E-participation adoption models research in the last 17 years: A weight and meta-analytical review

Abstract

This article explores the main factors that drive the adoption of e-participation. A weight and meta-analysis was carried out from previous quantitative research studies related to individual e-participation adoption published in journals and conferences over the last 17 years. A total of 60 studies were used for the weight and meta-analysis. We identify the ‘best’ and ‘promising’ predictors used in research models to study e-participation. The best predictors are: trust, effort expectancy, perceived usefulness, attitude, trust in government and social influence on intention to use, perceived ease of use on perceived usefulness, perceived usefulness on attitude, and intention to use on use. General public in urban areas account for the 69.78% of the respondents across all articles. Two thirds of all respondents belong to Asia and the Middle East. The countries with highest number of articles found are United States and Jordan. The article provides a wide view of the performance of the 483 relationships used in research models to study e-participation, which may allow researchers to identify trends, and highlights issues in the future use of some constructs. Implications for theory and practice, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.