Public Social Media Services: A Citizen’s Perspective

Social media platforms are increasingly used in the public administration context. Against this background, this study not only derives and tests the impact of determinants that explain citizens’ intention to use social media channels of public services, but also examines to what extent their intention to use influences their intention to recommend these services to others (word of mouth). An expanded technology acceptance model (TAM) was tested based on data from a survey of 164 citizens. The model provides insight into the creation of social media applications of public authorities, for example, by providing four determinants that significantly influence citizens’ intention to use Facebook pages of public institutions as well as their intention to recommend the page to other citizens.