approach by addressing technology-related as well as stigma-related concerns.

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There has been widespread use of auto-ID technologies. With the increasing diffusion of smartphones, the potential to serve content to shoppers using auto-ID technologies is starting to receive interest. Using a design science approach, we design and build, theorize about, and compare six shopping assistance artifacts by manipulating the hardware design-barcode scanner versus radio frequency identification (RFID) reader- and content design-product information versus product review versus both. We theorize about how these artifact conditions will compare to a control condition (no shopping assistance artifact available) across three sets of outcomes: technology adoption, security beliefs, and shopping. We tested our propositions in two experiments-wherein the task was varied: general browsing and shopping (n = 227) versus goal-directed shopping (n = 221)-conducted in a retail store laboratory. The RFID reader was most favorably received in terms of technology adoption outcomes and shopping outcomes, although it was most negatively viewed in terms of security beliefs. We also found that the content design conditions (i.e., product information, product reviews, and both) were perceived favorably. In a post hoc analysis, we found a two-way interaction of hardware and content designs such that content fueled by RFID was perceived most favorably in terms of technology adoption and shopping outcomes, whereas it was most negatively viewed in terms of security beliefs. Interestingly, the two-way interaction was most pronounced in the goal-directed shopping condition such that the most positive effects were observed for RFID in combination with both product information and reviews.
Article
Many e-government and Information Systems (IS) adoption studies have focused on people's attitudes during the initial and post-adoption periods, but have not taken into account the fact that many people never use or experience e-government services. This paper investigates the attitudes of non-users versus users toward e-government services in two locales: one urban and one rural municipality in the Netherlands. Although rural and urban municipalities have distinct characteristics that may affect people's attitudes toward e-government, the research thus far has not differentiated between them. We propose a model to investigate these differences using factors based on various IS acceptance and resistance theories, including enabling factors (e.g., perceived behavioral control), inhibiting factors (e.g., perceived risk) and other factors (e.g., trust and geographical closeness). The model was tested via a survey of 337 non-users and users of e-government services from one rural and one urban municipality in the Netherlands. The findings reveal intriguing similarities and differences among the four groups, contributing a more nuanced perspective to the e-government and IS literature.
Article
Objectives: To examine the relative prevalence of recent (past 12 months) penetrative and nonpenetrative sexual violence comparing men and women with and without a disability. Methods: Data are from the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, a national telephone survey of US adults, and includes an expansive measure of sexual violence victimization. A total of 9086 women and 7421 men completed the telephone survey in 2010. Results: Compared with persons without a disability, persons with a disability were at increased risk for recent rape for women (adjusted odds ratio = 3.3; 95% confidence interval = 1.6, 6.7), and being made to penetrate a perpetrator for men (adjusted odds ratio = 4.2; 95% confidence interval = 1.6, 10.8). An estimated 39% of women raped in the 12 months preceding the survey had a disability at the time of the rape. For women and men, having a disability was associated with an increased risk of sexual coercion and noncontact unwanted sexual experiences. Conclusions: In this nationally representative sample, men and women with a disability were at increased risk for recent sexual violence, compared to those without a disability. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print February 18, 2016: e1-e6. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.303004).
Article
M-government (MG), as a subset of E-government (EG), has expedited the dynamic nature of EG and also created certain channels which either are not available or would be problematic for EG. This has resulted in offering more dynamic and versatile methods for citizens to access certain government services. The objective of the current study is to address and posit the factors which can contribute to an understanding of citizen intention to adopt MG services. A model was used to capture citizen behavior in MG service adoption, and the results from this model are contrasted with adoption behavior for EG from a similar study. To that end, we have developed and validated a model entitled "citizen adoption behavior of MG" (CAB-MG).
Article
We explore symbolic determinants of technology acceptance to complement more functional frameworks and better predict decisions to adopt information appliances. Previous research has investigated such variables as "need for uniqueness" and "status gains" to capture relevant aspects of technology acceptance. However, the more we move toward personal and ubiquitous technologies, the more we need to broaden and deepen our understanding of the symbolic aspects of adoption. This study reinterprets the symbolic dimension of adoption by broadening its scope to include the self-concept. Results support a prominent role for self-identity in predicting intentions to adopt mobile TVs. Self-identity is shown to complement the effects of "need for uniqueness" and "status gains" in this regard.
Article
As information and communication technologies began to support new forms of interaction between governments and their constituents, the concept of e-government emerged as a new domain for Information Systems (IS) researchers. The past decade has seen a variety of e-government themes researched and presented by scholars in IS, public administration, and political science. In order to reflect on the history of the IS discipline, this article provides an historical assessment of electronic government research. In particular, we review highly cited e-government articles and e-government articles published in the AIS Senior Scholars' basket of journals to assess existing publication outlets, theoretical foundations, methodological approaches, sampling, and topic areas. The analysis of the literature reveals significant insights about the metamorphosis of e-government research over time, the assessment of which serves as a basis for recommendations for future research on this global phenomenon.
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Broadband offers key advantages as a communication infrastructure, including efficiency and cost savings which can stimulate productivity, innovation, and ultimately economic growth and social well-being. This paper presents a comparative study on the adoption of broadband in urban and regional areas. It proposes a model concerning broadband adoption which we validate with data collected using a computer-aided telephone survey. We find that relative advantage, utility outcomes, and facilitating conditions play a crucial role in explaining the broadband adoption behavior of both urban and regional household users. In a dynamic environment where technologies are changing quickly, our findings about broadband adoption drivers are useful to stakeholders such as internet service providers, regulators, broadband application developers for encouraging further broadband and application adoption and developments in communication space in both regional and urban areas.
Article
Firms are increasing their investments in collaboration technologies in order to leverage the intellectual resources embedded in their employees. Research on post-adoption use of technology suggests that the true gains from such investments are realized when users explore various system features and attempt to incorporate them into their work practices. However, the literature has been silent about how to promote such behavior when individuals are embedded in team settings, where members' actions are interdependent. This research develops a multilevel model that theorizes the cross-level influence of team empowerment on individual exploration of collaboration technology. Further, it identifies two cognitions-intention to continue exploring and expectation to continue exploring-that are oriented toward exploring ways to incorporate implemented technology into daily work routines over time. A 12-month field study of 212 employees in 48 organizational work teams was conducted to test the multilevel research model. The results provide support for the hypotheses, with team empowerment having a positive cross-level influence on intention to continue exploring and expectation to continue exploring and these, in turn, mediating the cross-level influence of team empowerment on individual exploration of collaboration technology.
Article
Many authors have used the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory of Rogers (1995) to study factors affecting citizen e-Gov adoption. But none of these authors studied the moderating role of the digital divide on the relationship between innovation characteristics and veterans' intention to adopt e-Gov. Our research model postulates that a veteran's intention to adopt e-Gov services is determined by the interaction between the digital divide and five innovation characteristics: relative advantage, perceived compatibility, perceived complexity, subjective norms and perceived risk. Data was collected from 183 veterans in a US state where a government website is designed to deliver e-services to veterans. We found that the digital divide did not moderate the effect of relative advantage and subjective norms on the veteran decision to adopt e-Gov services. However, the digital divide moderates the effect of some factors: perceived compatibility, perceived complexity and perceived risk. Discussion and implications are provided.
Article
People with disabilities routinely face a dilemma in dealing with patronizing help: While accepting unsolicited assistance may be harmful for its recipients, confronting the helper can lead to negative interpersonal repercussions. Across two studies, participants were presented with a scenario depicting an interaction between a blind target and a sighted pedestrian and asked to evaluate the behaviors of the characters involved. Study 1 showed that, whereas blind participants considered both patronizing and hostile treatment as inappropriate responses to the blind target’s request for information, sighted participants saw patronizing help as significantly more appropriate than openly hostile treatment. Study 2 further demonstrated that, among sighted participants, blind targets were viewed as less warm and more rude when confronting benevolent versus hostile discrimination. These findings highlighted the difficulty of confronting patronizing treatment and have important implications for people with disabilities as well as other patronized minorities more generally.
Chapter
Stereotype threat is partly situational. It is induced by features of the situation that can be changed and can be minimized by teaching students adaptive ways of coping with it. Stereotypes can spoil a person's experience–in school or in many social situationsStereotype threat arises in situations where a negative stereotype is relevant to evaluating performance. Thus, people in stereotype threatening situations appear to be thinking about the stereotype and its implications. In addition to whatever thoughts they bring to bear on their test, they are also contending with the stereotype and the extra burden of the possibility of confirming it. Psychological research shows that stereotypes are more than just benign “pictures in the head.” Rather, they are expectations that can undermine performance, either through prompting differential treatment of the stereotyped or by inducing stereotype threat in the stereotyped. Most likely, both processes occur at the same time in a self-confirming spiral of low expectations, hindered performance, and threatened belongingness. Test performance is but one manifestation of stereotype threat. The psychological immune system rationalizes, minimizes, and attempts to neutralize threats to the self. Research suggests that how people contend and cope with the unnerving expectations can have a dramatic effect on their academic achievement.
Article
By employing an extended social cognitive theory, this study examines factors (such as outcome expectation, affect, anxiety, self-efficacy and social influence) influencing intention to adopt an electronic government system called online public grievance redressal system (OPGRS) in context of India. The extended social cognitive theory (SCT) was validated using 419 responses collected from eight selected cities in India. The empirical outcomes of the proposed model indicated the significant relationships of seven hypothesised relationships between six constructs. This is the first study, which has used the SCT model to understand the adoption of an e-government system. The policy implication provided in this research can help the government to improve upon the effectiveness and quality of the system and the level of social impact on the users by employing the project champions. It also helps in enhancing their positive feelings toward adopting this system and fully utilise the potential of the OPGRS as a useful tool toward a transparent and corruption free society.
Article
Critics of labeling theory vigorously dispute Scheff's (1966) provocative etiological hypothesis and downplay the importance of factors such as stigma and stereotyping. We propose a modified labeling perspective which claims that even if labeling does not directly produce mental disorder, it can lead to negative outcomes. Our approach asserts that socialization leads individuals to develop a set of beliefs about how most people treat mental patients. When individuals enter treatment, these beliefs take on new meaning. The more patients believe that they will be devalued and discriminated against, the more they feel threatened by interacting with others. They may keep their treatment a secret, try to educate others about their situation, or withdraw from social contacts that they perceive as potentially rejecting. Such strategies can lead to negative consequences for social support networks, jobs, and self-esteem. We test this modified labeling perspective using samples of patients and untreated community residents, and find that both believe that "most people" will reject mental patients. Additionally, patients endorse strategies of secrecy, withdrawal, and education to cope with the threat they perceive. Finally, patients' social support networks are affected by the extent to which they fear rejection and by the coping responses they adopt to deal with their stigmatized status.