SECURITY MANAGEMENT APPLICATION

Security Management Application- E-File Adoption & U.S. Taxpayers' Intentions

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction3

Background of the study3

Problem Statement3

Purpose of the study5

Aims & objecticves5

Scope of the study5

Hypothesis Development6

Chapter 2: Literature Review8

Chapter 3: Methodology11

Research model11

Research Design11

Sample12

Instrument development12

Data analysis13

References15

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background of the study

The global explosion and adoption of the Internet has produced numerous implications for the public sector. Rather than duplicating their traditional brick and mortar equivalents, government agencies with digital delivery systems are non-hierarchical, non-linear, interactive in nature and never closed (West, 2008, pp45). E-government permits citizens to search and acquire information at their own convenience, without the restriction of geography. The interactive nature of e-government provides benefits for citizens and bureaucrats alike (West, 2008, pp67). Most U.S. government agencies have embraced the e-government movement and are providing a wide range of materials - publications, forms, government services - online for citizen use. However, despite this push to digitize government agencies, innovation and advancement is sometimes small in scale (West, 2008, pp74). One issue plaguing diffusion is the need for cohesive multi-channel distribution (Economist., 2008, pp15). Regardless of the manner in which citizens interact with the government, the outcome should be the same (Economist, 2008, pp17).

Problem Statement

To date, e-government services have been more about quantity than quality. A 2008 global e-government study by the Brookings Institute found that 96% of government websites provided access to publications, but only 50% provided services that were fully executable online (West, 2008, pp131). Making the right documents available is only part of the e-government initiative, getting citizens to adopt the e-services has proven to be the lingering obstacle. The underlying issue to date has not necessarily been a problem of design, but utilization. The key to successful e-government is the implementation of systems that are utilized and meet users' needs (Economist, 2008, pp22). One electronic government service that is receiving increased attention and is fully executable online is the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) e-file program. The electronic filing of income tax returns (the e-file program) has grown into a Congressional initiative; however, its outright adoption by citizens has yet to be fully achieved. In the U.S., the e-file program is largely considered to be an e-government success story. E-file services have been implemented with the goal of easing the burden on the taxpayer and increasing compliance through the innovative use of technology (Fu, Farn, & Chao, 2006, pp25). The use of IRS endorsed e-file systems has continued to with 52.9 million individual returns being filed in 2003, approximately 68 million in 2005 (VanDenburgh & Harmelink, 2006, pp41), 80 million in 2007 and approximately 90 million in 2008 (IRS, 2009, pp33). However, despite the substantial growth of e-file adoption rates the IRS and Congress have not reached their published goal of 80% of all U.S. citizens' income tax returns being filed electronically.

Purpose of the study

This paper integrates the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, online trust, perceived risk, and optimism bias into a comprehensive model of e-file ...