Salient beliefs that influence the acceptance or rejection of public e-services in Lebanon

This paper examines the reasons citizens would choose to accept or non-accept/reject public e-services. The approach taken was based on the model of acceptance of technology in households (MATH) and on the two factors theory. The research model was measured with data gathered in two phases, via interviews with open-ended questions in the first stage, and through survey with questionnaire in the second phase. Results of the qualitative and the quantitative studies show that only a small percentage of Lebanese intended to accept government e-services. Perceived usefulness (PU), perceived government support (PGS), computer self efficacy (CSE), and perceived government influences (PGI) are the key drivers of the e-services acceptance intention (AI). For the non-intenders, barriers like fear of government control (FGC), lack of trust in the secu-rity (TSEC), lack of trust in the privacy (TPRI), lack of support (PGS), and lack of knowledge (CSE) were most significant. In the two studies, the fear of gov-ernment control (FGC) was the most important deter-minant, both in terms of frequency and in terms of importance. The willingness to use the public e-services will be present if governments can develop trust relationships with individuals, assure them that their financial details are secure, that these services will respect the privacy of citizens, and she will not use e-services in order to increase control.