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are quite the thing
Over half of wired adults visit or transact business
By Marty Beard
Love government or hate it, it’s a part of life. But as many web users are discovering, the internet can make that part of life a lot easier.
Forget about standing in line for two hours at the DMV. You can renew your driver’s license online these days, as you can file taxes.
What's surprising is the number of people who are going to government web sites to gather information or conduct transactions--some 55 percent of online adults.
That's compared to the 53 percent of adults who have purchased goods online costing between $10 and $100, the largest category for online spending.
“The research suggests that e-government is in many ways even more prevalent than e-commerce,” says Roland Rust, a professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, citing results of a recent survey the school conducted with consultancy Rockbridge Associates.
“E-service appears to be an increasingly attractive alternative to standing in line at a government office.”
Among those who have visited government web sites, over a third--21 percent of all online adults--have conducted transactions, from paying tickets and filing taxes to registering to vote.
That’s a greater percentage than the 20 percent of online adults who have carried out banking transactions online, such as moving money between accounts. Just 15 percent have paid credit card bills online, while only 10 percent have traded stocks.
“The percentage of people using the internet to obtain government information, pay taxes, apply for permits, and conduct other business is surprisingly high,” Rust says.
So far, the early-adopter pattern still applies to the use of government web sites, meaning that men still outnumber women when it comes to using the online government services.
Sixty percent of online men have gone to government web sites, versus 50 percent of online women. The phenomenon also holds true when it comes to visiting state, local and federal web sites and conducting actual business online.
For example, 54 percent of men have visited state or local government sites, compared to 46 percent of women. Twenty-seven percent of wired men have conducted some sort of government-related business transaction online, compared to 15 percent of women.
Twenty-three percent of men have conducted state or local government business via the internet, versus 10 percent of women.
The researchers arrived at their conclusions by polling a random sample of 500 adults last November.
|
E-government in |
||||
| Base: Online Adults |
All Adults (418) |
Rural |
Suburban (172) |
Urban/Inner
City |
| Visited some government web site |
55 |
55 |
59 |
52 |
| Visited
local/state government web site |
50 |
52 |
53 |
43 |
| Visited
federal government
web site |
33 |
26 |
41 |
29 |
| Conducted business with some government online |
21 |
21 |
22 |
18 |
| Conducted business with local/state government online |
16 |
18 |
17 |
11 |
| Conducted business with federal government online |
11 |
9 |
13 |
12 |
|
Source: 2001 National Technology Readiness Survey (Nov. 2001) |
||||
|
Use of E-services in |
|
| Base: Online Adults |
(501) |
| Purchased item <$10 online |
28 |
| Purchased item $10-$100 online |
53 |
| Purchased item >$100 online |
32 |
| Checked information on bank account online |
38 |
| Moved money between bank accounts, made deposits or made withdrawals online |
20 |
| Bought or sold stock or securities online |
10 |
| Paid credit card bills online |
15 |
| Made travel reservations online |
40 |
|
Source: 2001 National Technology Readiness Survey (Nov. 2001) |
|
January 11, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
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