Citizen Interaction online - Egovernance

This book examines citizen interactions on government websites (e-governance). Defined as ¿the delivery of government information and services online via the Internet or other digital means¿ (West 2000), e-governance has the potential to improve connections with citizens, businesses, and other governments. Much of the research on e-governance has explored it from the perspective of what government offers online. This book provides a more systematic approach to e-governance by examining why citizens interact with government online. The paper finds that citizens interact online with government for many reasons. The author categorizes these reasons as transactional, informational, and participation (e-democracy). The research further finds the least common activity that citizens interact online with is participation in e-democracy. Using institutional theory as an analytical perspective, this research evaluates e-governance and citizens online interaction with their governments. The implications of the findings are then discussed.