From users to non-users: why improving satisfaction of competent public e-service users matters

Abstract

Although many public services are available online, actual citizen uptake remains limited and uneven across social groups. This study examines continued public e-service use among institutionally more competent users in Latvia, using survey data from 1,059 respondents. The analysis applies descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, and a TCT-inspired framework combining correlation analysis and structural equation modelling to test relationships among perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), service outcome success (SO), satisfaction (SQ), frequency of use (UF), and number of services used (UN). The results show that PU and PEU are strong predictors of SQ, whereas SQ has only a weak association with UF and does not significantly explain variation in UN. A counterintuitive finding is that SO does not significantly predict either SQ or UF, suggesting that, for competent users, usage may be shaped more by administrative necessity than by episodic service outcomes. Descriptively, satisfaction with concrete service experiences was moderate. Although satisfaction is not a strong behavioural driver within this group, increases in satisfaction may still matter for wider diffusion, as competent users can act as credible opinion leaders whose experiences influence broader uptake of public e-services.