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Associate Professor Thompson Teo is with the Department of Decision Sciences. He is a Senior Associate Editor of the European Journal of Information Systems and is on the editorial board of several international refereed journals such as the Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Internet Research and the Omega International Journal of Management Science.

He has published numerous papers in internationally refereed journal as well as co-edited four books on information technology and the Internet. His research interests include e-commerce and e-business, e-government, adoption and diffusion of information technology, internet business models, internet marketing, internet strategy, outsourcing/off-shoring, performance and social impact of information technology.

Assoc Prof Teo received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh and he can be contact here.
 

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In The Straits Times dated 7 March 2009 , Singapore was ranked first in a global study comparing the strength of e-government initiatives in more than 30 countries. Singapore was also singled out for “big progress” on its government online portals.

In the wake of this study by Japan's Waseda University Institute of e-Government, Professor Thompson Teo of NUS Business School provides research insights into the nature of trust in e-government Web sites, in collaboration with Shirish Srivastava from HEC School of Management in Paris and Li Jiang, a practitioner from American Express.

Key questions raised in the study include: What is online trust for e-government Web sites? Is it trust in the government or trust in the technology? Would either or both types of online trust facilitate the continued use of e-government Web sites? To address these questions, Prof Teo conducted a survey and focus group interviews among Singaporeans aged 19 to 45. The findings include:

What is Online Trust?

  What constitutes trust in e-government Web sites is trust in the Government, not trust in the Technology.

Perceptions of Information Quality, System Quality and Service Quality

  When citizens trust the e-government Web site, they tend to view it as offering information that is accurate, valid, and timely (Information Quality).

  When citizens trust the e-government Web site, they tend to view the agency that runs it to be effective in addressing technical issues to ensure user-friendliness (System Quality).

  When citizens trust the e-government Web site, they are more tolerant of hiccups, attributing them to reasons other than poor service (Service Quality).

Effects on Web site Satisfaction and Continued Usage

  Citizens' satisfaction with e-government Web sites is influenced by their perceptions of System Quality and Service Quality. For active users (those who use the Web sites for transacting and messaging), System Quality determines satisfaction. For passive users (citizens who use the Web sites for browsing and downloading but not for transacting or messaging), Information Quality determines satisfaction.

  For passive users, their view of Information Quality also influences continued usage.

  In general, the more citizens are satisfied with the e-government Web site, the more likely they are to continue using it.

Public Policy Implications

  Explicit promotion of e-government initiatives by top leadership can be used to build trust among citizens in e-government.

For passive users, their interaction with e-government Web sites, which are seen to be voluntary rather than mandatory, is one way.

For near mandatory tasks (e.g., filing tax returns), perceptions of System Quality and Service Quality influence satisfaction but do not influence continued usage.