Electronic Government Adoption in Sri Lanka: An Integrated Model of Extended UMEGA and UTAUT-3

The successful adoption of electronic government (e-government) services remains a critical challenge in many developing countries despite significant investments by respective  governments, especially over the last decade. Accordingly, understanding the factors that drive actual use of these e-government platforms is therefore critical for enhancing effectiveness and public value. As a result, this study aims to investigate the determinants of e-government adoption in Sri Lanka using an extended framework developed by integrating an extended Unified Model of E-Government Adoption (UMEGA), the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 3 (UTAUT3), and additional system-related factors. The proposed research framework categorizes determinants into three groups: context factors (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived risk), user factors (price value, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, habit, personal innovativeness in information technology, trust in government), and system factors (perceived information quality, perceived system quality, perceived service quality). Attitude and use behavior are modeled as mediating variables, wherein attitude mediates the relationship between context factors and use behavior, and use behavior subsequently  mediates the relationship between attitude and intention to recommend the adoption of e-government services. To test the proposed model, a quantitative research approach was  employed, and data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 774 respondents  across three provinces in Sri Lanka: Western, Southern, and Uva. The collected data were  analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS software to assess the measurement and structural models. Reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the proposed model were rigorously evaluated. The results indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence have significant positive effects on citizens’ attitudes toward the adoption of e-government services, while perceived risk has a significant negative effect. Attitude emerged as a stronger predictor of use behavior, and demonstrates a substantial mediating role between context factors and continued usage of e-government services. Among user factors, price value, facilitating conditions, and habit significantly impact use behavior, whereas hedonic motivation, personal innovativeness in information technology, and trust in government do not. Regarding system factors, perceived service quality has a significant positive impact on use behavior, while perceived information quality and perceived system quality do not show significant effects. Furthermore, use behavior has a strong positive effect on citizens’ intention to recommend e-government services to others. Mediation analysis confirms that  attitude significantly mediates the relationship between context factors and use behavior, while use behavior significantly mediates the relationship between attitude and intention to  recommend, demonstrating that favourable perceptions must first translate into positive  attitudes and actual usage before citizens are likely to recommend e-government services.  The structural model explains 51.7% of the variance in attitude, 79.6% of the variance in use behavior, and 77.7% of the variance in intention to recommend, indicating substantial  explanatory power. These findings suggest that policymakers and system developers should  focus not only on improving contextual and system-related factors but also on fostering  positive attitudes and sustained usage experiences to encourage citizen advocacy of e - government services. Theoretically, this study contributes to the e-government adoption  literature by developing and empirically validating an integrated framework that extends the UMEGA through the incorporation of UTAUT3 and system-related quality constructs,  providing a more comprehensive explanation of citizen adoption and recommendation  behavior in a developing country context.