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In the United States, federal mandates require government agencies to create websites, establish services on these sites, and make them available to citizens, with the federal e-government now encompassing more than 30,000 sites. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, for example, was passed to ensure e-government sites would be accessible to persons with disabilities. The combination of the newness of e-government and the complexity of accessibility keep most studies of the accessibility of e-government websites at a very practical level. However, identifying and establishing a conceptual framework through which to evaluate the implementation of Section 508 standards on e-government websites would be beneficial to researchers, government employees, and citizens. Further, a conceptual framework that helps to explain the implementation of one mandate could prove useful in studying the implementation of other mandates.
This paper examines the potential relevance of the Technology Acceptance Model for e-government websites at federal government level in the United States through an exploratory research study. By studying the implementation of the requirements of Section 508 through a number of data collection techniques and in terms of the Technology Acceptance Model, this paper seeks to use this particular mandate as an example through which to better understand the processes by which government agencies adopt e-government requirements and the actions that government managers can take to improve the implementation of such adoption. Given the importance placed on e-government as a means of communicating with and providing services to citizens, improving the adoption and implementation of standards is essential for e-government to meet the stated administrative goals. This paper explores approaches, models, and areas of further research that may be of value both in the study of e-government and the management of e-government initiatives.
Keywords:
e-government, technology acceptance model, accessibility, Section 508, disability, public servants, websites
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