Introduction

This project has provided a valuable opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the use of government information and services, in particular the potential for use of e-government.

E-government offers the possibility of better public services including policy-making, smarter organisation, and greater agility while still being cost-effective (Isociety, 2003).Around 68 million people have used government agency web sites in the United States in 2002 - a rapid increase from the 40 million using government sites in 2000 (Larsen & Rainie, 2002). The Hart/Teeter national survey conducted in the United States found that e-government users were primarily male, younger, better educated and of a higher socio-economic status than the public as a whole (West, 2004). A British study (Isociety, 2003) found that while those using government services generally were from poorer backgrounds, the majority of frequent technology users have a higher socio-economic status.

Research on e-government and its usage in New Zealand

Previous research on the topic in New Zealand includes the 'Government Online' (GO2003) study. While the study examined the public's use of online government websites it lacked information on the motivators and barriers involved in gathering government information (Cullen & Hernon, 2004).

A United Nations survey nominated New Zealand as having the third most advanced online government in the world (UN, 2003). However, although New Zealand had the highest percentage of Internet use in the 32 countries surveyed it was below the global average for users of online government services (59% compared with an average of 64%) (Parr & Yamine, 2003).

Both Parr and Yamin's 2003 survey and Cullen & Hernon's study found the major reason for using e-government in New Zealand was for information seeking. The latter study also found that even if people did contact government online they also used a variety of other channels to contact government and these channels were often interlinked. That is, a person might initially contact the government by phone but may then follow this up by going to see the government agency in person. For most respondents there was limited knowledge of the government services available on the web (Cullen & Hernon, 2004). Most of the respondents also lacked knowledge of which agency they needed to contact for information.