Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Government Information Quarterly

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/govinf

Explaining the low utilization of government websites: Using a grounded

theory approach
Fang Wang ⁎
Business School of Nankai University, No. 94 Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300071, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 26 September 2014 The low utilization of government websites is a worldwide problem, and many governments have been criticized
for this reason. Several existing fields are relevant to this complex phenomenon, but few succeed in providing a
Keywords: holistic explanation because of their segmentary perspectives and limitations in conceptual innovation due to de-
Government website ductive paradigms. In order to explore the mechanism of government website utilization from a more integrated
Grounded theory perspective, a grounded theory approach is adopted in this study. 51 respondents were interviewed and a
Utilization
grounded theoretical model for government website utilization was generated. The contributions of this study
User needs
Value
include: (1) developing a holistic understanding on the mechanism of government website utilization,
Alternative information sources (2) identifying a few new theoretical concepts that were not explored in previous studies, (3) revealing that
Information source selection value acquisition is the essence of government website utilization, and (4) formulating a derivative conceptual
model for delineating the process of information source selection.
© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In recent two decades, ICT applications lead to the transformation of
governments into e-governments. E-government was expected to bring
added values for both governments and citizens by improving
government performance and public efficiency. For this purpose, public
administrations of all over the world invest an enormous amount of
resources in e-government (Peters, Janssen, & Engers, 2004). A large
number of government websites were designed for delivering govern-
ment information and services and strengthening the interaction
between governments and citizens. Driven by national information
strategies, the total number of government websites in China had
reached 81,725 by the end of April 2011, accounting for 4.4% of the
1.83 million Chinese websites (Zhaozhengfu.cn, 2011). Synchronously,
by December 2013, there were 618 million internet users in mainland
China, according to the China Internet Network Information Center
(CNNIC, 2014). Nonetheless, there are still a great number of citizens
who have never visited government websites or who know little
about their functions (Guo, 2007; Lu, 2007; Wang & Chen, 2012). The
Assessment of Chinese Government Websites released by China Com-
puter World in January 2008 (Fan, 2008) showed that 57.5% of the peo-
ple surveyed had never visited government websites, and 29% had no
knowledge of them. The Survey Report on the County E-government
Construction of Fujian Province showed that 81% of the people surveyed
⁎ Fax: +86 22 2350 2800.
E-mail addresses: wangfangnk@nankai.edu.cn, wangfang70@vip.163.com.
had never visited county government websites, 93.4% of companies pre-
ferred traditional channels when they needed to communicate with
government departments, and only 6.6% chose online channels in
2011 (Research Group on the E-government Construction at County
level in Fujian Province, 2011).
Similar problems exist in other countries. “It seems that
e-government in municipalities is still more rhetoric and less reality, at
least in some countries” (Sandoval-Almazan & Gil-Garcia, 2012).
According to the FY 2009 Status Update on the E-Government Act of
2002, the number of unique visits or “touch points” to e-government
websites was only a mere 148 million (National Archives & Records
Administration, 2010), demonstrating the lack of use by more than
half of the general public (Mathews, 2010). The British Central Office
of Information reported that the UK Trade and Investment website
averaged 28,000 users per month, accounting for only 5.3% of the total
number of British Internet users, and each visitor therefore represented
a cost of 11.78 lb, given that the website cost over 4 million pounds to
build. As a result, the government had to review 1795 websites and
closed more than 1000 which they regarded as “vanity sites” by 2010
(BBC, 2010).
These reports illustrate the mismatch between the huge investment
made in e-government and the low utilization of government websites.
Is the mismatch a normal phenomenon or a problem that could be
meliorated? If it is the former, the government should consider closing
some useless portals. If it is the latter, further measures that can improve
citizens' utilization of government websites should be explored. In
order to answer this question, it is necessary to firstly explain the low
utilization of government websites.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2014.04.004
0740-624X/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621
2. Literature review
The low utilization of government websites has been noticed by
some scholars. It is found that progress toward citizen engagement is
slow in local governments and there are very few efforts to increase
interaction, participation, and collaboration channels on their portals
in Mexico (Sandoval-Almazan & Gil-Garcia, 2012). Existing studies on
government websites were conducted mainly from two perspectives:
users and websites. Concepts related with government website utiliza-
tion are listed in Table 1.
As shown in Table 1, users of e-government services have captured a
great deal of attention (e.g., Alshehri & Drew, 2010; Fu, Farn, & Chao,
2006). User-centered models in information system such as TAM
(Technology Acceptance Model, Davis, 1986), DOI (Diffusion of Innova-
tion, Rogers, 1995) and UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of
Technology) (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003) were successfully
introduced into e-government field. Factors that affect the adoption of
e-government services were fully examined, as shown in Table 1.
UTAUT tried to integrate all the factors that had been explored in TAM
related studies into one framework in a business context, and then it
was empirically tested in e-government field by scholars from different
countries (e.g., AlAwadhi & Morris, 2008; Alshehri, Drew, Alhussain, &
Alghamdi, 2012; Lean, Zailani, Vitae, & Fernando, 2009; Verdegem &
Verleye, 2009). These empirical studies tested a variety of influential
factors of the acceptance of e-government information systems or
government websites. However, because all of their theoretical variables
were borrowed from information system studies which originally
focused on businesses, they paid little attention to the contextual partic-
ularity of e-government and failed to contribute new theoretical
elements and more explanatory power for e-government research.
“Websites can be considered key elements of successful e-
government strategies” (Gil-Garcia, 2006). Numerous studies focus on
government websites. Many concepts shown in Table 1 and other
aspects of government websites were examined. Exogenous factors
such as organizational factors were also investigated (Gil-Garcia,
2006). These studies examined nearly all kinds of properties of govern-
ment websites that may influence their performance, but they couldn't
explain the low utilization of those well designed websites due to
segmentary perspectives.
Besides users and websites, efforts have also been made in integrat-
ed investigation. Experiences and lessons from implementation of
e-government projects in developing countries were fully reviewed
(Abdelsalam, Reddick, & El Kadi, 2012; Basu, 2004; Bhatnagar, 2002;
Hossan, Habib, & Kushchu, 2006). Layne & Lee's (2001) four-stage
model and Moon's (2002) five-stage model described the possible de-
veloping paths of e-government under integrated perspective combin-
ing technical, organizational, and managerial feasibility (Hiller &
Bélanger, 2001). Because these studies paid more attention on the
Table 1
Concepts related with government website utilization in literature.
User perspective Trust
Culture
Perceived ease of use
Perceived usefulness
Perceived risks
Website perspective Language
Usability
Evaluation
Benchmarking
Information architecture (content, information organization, navigation system)
Technical performance
Evaluation Quality of information, technological infrastructure, organizational characteristics, Luna-Reyes et al. (2012)
indicators existing legal framework, electronic services,
Quality of public services, efficiency & productivity, transparency & accountability,
citizen participation
611
whole e-government development than government websites, they
have little explanatory power on government website utilization.
In order to make up for the deficiencies of above three types of stud-
ies, Luna-Reyes, Gil-Garcia, and Romero (2012) proposed a multidimen-
sional model for e-government measurement. This model is instructive
for its integrated perspective and government rooted thinking. Its
limitation is that nearly all the indicators were formulated based on
literature review. No innovative theoretical elements were contributed.
Abovementioned studies have provided concepts related to govern-
ment website utilization (as shown in Appendix 1) and meaningful sug-
gestions for e-government development in some way. Their findings
have been applied in building official or semi-official performance eval-
uation criteria for government websites in many countries (e.g., Saidi
Group, 2009; Wang & Zhai, 2009). However, few studies have so far ex-
amined the low utilization of many government websites, and even
fewer can explain why so many people have never visited a government
website. In view of this fact, the research questions of the present study
are formulated as: What is the theoretical mechanism of government
website utilization? How do we explain the low utilization of govern-
ment websites?
3. Research method
The powerlessness of previous studies in explaining the low utiliza-
tion of government websites lies in four aspects: (1) hypotheses
deducted from theories that originated in business context may neglect
special elements for governments; (2) empirical methods that are used
to test existing theories may hinder the discovery of new theoretical el-
ements; (3) pure theoretical reviews may lose new findings from vivid
reality; and (4) segmentary perspectives may hinder the examination
on the phenomenon in a holistic way. From the above, in order to ex-
plore the mechanism of government website utilization more systemat-
ically, an inductive approach that can be used to find new theoretical
elements and can examine the problem under an integrated perspective
is needed.
Grounded theory approach, which is thought as a holistic approach
(Wilson & Hutchinson, 1991), can examine a phenomenon in a real-
world context and thus have the potential to disclose new theoretical el-
ements that have not been involved in existing theories. It is to generate
a new theory that accounts for a pattern of behavior which is relevant
and problematic for those involved (Glaser, 1992) rather than to verify
existing theories. When a researcher intends to challenge existing theo-
ry, develop new theory, or is interested in drawing forth the object's un-
derstanding, perception or experience with the world, he/she could
consider using ground theory approach (Layons & Coyle, 2007). At pres-
ent, the low utilization of government websites has not been given a
powerful interpretation by existing theories, and the understanding
and perception of stakeholders (e.g., government officials and citizens)
e.g. Carter and Bélanger (2005); Horst, Kuttschreuter, and Gutteling (2007);
Patel and Jacobson (2008); Tolbert and Mossberger (2006); Warkentin,
Gefen, Pavlou, and Rose (2002)
e.g. Curtin and Gaither (2004)
e.g. Baker (2009); Choudrie and Ghinea (2005); Hirwade (2010);
Huang and Brooks (2011); Youngblood and Mackiewicz (2014)
Abanumy, Al-Badi, and Mayhew (2005); Eschenfelder and Miller (2005);
Smith (2001); Wang and Gu (2011); Westbrook (2008)
Mosse and Whitley (2009)
Wang and Gu (2012)
Wang and Gu (2012)
612 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621
have not been fully understood. Considering that comparison between
perceptions of government employees and that of citizens on govern-
ment websites would be very interesting and there may exist some
undisclosed theoretical elements that can help to explain the low utili-
zation of government websites, a grounded theory approach was
adopted as the research method of the present study. In fact, grounded
theory has proven successful in information system, information behav-
ior and e-government research, e.g., Ellis (1993), Namkung, Shin, and
Yang (2007), Huber (2010), Alhussain, Drew, and Von Hellens (2010),
Lehmann (2012), Song, Choi, Baker, and Bhattacherjee (2013).
According to Glaser and Strauss (1967), a grounded theory approach
requires that the researcher begins the study without preconceived
conceptions and without the influence of pre-existing theories. Howev-
er, it is very difficult for a researcher to expel the conceptions that have
existed in his/her mind given that he/she has gained a doctoral training
in the related field. Selden (2005) criticized the weakness of grounded
theory and argues that the source of conceptualizations is within the re-
searcher instead of data and depends on the extent to which he/she is
widely read in scholarly matters. “It would be foolish for the concepts
but to rely solely on data as the grounded theory approach instructs”
(Yu, 2012). As abovementioned, a great many studies have explored
concepts related to government website utilization. Although
the researcher of the present study could try to remain free from
preconceived ideas in an effort to stay open to the data according to
grounded theory procedures, some of the emerging concepts may find
similar expressions in existing literatures. Therefore, after the grounded
theory formed, previous studies were drawn on to provide an element
of theoretical triangulation.
4. Data collection
Data were gathered mainly through interviews and web investiga-
tion from August 2011 to June 2012. Data collection ends when the
study has achieved theoretical saturation. This means that no additional
data can be found that would add to the categories being developed
(Minichiello, Aroni, Timewell, & Alexander, 1995). In this study,
relevant online discussions were collected as supplementary data after
all the interview data had been systematically analyzed, until no more
new categories could be identified.
4.1. Sampling
The sampling strategy of grounded theory research is theoretical
sampling. It is the conceptual question, rather than representativeness,
that drives the choice of respondents, episodes, and interactions in
ground theory research (Miles & Huberman, 1994). In this procedure,
“researchers consciously select additional cases to be studied according
to the potential for developing new insights or expanding and refining
those already gained” (Taylor & Bogdan, 1998, p. 92). In the present
study, the researcher interviewed 51 respondents in total, including
24 government employees, 26 citizens and one technical worker from
a web service provider. Among the 51 respondents, 45 were educated
to at least college level, and all the respondents had experience with
the internet.
Since employees from e-government departments know much
more about the situations of government website utilization than any
others, 24 government employees (5 females and 19 males) who
were in charge of government websites at different levels, from county
or city level government to departments of central government were
interviewed. Half of them were chosen from a national conference for
e-government officials in December 2011. The others were supplement-
ed gradually from a tencent QQ (a free instant message tool in China)
group special for government website masters. The regions where
they worked and the levels of their governments were considered
in sampling.
Citizens are users or potential users of government websites. Their
perceptions and understandings are critical for developing new insights.
26 citizens were interviewed, of which 16 were professors or doctoral
candidates. These scholars were chosen as respondents for three
reasons: Firstly, they worked in different specialties and had various
experiences with government websites. Secondly, they had registered
on a blog community of a large and well known scientific website, the
Science Net (http://blog.sciencenet.cn/), via which interviews could be
conducted easily. Thirdly, scientists often had insightful viewpoints on
government related topics. Among these scholars, one was engaged in
public policy research and another worked in a government associated
research agency, while the remaining scholars were all based in univer-
sities or academic institutes. Another 10 citizens comprise 2 farmers, 3
farmer workers (farmers who leave their hometown in rural area to
work in a city temporarily without city residence registration), 3 librar-
ians, a member of an administrative staff of a university and a master of
a private clinic.
At the end of the data collection process, a technical worker from a
web service provider was interviewed. His comments were necessary
for adding understandings on the promotional strategies of government
websites.
4.2. Interviews
The interview process was divided into four phases. In the first stage,
from August to October 2011, 8 open-ended interviews were conducted
with government webmasters, scholars and citizens, on the utilization
and promotion of government websites. A number of interesting
elements emerged from the data, and were identified as important
concepts to explore in further semi-structured interviews.
In the second stage, from January to April 2012, 27 semi-structured
interviews were conducted in order to collect more focused and
detailed data. After these interviews, a search of databases and relevant
forums, blogs and websites provided 30 examples of online disputes,
users' experiences and scholars' views of government website utiliza-
tion and promotion as supplementary data. As the data analysis
proceeded, some concepts, such as citizens' needs for government infor-
mation, alternative information sources and government website
promotion, were found to be under-developed and in need of further
data support.
During the third stage, from May to June 2012, in-depth interviews
were conducted with 17 respondents until it was thought that theoret-
ical saturation had been achieved. Four of the respondents had also been
interviewed during the previous two stages, and the remaining 13 were
new respondents. At this stage, interviews focused on core categories,
their properties and their relationships.
The fourth stage was supplemented in June and July 2013. During
the revision of the paper, the researcher found that it was necessary to
interview more rural residents other than citizens in order to discern
properties of the category “alternative information sources”. Therefore,
3 farmer workers were interviewed as additional respondents.
The interview outline for government employees delineated several
areas of discussion, but as the interviews were semi-structured, the in-
terviewer was not limited to discussing only these issues. The four areas
of questioning covered in the interview outline, along with the ques-
tions asked, were: (1) The intended users. Who are the intended users
of your website? (Who visits the site and from where? What are their
main purposes in using your website? What functions of this site do
they use the most or the least?) (2) Utilization. How do you evaluate
the utilization rate of your site? What factors do you think influence
the utilization of your site? Do you think that it is necessary to improve
the utilization of government websites? Why? What measures have
you taken to improve the utilization of your site? What will you do to
promote your site in the future if you think it is necessary? (3) Potential
users. What do you think are the main reasons why some targeted users
have not used government websites? Will you try to encourage them to
 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621
use your site? (4) The website. What do you think are the main difficul-
ties faced by your website? What factors influence the effectiveness of
your website?
The interview outline for users included three aspects: (1) Users' ex-
perience with government websites. Have you visited government
websites before? For what reasons did you visit those government
websites? How did you learn about a government website when you
visited it for the first time? What government websites do you visit
most often? (2) Attitude toward government website utilization. Do
you think it is necessary to improve the utilization of government
websites? Why? What measures do you think are helpful for improving
government website utilization? (3) Problems of government websites.
If you haven't visited or wouldn't like to visit a government website,
please explain why. What do you think are the main reasons for the
low utilization of government websites?
Questions for the website design company employee included:
(1) Do you have any technical solutions for the low utilization of govern-
ment websites? (2) How did your previous government customers solve
the problem of low utilization of their websites? Are there any experi-
ences from business websites that government websites can refer to?
Interviews were completed through online communications, face-
to-face talk, telephone calls and cell phone text messages. Online inter-
views were conducted largely through tencent QQ and the message
functions of the ScienceNet blog. Face-to-face interviews were conduct-
ed on a one-to-one basis during two large conferences for employees
from more than 100 Chinese local government websites in August and
December 2011. Cell phone text messages and phone calls were also
adopted as supplementary interview methods. All the interviews were
undertaken by two interviewers. The main researcher was responsible
for open-ended interviews at the first stage, in-depth interviews at the
third stage and half of the semi-structured interviews, and an assistant
researcher completed the remaining semi-structured interviews. All in-
terviews were recorded and the audio records were transcribed within
24 h.
5. Data analysis
The process of grounded theory research can be divided into four
stages: creating categories and their properties, integrating categories
and their properties, delimiting theory, and writing theory by continu-
ous comparison and analysis of data (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The criti-
cal research work includes open coding, theoretical coding, selective
coding and theory writing (Pace, 2004).
5.1. Coding
Open coding is a process of breaking down, examining, comparing,
conceptualizing and categorizing data. For example, Table 2 shows
the process of formulating the concept “value of the utilization of
government websites”, “pertinence” and “utility”.
As shown in Table 2, usefulness, practicality, functionality, conve-
nience, providing needed services, cost saving, satisfying users' specific
needs and solving problems were identified. By further comparison and
analysis, three categories, utility, pertinence and value, emerged. The
difference between category and concept here is that a category is an
upper class concept that may comprise a few lower class concepts
while a concept is only an elementary theoretical unit. The category of
value reveals the essence of the utilization of a government website.
Similarly, other theoretical concepts were identified, which will be
explicated in the next section.
The process of theoretical coding focuses on understanding relation-
ships between categories and their properties and organizing them into
propositions. For example, a user's need to browse government
websites occurs in a context involving his/her age, education or literacy,
work task or profession, income, life affairs, and so on. These contextual
613
factors influence his/her information needs and information source
selection decision.
Selective coding is the process of identifying core categories and con-
fining coding to concepts that are pertinent to those core categories.
Four categories, “effectiveness of government websites”, “users needs”,
“alternative information sources” and “value of government website uti-
lization” were coded as four theoretical pillars. Pertinent concepts of
each core category were categorized as its sub-categories, and exoge-
nous influential factors were then identified as its context. In addition,
the context of government website utilization itself was also identified,
including public administration system, culture and maturity of
information society.
5.2. Theoretical elements of government website utilization
The integrated theory emerged naturally from the data with the cat-
egories and their properties. All theoretical elements are shown in
Appendix 1. The core categories and their relationships are analyzed
as follows.
5.2.1. The core category “value” and its dimensions
Value is a core category that reveals the essence of government
website utilization. Pertinence, convenience, cost saving and irreplace-
ability are its four sub-categories. Pertinence and irreplaceability are
two new categories that haven't been explored. Each sub-category has
two or three dimensions and takes effect in a context which comprises
several conditions or contextual factors, as shown in Table 3.
5.2.1.1. Pertinence. In theory, government websites are built to provide
information and services for all citizens. Respondent 10 (a government
webmaster) said, “Whether a government website could attract visits
or not depends on whether its functions are related with peoples' liveli-
hood or not”. In terms of each specific government website, it is de-
signed to deliver specific information and services for intended users.
As shown in Table 2, pertinence means that the information and services
provided on a government website should be related to the life, work, or
interests of its intended users. Pertinence determines the size of the
value that a government website can provide for its intended users.
This means that governments or their departments must first know
who their intended users are and what practical needs these users have.
5.2.1.2. Convenience. Convenience means that a government website
could reduce efforts made by citizens or improve their efficiency when
obtaining government information or transacting with government agen-
cies. As comments in Table 2 indicate, convenience is the critical reason
why respondent 8 visits the website of the Sinorail Customer Service Cen-
ter to buy a train ticket. Convenience brought by government websites
requires their availability, affordability, accessibility and usability.
5.2.1.3. Cost saving. Cost saving is an important component of the value
brought by e-government. It includes saving time and money or reduc-
ing paperwork for both the government and the public. As respondent 1
(a government employee) said, “for example, an email to the govern-
ment email box must be replied within 5 working days while a paper
letter may not be replied so quickly. We have an electronic supervision
over email reply.”
5.2.1.4. Irreplaceability. Irreplaceability is a critical component of the
value of a facility. As comments in Table 2 show that, if a government
website owns distinctive information resources or functions that can't
be obtained by other means, it will attract more clicks undoubtedly. In
many cases, the distinction of a government website is determined by
the functions of its host agency. In addition, if some businesses are
required to be processed online, users will have no choice but to visit
the website.
614 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621

Table 2
The process of identifying concepts “value”, “utility” and “pertinence”.

Informants Example comments Decomposition Initial conceptualization Category

1 If I can do something, I will try to attract clicks by improving the usefulness of 1. Solving problems, related to offline Usefulness Value
the government website. By making the site solve practical problems for peo- transaction handling; Practicality Pertinence
ple. For example, the government email box on our site is nice, so the number 2. Usefulness, as perceived by citizens and Solve problems Utility
of clicks is not bad. If a problem submitted by email can't be solved on time, I civil servants Meeting three main needs
will urge the relevant departments to process it.…The key is to let the people 3. Satisfying people's need for information, of citizens
and government officers feel the practicality of the site, get the information and services and supervision
services they want, or submit suggestions or complaints through it.
2 Take the website of the Real Estate Regulation Agency for example. It has Distinctive information resources that Distinctive information Value
distinctive information resources which are closely related to people's lives, can meet people's special daily needs. resources Pertinence
so its website has great benefits. The Personnel, Labor and Land-use Plan- Clicks of government websites are Benefits. Utility
ning departments are similar, while the websites of Government Study or determined by whether the functions of Functions related to
Alien Office have difficulties sustaining themselves. Whether government their host departments are directly people's livelihood.
department websites attract clicks or not is determined by whether their related to people's livelihood.
functions are related to people's livelihood.
3 If the government website can't handle affairs, I would rather go to govern- Handle affairs Utility Value
ment office. The key is to handle affairs. Otherwise, I will not visit any Utility
government websites however interesting they look. Practicality
4 If the functions of government websites become stronger, people who need Stronger functions Functionality Value
them will find them by themselves. Utility
5 In general, people visit government websites to browse the information Users only browse the content they are Satisfy user's interests; Value
they are interested in. Ordinary people don't care about news of the officials interested in. Inconsistency between the Pertinence
on government websites. They would rather read news from other media. I Needs of civil servants are different from interests of citizens and
myself (a government employee) often browse news on the government that of citizens. officials.
portal to see what my leaders are doing.
6 I (a scientist) have never visited government portals. I only visit the NSFC Only visit government websites that are Satisfy specific needs that Value
website of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for related to one's profession or work tasks. are related to user's Pertinence
research project applications. I guess few people visit government websites profession or work tasks.
except officials themselves. Government websites don't draw my attention
unless I have to deal with specific affairs through the website.
7 I (a professor of public policy) visited a few government websites that are Satisfy one's needs that are related to his/ Different websites meet Value
related to my discipline, to search policy texts and project information. … her profession or life. different needs. Pertinence
Yeah, I also visited a website on provident funds when I bought an apart- Utility
ment, and a website of the Ministry of Railways to buy tickets.
8 If more services are delivered through government websites, more people Government websites should offer Providing needed services Value
will be happy to visit them. For example, when I (a professor of emergency convenience. Convenience Pertinence
management) was in Europe, I had to make an appointment on a govern- Provide needed services. Cost advantages Utility
ment website before I went to the government building. So the key is what Save users' time or other costs. Cost
government websites can do more conveniently. If services that are needed savings
are delivered through them, only fools will not visit them. For example,
people are willing to buy railway tickets online. No one is willing to queue.

5.2.2. The core category “effectiveness of government websites” and its
properties
Effectiveness of a government website means that it can successfully
deliver government information and services to targeted citizens. To
obtain this goal, a government website requires the three properties
of utility, usability and familiarity, and these properties are related to a
specific context composed of a set of factors, as shown in Table 4.
5.2.2.1. Utility. The data indicated that the utility of a government website
is its capability to satisfy the specific needs of its intended users, such as
buying railway tickets, applying for research projects, and so on. Its scale
depends on its functionality. Utility is an indispensable property not only
of government websites, but also of any information resources.
5.2.2.2. Usability. The dimensions of usability are shown in Table 3. Re-
spondent 1 commented: “The readability and findability of government
websites should be improved…. It is especially difficult for farmers over
40 to find something on a government website. We must make the
website easy to operate…. It would be best to build government websites
in the style of a fool.” Respondent 39 commented that “[information on a
government website] must be clear at a glance and easy to search. It
should be quick to open. Don't make me wait. The xinhua.net is too
slow. I can't wait for it.” From these comments, readability, findability,
learnability, searchability, understandability and accessability were
identified as indicators of the category “usability”.
5.2.2.3. Familiarity. The category familiarity emerged as the interviews
proceeded. Awareness and using habits are two subcategories of

Table 3
Coding paradigm of the core category “value of the utilization of government websites”.

Core categories Sub-categories Dimensions of sub-categories Context

Value of the utilization of Pertinence Life related Citizen centered strategy; identification of intended users;
government websites Work related understanding user needs.
Interest related
Convenience Reducing efforts Availability; affordability; accessibility; usability.
Improving efficiency
Cost savings Time saving Reengineering government business process; one-stop services.
Money saving
Paperwork reduction
Irreplaceability Distinctive information resources Functions of host institutions; provisions of host institutions.
Required online businesses
 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621
Table 4
Coding paradigm of the core category “effectiveness of government websites”.
Core category Sub-categories
Effectiveness of a government website Utility
Usability
Familiarity
familiarity. Respondent 37 (a woman farmer) said, “the only govern-
ment website that I know is the 12,371 (a party website). I don't think
I need to visit government websites. I don't know what they can do.”
Respondent 6 (a scientist) said, “the first government website I knew
about was the website of the NSFC. We were required to apply for a
NSFC project on the website and received a notification with the site
address (at the first time), so I became aware of it.” Respondent 7 (a
doctoral student) said that “I found government websites with search
engines when I needed to visit them.”
5.2.2.4. Context of the effectiveness of government websites. Other con-
cepts emerged around the category “effectiveness of government
websites”. These concepts represent factors that determine or influence
the effectiveness of a government website and thus constitute its con-
text. Respondent 5 (a e-government official) said, “Governments at
county level pay close attention to their websites. They need a platform
to publicize themselves. Government websites are their media.”
Respondent 1 said, “Sometimes I feel that government websites are
set up for governments themselves instead of citizens.” From these
comments, the concept of mission of a government website was identi-
fied as a contextual factor. Promotional strategies adopted by its host
department were also identified and found to influence its familiarity.
Other contextual concepts are shown in Table 4.
5.2.3. The core category “user needs” and its subcategories
5.2.3.1. Facets of user's needs for government websites. Users' needs for
government information and services exist in three states, namely
expressed need, conscious but unexpressed need and objective but un-
conscious need. These different states could be categorized as a hierar-
chy. Respondent 7 (a policy scientist) clearly expressed his needs: “I
browse government websites regularly because I need to track the
newest policy trend. That is my research field.” When respondent 43
(a farmer) was asked about government websites, he said, “I know the
internet. The kids can ‘play’ on the internet. I can't. I don't know govern-
ment websites. Oh, yeah, my house was pulled down this year. Can you
help me find out about government regulations on compensation for
the demolition from the internet?” Although he knew little about
government websites, he was conscious of his need for government
information. Respondent 37 said, “I connect to the internet at home. I
often chat with my friends online. I don't know government websites.
When I want to know about policies, I go to the office of the village com-
mittee to ask.” This means that she had objective needs for browsing
government websites, but did not realize it. 7 contextual concepts of
user needs emerged in total, as shown in Table 5.
5.2.3.2. Context of users' needs for government websites. Users' needs for
government websites are influenced significantly by their professions.
Data show that people in different industries need different government
information and services. Scientists need to browse the websites of the
NSFC, Ministry of Science and Technology or other relevant websites for
funding applications. Students visit websites of special departments to
615
Dimensions of sub-categories Context
Service delivery Mission of a government website
Information openness Functions of host agency
Interaction platform Importance attached to the website by leaders of host agency
Business process Investment
Accessibility Competent staff
Readability Standardization
Understandability Website promotion
Searchability
Ease of use
Awareness
Using habits
register for various examinations, such as examinations for certified
public accountants, lawyers, and civil servants. Farmers need informa-
tion on village financial affairs and policies on land acquisition, house
demolition, and agriculture technology.
Region and time are also two contextual factors of user needs. People
are more concerned with government websites of their own region than
those of others. Respondent 1 said, “people who visit our portal are
farmers from our county. Young farmers who migrate to other places
for employment also browse the portal to find out about the affairs of
their villages.” Most local government websites mainly serve local resi-
dents, foreign investors and travelers. Some users' needs for govern-
ment websites are temporary. Students will not care policies on
college entrance examinations after they go to college. Many people
are not interested in marriage law after they are married. Respondent
28 (a chemist) said, “I visited the court website a few years ago because
I was involved in a lawsuit. I have never visited it again since then.”
Other factors that influence users' needs for government websites
were also coded, including user's age, education (information literacy),
income, profession (work tasks) and life affairs. Respondent 1 said,
“there are only old people over 45 and young kids in villages now.
Most of them don't visit government websites. Nearly all the young
adults went to work in big cities or other places. These young adults
often visit the government portal of their home town. They are mainly
concerned with the openness of the public financing of their village.
Every village has a special page on the county government website.”
Respondent 9 said, “you know, our city is in the south. People here are
rich…. Clicks on our government portal are not low.” Respondent 15
(a government web master) said, “intended users of those government
websites in big cities are educated young people. The situation (visits) of
these websites is far better than our portal (of a rural district).” Profes-
sion and life affairs are also important determinants of a user's need to
browse government websites. Respondent 46 (a manager of a private
clinic) said, “I never visit any government websites. My work and life
have nothing to do with government websites.”
5.2.4. The core category “alternative information sources” and its properties
We did not expect the category “alternative information sources” to
emerge when we began to code the data. It refers to channels other than
government websites that can satisfy people's needs for government in-
formation and services. Respondent 46 commented, “the newspaper is
enough for me if I want to know what the government is doing.” Re-
spondent 1 said, “in our county, the town government sends a printed
government bulletin to each household every week…. People who are
not connected to the internet can go to the Administrative Licensing
Hall, or phone the relevant government department directly.” Respon-
dent 37 said, “if I have to transact with the government, I will ask a
member of the village committee in person at first. Then the committee
will submit my problem to a higher authority if necessary.” From these
comments, we found that the utilization of alternative information
sources is helpful in explaining why a great number of people know
so little about government websites. For those people who do not visit
government websites, alternative information sources have three
616 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621
Table 5
Coding paradigm of the core category “user needs”.
Core category Sub-categories
User needs for visiting government websites Facets
Hierarchies
advantages in getting government information and services: accessibil-
ity, familiarity and reliability, as shown in Table 6.
5.2.4.1. Accessibility. Alternative information sources can be more acces-
sible due to their short distance to home and suitability for the user's in-
formation literacy. People who prefer to use alternative information
sources view accessibility as their primary advantage. Respondent 43
said, “I often go to the town government building to ask about policies.
It is quite close to my house. About a 5 minute walk.” Respondent 40 (a
farmer worker) said, “I like to telephone an acquaintance who works in
the government if I do have something to ask. I think it is easier for me. I
don't know much about the internet.” Some people prefer traditional
channels, especially older people or those with lower education.
5.2.4.2. Familiarity. Many people don't like to try new technology, and in
particular, those over the age of 40 tend to use the facilities with which
they are already familiar. As respondent 51 (a farmer worker) said, “I
am not accustomed to the internet. I like to watch CCTV news and
read the local evening paper.” By this token, if people feel more familiar
with government websites, they will browse them more frequently.
5.2.4.3. Reliability. Users may prefer alternative information sources to
government websites because they think that the former are more reli-
able than the latter. Respondent 33 (an engineer) said: “I visited a portal
of a district government two years ago. I found the district director's
email address on it and wrote to him about an important matter, but no-
body replied to me. Then I went to communicate with him face to face
and solved the problem. Direct communication is more reliable, but dif-
ficult, certainly. Maybe this website is just an exception.” This means
that governments should try to improve citizens' trust in their websites.
5.2.5. Relationships between core categories
Relationships between “effectiveness of government websites”,
“user needs” and “alternative information sources” determine the
value of the utilization of a government website.
5.2.5.1. The relationship between government websites and user needs.
Government websites are expected to satisfy citizens' needs for govern-
ment information and services. Citizens' satisfaction with a government
website is influenced by its three properties, utility, usability and famil-
iarity. In order for a website to benefit from good utility, usability and fa-
miliarity, it is a prerequisite that the government really cares about and
Table 6
Coding paradigm of the core category “alternative information sources”.
Core category Properties Dimensions of Examples of core categories
sub-categories
Alternative Accessibility Distance accessibility Visit the Administrative
information Literacy accessibility Licensing Hall in person
sources Familiarity Awareness Phone call
Using habits Government bulletins
Reliability Authority Newspapers
Trust Social network
Dimensions of Context of sub-categories
sub-categories
The need to acquire government information Profession or work tasks
The need to obtain government services Region
The need to interact with government departments Life affairs
Expressed need Timeframe of task
Conscious but unexpressed need Age
Objective but unconscious need Income
Education
understands citizens' needs, and furthermore, government websites
should not only try to satisfy citizens' conscious and expressed needs,
but should also manage to arouse their objective but unconscious
needs. However, this does not always apply in practice. Respondent
15 (an employee of a government website) said, “we didn't do any in-
vestigation on user needs. We designed our website in the uniform
style required by the upper department.” Respondent 17 (a government
employee) said, “as long as the website meets the requirement of the
leader, it is OK.” Respondent 1 said, “the website is a ‘face’ of the leader.
We must make the leader satisfied.” In such cases, some users express
their dissatisfaction with the website by not choosing to visit it again.
5.2.5.2. The relationship between alternative information sources and user
needs. The relationship between user needs and alternative information
sources is similar to that between user needs and government websites.
It is not the focus of this study, but it does influence the utilization of
government websites. Respondent 44 said, “I am a farmer worker and
often leave home to work in other cities. Sometimes I buy a newspaper
to learn about national affairs. That's enough for me. I don't need to
browse government websites. It is not easy for me to find a government
website.” More than one respondent took TV programs, newspapers
and communication with friends as the sources for satisfying their
occasional needs for government information.
5.2.5.3. Relationships between government websites and alternative infor-
mation sources. The number of alternative information sources that a
government website determines its irreplacebility, and thus influence
its value. There are four kinds of relationships between government
websites and alternative information sources: overlap, complement,
competition and replacement. Respondent 1 said, “if a farmer who
can't connect to the internet at home has to go to the county town to ac-
quire government information in an internet café, he/she would rather
go to the Administrative Licensing Hall in the town to acquire the same
information by consulting a government employee.” In underdeveloped
information societies, overlap and complement are dominant relation-
ships between alternative information sources and government
websites. In a developed information society, competition and replace-
ment will emerge. Data reveal that citizens from rural areas are more
likely to adopt traditional facilities than those from developed
cities. For some professions that require a high level of education,
e.g., scientists, some government services are provided online only.
For example, a scientist will not be able to finish his/her NSFC project
application if he/she does not visit the appointed website. The relation-
ship between government websites and alternative information sources
is currently characterized by both competition and supplementation.
With the maturity of the information society, government websites
will undertake more of the functions currently being undertaken by
the alternative information sources.
5.2.5.4. Context of government website utilization. Public administration
system, culture, and level of maturity of the information society
emerged as contextual factors of government website utilization. Public
administration system influences the mission of government websites,
 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621
the ideas of the officials in charge of e-government, and the participa-
tion of citizens in public affairs. Online data showed that after the pro-
mulgation of “the Regulations of China on Open Government
Information” in 2008, Chinese government websites became the most
important channels for government information openness, and have
since attracted dramatically increasing numbers of visits, indicating
the decisive role that the reform of public administration system plays
in government website utilization.
The level of maturity of an information society determines citizens'
choice between online and offline government services. As an informa-
tion society becomes more mature, the relationship between government
websites and alternative information sources changes from traditional
facilities being dominant to websites becoming dominant.
Culture is a complex concept related to people's values according to
Hofstede (1993). In different cultures, relationships between the public
and the government are different. Respondent 24 (a scientist) said, “you
know, there seems to be a history of (Chinese) people being reluctant to
have relations with the government unless they feel they have to.” If in a
culture with shorter power distance, the situation may be different.
6. The theory of government website utilization and its test
6.1. An integrated theoretical framework of government website utilization
Both government websites and alternative information sources aim
to deliver value to citizens by satisfying their needs for information, ser-
vices, or interaction. The value realization is determined by properties of
and relationships between government websites, alternative sources
and users needs. In order to illustrate the theory of government website
utilization in detail, relationships between all categories and concepts
Fig. 1. The integrated theoretical model of government website utilization.
617
are presented, as shown in Fig. 1. Value is at the center of the relation-
ship network of four core categories. The four core categories are located
in the central points of four circles respectively, their properties or di-
mensions are located in the second layer, and their contexts are located
in the third layer. Relationships between core categories are indicated
by arrows. Three contextual factors of government website utilization
“public administration system”, “maturity of information society” and
“culture” are marked on the outside of the arrows.
6.2. A general conceptual model of information source selection
As shown in Fig. 1, government website is one of the information
sources. The process of choosing a government website to satisfy one's
information needs is similar to that of choosing any other information
sources. By iteratively analyzing the data, a general conceptual model
for information source selection was created as a derivative. As shown
in Fig. 2, when a user needs to select a specific information source, he/
she has to experience five decision steps according to time sequence be-
fore making final decision. These 5 steps are: comparing the pertinence
of all possible information sources based on their utilities; judging the
irreplaceability of pertinent sources; comparing the availability, afford-
ability and accessibility of pertinent but replaceable sources; comparing
the familiarity of the sources selected in last step; and comparing the us-
ability of the sources selected in last step. Step by step, some informa-
tion sources are discarded and the others remain, till the one which
owns best pertinence, availability, affordability, accessibility, familiarity,
and usability is selected. This model can also explain the low utilization
of government websites. It provides service quality criteria for informa-
tion resource keepers, such as governments, libraries, and so on.
618 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621
Fig. 2. A model of information source selection.
6.3. Explaining the low utilization of government websites with the theory
6.3.1. Limitation of the utilities of government websites
Government websites can be divided into two types: government
portals and departmental websites. Government portals aim to make
government information accessible and to provide universal public
services for local residents and foreign investors and travelers, while
departmental websites undertake specific functions that aim to satisfy
the needs of specific social groups. For example, websites of education
departments mainly serve schools, universities, students and teachers.
This means that a specific government website can't provide infinite
information and services for as many people as possible. Furthermore,
if a government website can't provide all of the planned functions, it
will lose some intended users.
6.3.2. Limitation of user needs
A government portal often assumes the function of a “shop window”
of the region. The number of potential users of any specific government
portal is limited by the population of that region, and only part of the
potential users have expressed or conscious needs for government
information or services because the need for government information
or services does not arise every day for every citizen. The number of
intended users of any departmental website is limited because a depart-
mental website is generally to serve a specific group of citizens who may
have similar characteristics, such as profession, age, income, life
problems or work tasks. For example, the number of applications
accepted by NSFC in 2011 was 143,280. NSFC requires all applications
to be completed through its website and every project is required to
last an average of four years. It is possible to estimate the total number
of potential users of the NSFC website every year. This means that the
actual utilizations of this website are limited by the number of its poten-
tial users over a given period. Therefore, not all departmental website
should be expected to attract an equally high number of visitors. Our
investigation of the government website group of Ningbo (a city in
Zhejiang province) on June 24, 2012 showed that the most visited
departmental websites are those of the Public Security Bureau, the
Civil Affairs Bureau, the Finance Bureau and the Education Bureau,
which can all satisfy more needs of more citizens in a more direct way
than other departmental websites, for a given quality of website
construction and condition of alternative information sources. As the
number of intended users and the number of the users with conscious
needs are finite, the utilization of a specific government website is finite
accordingly.
6.3.3. Limitation of the properties of government websites
As shown in Fig. 2, properties of a government website influence its
effectiveness in satisfying users' needs. If one or more properties of a
government website don't perform well, users' needs will not be
satisfied as expected. Consequently, the utilization of the website will
be influenced even though its pertinence is good.
6.3.4. Competence of alternative information sources
If a user feels disappointed at a government website, he/she will turn
to alternative information sources. If an alternative source can satisfy
his/her needs well, he/she will choose not to visit the government
website any more.
6.4. Policy recommendations
The interaction of four core categories leads to a high or low utiliza-
tion of a government website. As discussed in the Introduction, both
governments and taxpayers are willing to improve the utilization of
government websites. According to the theory generated in the present
study, following measures are suggested to improve the utilization of a
government website: (1) improving its familiarity among intended
users via website promotion; (2) understanding the conscious needs
and arousing the objective needs of the potential users; (3) providing
better functions and higher-quality services than alternative informa-
tion sources; (4) improving usability and other properties of the
website; and (5) making changes to contextual factors. For example,
the webmaster should try to help the leaders to understand that the
purpose of a government website is to facilitate the delivery of public
value to citizens, rather than to be part of an image-related project,
and a responsive government should, of course, concern itself with the
needs of the public.
7. Discussion
The research aim of the present study is to explore the mechanism of
government website utilization. A grounded theory approach was
adopted and a substantive theory was generated. All the concepts, cate-
gories and relationships emerged naturally within the process of data
analysis. However, although the researcher tried not to be influenced
by pre-existing theories according to the procedure of grounded theory
approach, some of the concepts and categories happened to be consis-
tent with the concepts of existing theories, such as user needs, value,
utility, usability, familiarity and accessibility.
User needs was divided into three levels in the present study: objec-
tive needs, conscious needs and expressed needs, which is quite similar
to Taylor's four-level division: visceral need, conscious need, formalized
need and compromised need (Taylor, 1968). Given specific contextual
factors, the three-level division of user needs is easier to understand
than Taylor's four-level division. Objective needs for government infor-
mation and services could be aroused and transformed into conscious or
expressed needs through education, training or website promotion.
Wang and Chen (2012) found that improvement of information literacy
and knowledge about government websites are two conditions for
the transformation of the potential users of e-government services
into actual ones.
Value acquisition was identified as the essential motivation of
government website utilization in the present study. Public value de-
livered by e-government has been discussed in previous studies.
 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621
Accenture (2008) stressed the importance of public values because
they guide government behavior and action when planning and
delivering public services. Hui and Hayllar (2012) thought that a
lack of public engagement can lead to a lack of mutual understanding
and trust between government and citizens, and all too frequently
this has a negative impact on the outcomes of e-government
projects. Park (2008) developed two instruments to measure e-
government values perceived by citizens using a value-focused
thinking approach. The present study advances the study of e-
government value by examining it among a relationship network of
four theoretical pillars under a holistic perspective.
Usability, utility, familiarity and accessibility of websites have been
fully investigated in numerous literatures. Shackel (1991) measured us-
ability using four dimensions: effectiveness, learnability, flexibility and
attitude. Dillon and Morris (1999) extracted three pillars that underpin
web usability: effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Hossan, Habib
and Kushchu (2006) suggested that usability includes two dimensions:
objective and subjective usability. Objective usability includes function-
ality, accessibility and findability, and subjective usability means useful-
ness, esthetics and credibility. Utility was described by Shackel (1991)
as whether a website will “do what is needed functionally”. Functional-
ity was also taken as one dimension of website usability by García and
Castillo (2010). Familiarity and accessibility of sources were demon-
strated to be correlated to information source selection by Xie and Joo
(2009). Grimsley, Meehan, and Gupta (2006) pointed out that govern-
ments need to remember that citizens value only those public services
that they have experienced. These studies elaborated and enriched
properties of government websites and their findings could be used
for reference in further operationalization of the theory of government
website utilization.
The rediscovery of these “old” concepts does not only verify the suc-
cess of previous studies, but also triangulates the significance of the
present study. Besides these old concepts, some new concepts provide
more insightful explanation for the low utilization of government
websites in China, such as pertinence, irreplaceability, affordability,
alternative information sources and a few contextual factors, as shown
in Appendix 1. Among them, the irreplaceability and alternative
information sources play important roles in one's decision to visit a
government website or not, which is a powerful compensation to the
conclusion that usability is the critical influential factor of website
utilization in many studies. This means that people may tend to obtain
government information from other easier channels than government
websites, even a well-designed website. According to the grounded the-
ory, the functions of the website's host agency influence its utilization
significantly, which extends the research view from within websites
themselves. This means that a website of a government department
should consider its page views within the limits of the total number of
its intended users. In addition, bandwidth, a concept that had been stud-
ied in large number of European literatures, was not extracted from the
data. The possible reason is that in China, a densely populated country
with 527 million netizens via mobile phone (CNNIC, 2014) and a policy
of “open TV, telephone and the internet in every village” for 10 years,
connection to the internet is not a serious problem.
Compared to existing studies, the contributions of the present study
include: (1) developing a holistic understanding on the mechanism of
government website utilization. The integrated theory was proved
powerful in explaining the low utilization of government websites.
(2) Identifying a few new theoretical concepts that were not explored
in previous studies. These concepts strengthen the explanatory power
of the theory and are worth studying in the future. (3) Revealing that
value acquisition is the essence of government website utilization.
(4) Formulating a derivative conceptual model for delineating the pro-
cess of information source selection. The present study will not only ad-
vance research on e-government but also will help governments,
information resource keepers and online service providers to provide
better services for their customers.
619
The limitations of this study include: (1) All the respondents were
from China. Although the theoretical sampling strategy of grounded
theory approach doesn't require the representativeness of respondents,
considering that citizens and government employees from different
public administration systems and cultures may have different behavior
patterns, the data only collected in China may limit the generality of the
theory. In order to improve the generality of the theory, comparative
studies between different counties are needed in the future. (2) Only
part of the comments and data analysis process were reported, other
raw data and procedural records were not presented because translat-
ing them from Chinese into English needs a large amount of time.
(3) As with most research methods, grounded theory that uses
interpretivist and constructionist tools does not exist without its critics,
especially from positivism/objectivism (Jones & Alony, 2011). The limi-
tations of the research method itself were not discussed in this paper.
8. Conclusion
In order to explain the phenomenon of the low utilization of govern-
ment websites that exists in many countries, an integrated theory is
needed. In order to obtain this goal, a grounded theory was adopted
and 51 respondents were interviewed to collect data, including 24 gov-
ernment employees who work for government websites, 16 scientists, 2
farmers, 3 farmer workers, 3 librarians, one administrator of a universi-
ty, one private clinic master, and one technical worker from an web
service provider. By iterative data comparison and analysis, four core
categories, “value”, “effectiveness of government websites”, “user
needs”, and “alternative information sources”, emerged as the four pil-
lars of the theoretical framework. Among them, value was identified
as the essence of government website utilization and at the central sta-
tus of the relationship network of four core categories. Each core catego-
ry has several pertinent properties or dimensions and a few contextual
factors that may affect the effectiveness of these properties or dimen-
sions. Besides concepts that had been explored in previous studies,
some new concepts were identified, including pertinence, irreplaceabil-
ity, affordability, alternative information sources, etc. Relationships be-
tween these categories and concepts were analyzed and an integrated
theoretical framework was formulated. The theory generated in the
present study was proved to be powerful in explaining the low utiliza-
tion of government websites. In addition to the theory of government
website utilization, a conceptual model of information source selection
was created as a derivative.
To improve the generality of the grounded theory generated in the
present study, future work will be conducted from following four aspects:
(1) an empirical study to test the grounded theoretical model on a larger
scale; (2) a comparative study on the utilization of government websites
between different countries under this theoretical model; (3) an evalua-
tion study on the utilization of other forms of e-government services
under the framework of this theoretical model, such as m-government
services, or social media services of governments; and (4) an independent
study to elaborate and deepen the conceptual model of information
source selection formulated in the present study.
Acknowledgments
My thanks to all interviewees and my research assistant Ying Wang,
and the National Natural Science Foundation of China for their support
in helping me to finish this research as a part of the project “Information
access of Chinese migrant farmer workers and the construction of an
inter-regional public information service system for them” (grant no.
71173121), the project “Holistic evaluation research on e-government
based on multi-stakeholder value-focused approach” supported by the
Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences Program of the Ministry
of Education of the People's Republic of China (grant no. 10YJA870021),
and the Special Funds Project for Basic Research of Nankai University
“Theory construction and evaluation on social information welfare”.
620 F. Wang / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 610–621

Appendix 1. All theoretical elements that emerged from the data analysis process (those with “*” are new concepts that haven't been discussed
in previous e-government literature)

Core categories Sub-categories Dimensions of sub-categories Context

Value of the utilization of Pertinence* Life related Citizen centered strategy;

government websites Work related Identification of intended users*;
Interest related Understanding user needs.
Convenience Reducing efforts Availability;
Improving efficiency Affordability;
Accessibility;
Usability.
Cost savings Time saving Reengineering government
Money saving business process;
Paperwork reduction One-stop services
Irreplaceability* Distinctive information resources* Functions of host institutions*;
Required online businesses* Provisions of host institutions*.
Effectiveness of a government Utility Service delivery Mission of a government website*;
website Information openness Functions of host agency*;
Interaction platform Importance attached to the website
Business process by leaders *;
Usability Accessibility Investment
Readability Competent staff
Understandability Standardization
Searchability Website promotion*
Ease of use
Familiarity Awareness
Using habits*

Core category Sub-categories Dimensions of sub-categories Context of sub-categories

User needs* for visiting Facets The need to acquire government information* Profession or work tasks*
government websites The need to obtain government services* Region*
The need to interact with government departments* Life affairs
Hierarchies Expressed need Timeframe of task
Conscious but unexpressed need Age
Objective but unconscious need Income
Education

Core category Properties Dimensions of sub-categories Examples of core categories

Alternative information sources* Accessibility Distance accessibility* Visit the Administrative Licensing
Literacy accessibility* Hall in person
Familiarity Awareness Phone call
Using habits Government bulletins
Reliability Authority* Newspapers
Trust Social network

Core category Dimensions Dimensions of sub-categories Examples of core categories

Contextual concepts related with Public administration system* Law and regulations
government website utilization Policy
Organization
Culture Power distance
Level of maturity of the Traditional facility dominant*
information society* Website dominant*

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Dr. Fang Wang is a professor of Information Science in Business School of Nankai Univer-
sity, China. She got her doctor's degree from the Department of Information Management,
Peking University in 2004. She was a Fulbright visiting scholar (2009–2010) at the Nation-
al Center for Digital Government in UMASS Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Her research
field is the utilization of e-government services. She has presided more than 10 projects
including NSFC and other foundations. She has published more than 70 papers in Chinese
and English, including one on Government Information Quarterly (2012, S1), as well as 8
books in Chinese in related fields.