Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Government Information Quarterly

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/govinf

Does e-government reduce the administrative burden of businesses?

An assessment of business-to-government systems usage in
the Netherlands
Rex Arendsen ⁎, Oscar Peters, Marc ter Hedde, Jan van Dijk
University of Twente, Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 2 January 2014
Keywords:
Business-to-government information systems
Information obligations
Administrative burden reduction
Effectiveness of e-government policy
Measurement instruments
The reduction of the administrative burden on businesses is an important governmental policy objective. Elec-
tronic government is presented as a promising reduction strategy in many countries. Underlying assumptions
and mechanisms are hardly ever made explicit and scientific evidence of successful implementations is scarce.
This paper presents an assessment of business-to-government systems in use in the Netherlands. Results show
that organizational characteristics are the most influencing factors of perceived burden reduction and implemen-
tation effectiveness. Whereas perceived organizational benefits positively relate to the overall confirmation of the
former system adoption decision. Surprisingly the quantitative, usage related characteristics do not present any
statistical relevance. These findings help us understand existing differences in appreciation between business and
governmental representatives on the successfulness of e-government projects in reducing the administrative
burden on businesses. Furthermore, research results can help to enhance the effectiveness of e-government pol-
icy and measurement instruments.
© 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction burden smaller companies in particular (Nijsen, 2003; Ntaliani,

Empirical research within the domain of e-government for busi-
nesses is scarce (van den Boer, Pieterson, & Arendsen, 2011). This
paper examines the realization and evaluation of expected business ef-
fects of e-government systems, in particular with respect to the impact
on the administrative burden on businesses. First exploratory research
and theory development in this field focused on issues such as the adop-
tion of business-to-government e-services (Arendsen, van Engers, &
Schurink, 2008), reduction policy diffusion mechanisms (Wegrich,
2009) and values of IT-innovations (Raus, Liu, & Kipp, 2010).
Based on a theoretical analysis of expectations and assumptions, the
empirical research presented in this paper has been conducted amongst
business-to-government systems in use. Thus adding empirical evi-
dence to the discussion on the role of e-government with respect to
the reduction of administrative burdens on businesses.
Information obligations impose a major administrative burden on all
businesses. Companies devote considerable resources to administra-
tion, regular tax declarations, managing the social security status of
their employees, or applying for permits to carry out their business.
These compliance costs hamper economical growth in general and
⁎ Corresponding author. Fax: +31 53 489 4259.
E-mail addresses: rex.arendsen@gmail.com (R. Arendsen), o.peters@utwente.nl
(O. Peters), m.j.TerHedde@utwente.nl (M. ter Hedde), j.a.g.m.VanDijk@utwente.nl
(J. van Dijk).
Costopoulou, & Sideridis, 2012).
The total administrative burden on businesses within the European
Union has been estimated at approximately 600 billion euros per year,
varying from 1.5% of GDP in the UK and Sweden to 6.8% of GDP in
Hungary, Greece and the Baltic States (Undheim, 2007). Others estimate
less variation of administrative burdens between the EU countries of
2.4% of GDP in the UK, Sweden, Finland and Denmark to 4.4% of GDP
in Hungary, Greece, Poland and Slovenia in 2003 (Gelauff & Lejour,
2006).
The reduction of the administrative burden on businesses has be-
come an important policy theme. Main drivers behind ‘Better Regula-
tion Programs’ are the assumptions that a stronger focus on the
reduction of the administrative burden on businesses will lead to better
policies, better implementation, better compliance and ultimately, bet-
ter government (UK Cabinet Office, 2006). Within the context of the
Lisbon Agenda, the European Commission launched its agenda on Better
Regulation. To reinforce this agenda by early 2007 the Commission
adopted the Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens
in the European Union. The Action Plan was endorsed by the
European Council which underlined the goal of setting a target to re-
duce administrative burdens stemming from EU law by 25% by 2012.
This reduction could lead to an increase of 1.4% of EU GDP (European
Commission, 2007).
One of the goals of the U.S. E-Government Act was to realize cost
savings through a variety of efficiency enhancements associated with

0740-624X/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2013.09.002
 R. Arendsen et al. / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169
e-government, amongst others more efficient communication between
businesses and government (Morgeson & Mithas, 2009).
Lowering the administrative burden on businesses was one of the
priorities of the EU's i2010 eGovernment Action. The implementation
of high impact services for businesses, like electronic procurement and
tax and social security related e-services, was to result in widespread,
measurable benefits from eGovernment in 2010 (European Commis-
sion, 2006). In their evaluation of IT innovations in a business-to-
government context Raus et al. (2010) indicate ‘reduction of adminis-
trative burden’ as the common goal area of their private as well as public
research project participants. However, they argue that there is a lack of
evidence to support the idea that the use of ICT in service delivery, with-
in the e-government context, results in less bureaucracy and increased
quality.
Individual countries each implement their own specific action plans.
The Dutch reduction approach has been characterized by the World
Bank as ‘world leading’ (World Bank Group, 2006), amongst others
based on the “successful Dutch measurements of administrative bur-
dens” (Undheim, 2007). The OECD states that e-government is seen
by the Netherlands as a primary lever helping the public sector to
reach its political goal of administrative burden reduction (OECD,
2007). First policy implementations however have lowered expecta-
tions. With respect to the leverage role of e-government the Dutch Min-
istry of Finance reports that “ICT possesses a large potential to lower
regulatory burdens, but in some cases expected business effects are dis-
appointing” (Dutch Ministry of Finance, 2007). And, “the assumption
that the use of governmental ICT services simply results in the reduction
of administrative burdens, is not correct…” (Actal, 2010).
The general research question was: Which factors influence the as-
sessment of business-to-government systems in use? In that respect this
study reduces the knowledge deficit of e-government assessment and
evaluation (Kunstelj & Vintar, 2004; Jones, Irani, & Sharif, 2007), in par-
ticular related to the reduction of the administrative burden on
businesses.
The next section presents the theoretical background of this investi-
gation providing building blocks for the design of the conceptual re-
search model in the following section. Subsequently the research
method is elaborated, describing the large scale survey conducted
amongst Dutch businesses using business-to-government systems. Re-
sults of the statistical analyses and the conclusions are formulated in
separate sections. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings
and of the role of e-government initiatives in reducing the administra-
tive burden on businesses.
2. Theoretical background
This section presents the results of a literature review focusing on
the role of ICT in reducing the administrative burden on businesses.
This theoretical analysis thus provides the research perspective and
the basic ingredients used for the design of the conceptual research
model that will be discussed in the subsequent section.
2.1. Defining the administrative burden
The administrative burden can be defined as the (recurring) costs of
administrative activities that businesses are required to conduct in
order to comply with the information obligations that are imposed
through central government regulation (UK Cabinet Office, 2006). Infor-
mation obligations are a legal duty to retain or submit information on
businesses' action or production, either to public authorities or to pri-
vate parties. Information is construed in a broad sense, i.e. including la-
beling, reporting, registration, monitoring and assessment needed to
provide the information. Allers (1994) defines the administrative bur-
den in terms of compliance costs: private sector costs of complying
with regulations. Nijsen (2003) argues that discussions on the theme
of administrative burdens have a strong political tint, focusing on the
161
degree of governmental interference and the ( – according to the busi-
ness representatives – inefficient) way this has been organized. Nijsen
therefore developed a “non-normative definition … which abstracts
from the businesses' assessment of the usefulness of the transfer of in-
formation obligations involved” (p. 414). Nijsen (2003) shows that en-
trepreneurs find it hard to define the extra costs of complying with
information obligations. His definition therefore focuses on the question
which information is needed by the government and what activities
businesses have to perform to satisfy these needs: “Transfer of informa-
tion compliance costs are the integral costs of activities required to be
performed by businesses to comply with specific obligations to transfer
information to the government and which are over and above to the
costs incurred for meeting the general book-keeping requirements”
(p. 415). The public administration perspective in this definition pre-
vails over the business–economics approach. Nijsen's definition and
perspective have become the foundation of the Standard Cost Model
(SCM) measurement methodology Mistral (Nijsen & Vellinga, 2002),
nowadays the common approach within the EU and the OECD
(Wegrich, 2009). Nijsen's definition implies that governments are re-
sponsible for the level of information obligation costs, for example by
specifying the volume, character and frequency of the transfer of infor-
mation obligations. The messages transferred are the actual cost drivers
of the administrative burden.
The cost per message can be quantified based on an activity break
down structure as specified within the Standard Cost Model. Three gov-
ernment controlled system variables influence this cost level: the
amount of laws, the organization of the public–private control frame-
work and the design of the administrative infrastructure for information
transfer. Business-to-government information systems are part of this
administrative infrastructure. This paper presents an exploration of
the third variable influencing the cost level: the administrative infra-
structure for business-to-government information transfer.
2.2. e-Government as a reduction approach
Allers (1994) characterizes governmental services to citizens and
businesses as instruments to reduce private costs at the expense of
the public sector. From this perspective many e-government initiatives
are trade-offs enlarging governmental costs but lowering private costs.
Rowley (2011) proposes the reduced administrative burden as one of
the explicit e-government stakeholder benefits.
Electronic government (e-government) can be defined as “all data,
communication and transaction processing activities related to govern-
mental tasks and responsibilities in which ICT is being used” (van Dijk,
2006). ICT-driven initiatives to reduce administrative burdens in OECD
countries have been for example: centralized governmental portals
and websites, forms on-line, on-line databases of laws and administra-
tive regulations, electronic transfer of enterprise data to governmental
authorities (EDI), and e-procurement (Bonnefoy, 2003). A survey of
programs focusing on reducing regulatory transaction costs in 28
OECD countries revealed that at least 26 governments included in
their programs the use of ICT (OECD, 2003). This development of ICT-
based solutions and services aims to reduce the amount of time that it
takes a business to perform a certain activity by reducing search, com-
munication and transaction times (UK Cabinet Office, 2006). The elimi-
nation of paper handling costs and the reduction of wait and search
times sum up to savings capacities per company and further to macro
savings opportunities per type of message per year. Regulations that af-
fect a large population and those that have a high unit price present the
biggest opportunities for reducing the total administrative burden (UK
Cabinet Office, 2006).
However, as Malone, Yates, and Benjamin (1987) already pointed
out, the dominant provider of an electronic hierarchy, in this case the
governmental organization, is best capable of realizing the significant
benefits of the introduction of an electronic service relationship. The in-
troduction of e-government services is more likely to reduce
162 R. Arendsen et al. / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169
governmental organizations' costs rather than to reduce individual
businesses' burdens.
e-Government services affecting large populations are often based on
reciprocal and event-driven data interchange, like VAT, customs decla-
rations, employee salary specifications and animal registrations
(Agostini & Naggi, 2010; Arendsen et al., 2008). Research within the
context of the Dutch Administrative Reduction Program (EIM, 2005),
shows that the main cost drivers of these types of messages are the
activities: receiving data, executing calculations, printing, executing
payments, and sending and archiving messages (Arendsen, 2008).
Arendsen (2008) shows that in the Dutch case the 250 most volumi-
nous high impact business-to-government message streams sum up
to around 500 million messages per year, covering approximately 90%
of the total amount of information obligation related messages in the
Netherlands. Resulting in an average burden of 10 euros per message. In-
troducing these kinds of e-government services to businesses is not
likely to result in substantial reduction figures per message nor per
company.
On the other hand, messages with a high unit price relate to business
activities as: staying informed, information gathering, entering and
correcting data, looking for advice, internal meetings, and giving and re-
ceiving explanation. These activities relate to governmental processes
triggered by once-only information obligations like for instance the reg-
istration of a new employee in the social benefits system, the issuing of a
license or a permit or requests for exemption and appeal. Arendsen
(2008) shows for the Dutch case that these ‘less’ voluminous message
streams (10% of total message volume) sum up to approximately 70%
of the Dutch administrative burden on businesses, resulting in an aver-
age burden of 210 euros per message. But due to the lack of a governmen-
tal business case, the introduction of these specific e-government
services tends to have less priority.
The importance of the actual adoption and use of these kinds of
e-governments services to the actual realization of the reduction
of the administrative burden of businesses is stressed by Stoibers'
High Level Group (2009): “Tax authorities should not only make the re-
spective e-government solutions simple and easy to use but should also
create incentives for businesses to use them”. Within the e-government
context the adoption willingness and ability of businesses regarding
these solutions has hardly been researched. Teo, Tan, and Wei (1997)
studied the mandatory adoption by traders of the TradeNet system in
Singapore. Kuan and Chau (2001), and Chau (2001) have been studying
the adoption of the ValuNet system of export declarations in Hong
Kong. More recently, Arendsen et al. (2008) confirm in their study of
the business adoption of a Dutch e-statistics service, Kuan and Chau's
conclusion that: “the ability to adopt is more important than the bene-
fits of the adoption”. Arendsen et al. (2008) indicate organizational
readiness to be the most impacting adoption factor, fuelling the hypoth-
esis that non-adopters are not able to adopt (and implement) these
governmental e-services within their specific business processes and
systems environment.
2.3. Effects of ICT
Zuurmond and Robben (2009) point to the paper based functional
hierarchy as one of the important origins of the administrative burden.
The knowledge of professionals on the one hand and the information of
the business on the other hand are organized in stovepipes, with low
levels of (intra- as well as inter-organizational) integration (Morgeson
& Mithas, 2009).
The introduction of ICT within business processes lowers communi-
cation time and costs (Hammer & Mangurian, 1987; Malone et al.,
1987). Changing the medium of message transportation from paper
into a digital format reduces paper handling costs, speeds up message
transportation time and standardizes interfaces and message structures.
These direct effects and benefits have been one of the main research
themes in studies of electronic data interchange systems (Bergeron &
Raymond, 1997; Boonstra & De Vries, 2005; Elgarah, Falaleeva, &
Saunders, 2005; Henriksen, 2002; Mäkipää, 2006; Young, Houston, &
Kelly Rainer, 2000). Malone et al. (1987) refer to operational benefits
like direct (transaction) cost savings, enhancement of data quality and
productivity improvement of administrative tasks as to the electronic
communication effects of ICT.
The introduction of ICT enables automated data transfer between sys-
tems, thus supporting the coordination of inter- and intra-organizational
processes. This electronic integration effect (Malone et al., 1987) reduces
data transformation costs between systems and organizations.
Radical integration (and transformation) results in second order ef-
fects, like the speed up of overall process time and the elimination of co-
ordination costs (Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2004) and high levels of reduction
of administrative burdens (Zuurmond & Robben, 2009). An important
prerequisite for realizing these benefits is the integration of the electron-
ic data interchange functions with the existing internal business man-
agement systems (Bergeron & Raymond, 1997; Chwelos, Benbasat, &
Dexter, 2001; Henriksen, 2002; Premkumar, Ramamurthy, & Nilakanta,
1994). It is the existence of an automated interface which results in
the elimination of manual and paper oriented activities (Bharosa,
Janssen, Hulstijn, Van Wijk, & De Winne, 2011; Young et al., 2000).
The maturity of business process automation influences the efficien-
cy of data collection, data handling and data distribution processes and
indicates the capabilities to integrate with other (external) automated
systems. Especially smaller companies find it hard to realize these effi-
ciency benefits (Hart & Saunders, 1997; Henriksen, 2002). The actual in-
tegration of these e-services within business processes and systems can
be seen as being part of an overall innovation decision making process
“through which a decision making unit passes from first knowledge of
an innovation, to forming an attitude towards the innovation, to a deci-
sion to adopt or reject, to implementation of the new idea, and to con-
firmation of this decision” (Rogers, 2003). The beneficial effects of the
innovations are realized during the implementation and integration
phase following the adoption (Iacovou, Benbasat, & Dexter, 1995;
Schillewaert, Ahearne, Frambach, & Moenaert, 2000).
3. Conceptual research model
The former section has presented a multitude of factors influencing
successful adoption and implementation of inter-organizational,
business-to-government, systems. For the purpose of this research these
factors have been refined and interrelated based on existing research
models explaining organizational adoption decision and implementation,
most of which have been empirically validated. This research focuses on
the business assessment of business-to-government systems in use.
Research on the success of adoption and implementation of informa-
tion systems has often been conducted using the perspective of (Elgarah
et al., 2005) the user acceptance of technology (Davis, 1989) or the dif-
fusion of innovations (Rogers, 2003).
According to Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, and Davis (2003) the (three)
basic concepts underlying user acceptance models are: individual reac-
tions to using information technology, intentions to use information
technology and the actual use of information technology. Perceived
ease of use for example is one of the explaining factors of user accep-
tance in Davis' Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989).
The main theme of Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory is
the diffusion of innovations within social systems. Rogers defines adop-
tion as: a decision to make full use of an innovation at the best course of
action available. The perceived attributes (or: characteristics) of innova-
tions relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and ob-
servability are expected to influence the adoption and diffusion rate of
the innovation within the social system. Several researchers however
question the applicability of Rogers' theory for studying organizational
adoption or the adoption of complex inter-organizational systems
based on electronic data exchange relations. Henriksen (2002) for ex-
ample concludes that DOI attributes mainly address internal issues of
 R. Arendsen et al. / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169 163

the innovation from the point of view of individual and voluntary adop- – have business-to-government systems in use successfully been im-
tion based on perceived needs and preferences. plemented, according to the assessment of business representatives?
The problem with these acceptance and adoption theories is that
they actually are psychological models. We need organizational adop- • if so, does this positive assessment of perceived successfulness of
tion and implementation theories and models on a collective and orga- the implementation raise the general assessment of business-to-
nizational level that include organizational constraints that go beyond government systems in use (confirmation)?
voluntary individual choices. This is one of the reasons researchers use • do organizational characteristics, organizational usage charac-
extended adoption models to study organizational adoption issues teristics, perceived benefits and/or perceived innovation
(Azadegan & Teich, 2010; Frambach & Schillewaert, 2002; Thong, 1999). characteristics influence the perceived successfulness of the
Tornatzky and Fleischer (1990) have developed such an alternative implementation?
model to study the adoption of technological innovations by organiza-
tions. Their TOE-model contains three groups of variables influencing 4. Research method
the adoption decision making process: the technological, the organiza-
tional and the environmental contexts. The organizational context e.g. Data were collected in 2009 using a web-based questionnaire (Ter
consists out of firm size, leadership and quality of personnel. The techno- Hedde et al., 2010). This section describes the data collection strategy,
logical context indicates the degree to which the organization is willing the questionnaire and the statistical analysis approach.
and capable of adopting the technological innovation. Several re-
searchers have used, refined and validated the TOE-model within the 4.1. Data collection and sample characteristics
business-to-government context (Chau, 2001; Henriksen, 2002; Kuan
& Chau, 2001; Zhu, Kraemer, & Xu, 2002). The constructs and variables As part of the Dutch administrative reduction program, many e-
in Table 1 have been related to, amongst others, these supporting government business services have been developed. Between 2003
studies.
Iacovou et al. (1995) have developed an EDI-impact and ability
model focusing on the adoption of electronic data interchange systems
Table 1
by small and medium scale businesses. The model consists of three fac- Constructs and variables.
tors expected to positively influence the organizations adoption deci-
Constructs and variables Supporting studies
sion. The perceived benefits are a specification of Rogers' innovation
characteristic relative advantage. Organizational readiness refers to Organizational characteristics Organizational readiness (Chwelos et al., 2001;
the degree to which means are available in terms of financial resources Iacovou et al., 1995)
Adopter characteristics (Frambach &
and IT knowledge and experience. External pressure relates to the specific Schillewaert, 2002)
inter-organizational character of the system in which dependency, Organizational context (Tornatzky & Fleischer,
power and trust between partners play a role. Several researchers 1990)
have expanded and validated the model (Chwelos et al., 2001; Size Firm size (Henriksen, 2002; Premkumar,
Ramamurthy, & Crum, 1997; Thong, 1999; Zhu
Grandon & Pearson, 2004; van Heck & Ribbers, 1999). The constructs
et al., 2002)
and variables in our research model have been related to these Attitude Attitude towards use (Davis, 1989)
supporting studies. Top management support (Premkumar et al.,
Fig. 1 presents a conceptual research model that has transformed 1997)
most individual level variables of adoption and implementation theories IT sophistication (Chwelos et al., 2001)
ICT staff Technological competence (Kuan & Chau, 2001),
into organizational level variables. The variable confirmation is a direct Internal IT support (Chau, 2001)
indicator of the business assessment outcome, being a reconsideration
of the former business adoption decision (by business representatives), Organizational usage characteristics Standard Cost Model measurement
methodology (Nijsen, 2003)
based on organizational experiences rather than individual expecta- Quantity Nijsen (2003)
tions. The model shows that we expect that (the perceived organiza- Frequency Nijsen (2003)
tional successfulness of the) system implementation and the perceived Period in use Designed for this study
administrative burden reduction will affect the confirmation. These vari- Perceived organizational benefits Direct benefits (Chau, 2001; Kuan & Chau, 2001)
ables relate to the two phases following the business adoption decision: Perceived benefits (Chwelos et al., 2001; Elgarah
organizational implementation and usage. et al., 2005; Iacovou et al., 1995; Thong, 1999;
Both system implementation and the perceived administrative burden van Heck & Ribbers, 1999).
Performance expectancy (Venkatesh et al., 2003)
reduction are expected to be influenced by on the one hand perceived
Relative advantage (Rogers, 2003)
benefits and characteristics and on the other hand more factual charac- Ease of use perceived ease of use (Davis, 1989)
teristics. Table 1 presents the origin of these constructs and variables, as Productivity Productivity (Chwelos et al., 2001)
described above. Focusing on systems in use, we were able to add usage Data entry Data entry reduction (Chwelos et al., 2001)
related variables to the model (Nijsen & Vellinga, 2002). Perceived innovation characteristics Perceived innovation characteristics (Frambach
Following this model the general research question has been speci- & Schillewaert, 2002; Rogers, 2003)
fied as follows: Complexity Complexity (Henriksen, 2002; Rogers, 2003;
Teo et al., 1997; Thong, 1999)
– do business-to-government systems in use reduce the administra- Compatibility Compatibility (Grandon & Pearson, 2004;
tive burden of businesses, according to the assessment of business Premkumar et al., 1994; Rogers, 2003;
Thong, 1999)
representatives? Administrative burden reduction Financial costs (Chau, 2001; Kuan & Chau, 2001)
• if so, does this positive assessment of the administrative bur- Cost–benefit considerations (Henriksen, 2002)
System implementation Integration and EDI impact (Iacovou et al., 1995),
den reduction raise the general assessment of business-to-
integration (Young et al., 2000), Implementation
government systems in use (confirmation)? and integration (Schillewaert et al., 2000)
• do organizational characteristics, organizational usage character- Confirmation of the system adoption Continued use (Frambach & Schillewaert,
istics, perceived benefits and/or perceived innovation characteris- 2002), Confirmation of the adoption decision
tics influence the perceived reduction of the administrative (Rogers, 2003), Confirmation to expectations
(Morgeson & Mithas, 2009)
burden?
164 R. Arendsen et al. / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169

Perceived
organisational benefits

ease of use

productivity

Organisational
characteristics data entry

size
administrative burden
attitude reduction

ICT staff
confirmation
of system adoption

quantity

system implementation
frequency

period in use

complexity
Organisational
usage
characteristics compatibility

Perceived
innovation characteristics

Fig. 1. Conceptual research model.

and 2009 business-to-government systems have been introduced
supporting amongst others: customs declarations, tax filing, statistics
surveys and notifications of transportation (Arendsen, 2008). Many of
these (EDI) systems at the moment of introduction had a mandatory
character: they fully replace the former paper based data exchange.
Most of these systems support commercial item transportation and dis-
tribution related business processes; first of all because of the volumi-
nous message transfer (see Subsection 2.2) and secondly because of
the widespread adoption of inter-organizational (EDI) systems
supporting these business-to-business processes (European Commis-
sion, 2004).
For this study we had the opportunity to investigate the electronic
B-to-G applications (see Table 2):
- transport notification system, introduced in 2003 to support mandato-
ry notification to the agricultural inspection by farmers of the trans-
portation of farming fertilizers. This application was used by a
specific group of transporters and farmers, sending 800,000 notifica-
tions per year.
- entry of goods declaration system, introduced in 2004 by the Dutch
Customs to support the electronic notification of goods traffic cross-
ing the EU's external borders (concerning 1.4 million notifications
per year), to ensure that goods that constitute a safety risk do not
enter the Netherlands or enter Europe via the Netherlands. Manda-
tory use of the EDI system was planned by July 2009, but implement-
ed in 2010, resulting in 525 businesses using the system in 2011.
- transit customs declaration system, introduced in 2005 by the Dutch
Customs to support the mandatory electronic declaration of the
transportation (transit) of goods via the Netherlands to another
country (in which import duties have to be paid), concerning around
30 million messages per year.
- veterinarian goods import and export of, introduced in 2005 by the
Dutch Ministry of Agriculture to support the exchange of veterinary
and phytosanitary import and export certificates (an amount of
450,00 per year) to prevent fraud and improve inspections, in
2009 the system was not yet mandatory (nor implemented) in all
agricultural sectors;
- excise duty declaration system, introduced in 2008 by the Dutch tax
administration to support the mandatory electronic duty declaration
in 2009, supported by a web-based business portal. This application
was used by a specific group of production and transporting busi-
nesses submitting about 30,000 declarations per year.
The population for our survey consisted of those businesses using
one of the mentioned information systems. In some situations this in-
cluded all businesses within that specific domain, because of the

Table 2
Population and response.

B-to-G system Domain Messages per year Population Sample Response (*)

Excise duty declaration Tax 30,000 750 487 68

Entry of goods declarations Customs 1,400,000 80 57 3
Transit customs declaration Customs 30,000,000 500 480 39
Im/export of veterinarian goods Agriculture 450,000 2500 241 8
Transport of farming fertilizers Agriculture 800,000 1220 460 88
TOTAL 4750 1725 206

(*) Due to incomplete answers, 191 survey results proved to be useable in the analysis phase; n = 191.
 R. Arendsen et al. / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169 165

mandatory character of the system; in other cases only those business
were included that had chosen to adopt and implement the system.
The sample of 1725 businesses was close to 36% of the total population.
The questionnaire was published online from the beginning of March
2009 up till the end of April 2009. Businesses were invited by letter to
participate in the study. The actual response was 12%, resulting in 191
usable business reactions in total. The mandatory systems clearly
show the highest response rates: 11 of the 209 respondents relate to
a, at that time, non-mandatory ICT system. A possible explanation can
be that the communities using the mandatory EDI systems are better in-
formed and are more involved in participating with governmental
organizations.
Respondents reside mainly from agriculture, stock farming and fish-
eries (33%), transport and storage (25%), wholesale trade (15%), indus-
try (8%), and retail trades (4%). The high percentage of ‘goods and
transportation’ related businesses was of course to be expected, given
the type of B-to-G applications investigated.
Of the respondents, 30% represent a business with a maximum of 4
employees, 15% of the businesses have between 5 and 10 employees,
35% have between 10 and 50 employees, 9% have between 50 and 100
employees and 11% have 100 employees or more. This relative empha-
sis towards larger companies can be explained by the fact that the pop-
ulation, characterized by agricultural, transport and trade related
businesses, tends to be larger than the average companies in the
Netherlands (CBS, 2012). In general, approximately 90% of the Dutch
business employs between zero and 10 employees, in contrast to the
45% in this study.
Nearly half of the responding business representatives have a man-
agement responsibility within the firm; 32% is director or owner, 14%
is manager and 3% is financial director. The other half have advisory or
administrative tasks. These business representatives have been invited
to participate in the survey on behalf of their business; not as a private
person but as a business representative.
4.2. Questionnaire
The organizational and usage characteristics have been measured by
means of quantitative scales, see Table 3. The perceived organizational
benefits and innovations characteristics (Chwelos et al., 2001) have
been measured in terms of the respondents' assessment of the per-
ceived organizational changes between the former situation and the
Table 3
Research variables and measurements.
Variables Measurement Scale
current system in use. Productivity has been specified in terms of pro-
ductivity of administrative tasks, data entry in terms of amount of man-
ual data entry, complexity in terms of technical support needed and
compatibility in terms of connectivity with existing (IT-)systems.
4.3. Data analysis
Structural equation analysis using Amos 19.0 with maximum likeli-
hood estimation was used to test the hypothesized model. Structural
equation modeling is a statistical methodology that takes a confirmatory
approach to the analysis of a structural theory bearing on some phenom-
enon (Byrne, 2001). Typical, this theory represents “causal” processes
that generate observations on multiple variables (Bentler, 1988). Accord-
ing to Byrne, the term structural equation modeling conveys two impor-
tant aspects of the procedure; (a) that the causal processes under study
are represented by a series of structural (i.e., regression) equations, and
(b) that these structural relations can be modeled pictorially to enable a
clearer conceptualization of the theory under study. The hypothesized
model can then be tested statistically in a simultaneous analysis of the en-
tire system of variables to determine the extent to which it is consistent
with the data. Byrne poses that if the goodness of fit is adequate, the
model argues for the plausibility of postulated relations among variables;
if it is inadequate, the tenability of such relations is rejected. In this study,
a strictly confirmatory approach was used. This approach examines a
model using goodness-of-fit tests to determine if the pattern of variances
and covariances in the data is consistent with a structural (path) model
specified by the researcher. Measures of overall model fit indicate the ex-
tent to which a model corresponds to the empirical data. There is no sin-
gle statistical significance test for evaluating the goodness-of-fit of the
model to the data. It is therefore necessary to consider multiple criteria
and evaluate model fit on the basis of various measures simultaneously.
In this study, as suggested by Holbert and Stephenson (2002), the follow-
ing goodness-of-fit indices will be used: (1) the chi-square estimates
with degrees of freedom given that it is still the most commonly used
means by which to make comparisons across models (Hoyle & Panter,
1995), and (2) the ratio between chi-square and degrees of freedom
should not exceed five for models with a good fit (Bentler, 1989). Addi-
tionally, the standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR) as a second
absolute fit statistic (Hu & Bentler, 1999) in combination with the Tuck-
er–Lewis index (TLI) as incremental index and the root mean squared
error of approximation (RMSEA) (Browne & Cudeck, 1993) are reported.
Hu and Bentler (1999) recommend to use a cutoff value close to .95 for
TLI in combination with a cutoff value close to .09 for SRMR to evaluate
model fit and the RMSEA close to .06 or less.

Size The number of employees working 0 to 5, 5 to 10, etc. 5. Results

15 h or more per week
Attitude Perception of added value of the
use of ICT
ICT staff The availability of application of
systems management personnel
Quantity Average weekly volume of
electronic messages
Frequency Usage rate
Period in use The period the system is
operational and being used
Ease of use Assessment of perceived changes
Productivity Assessment of perceived changes
Data entry Assessment of perceived changes
Complexity Assessment of perceived changes
Compatibility Assessment of perceived changes
Administrative burden Assessment of perceived reduction
reduction of the administrative burden
Implementation Assessment of the successfulness of
systems implementation
Confirmation Confirmation of the former adoption
decision. (Given the experiences so
far, would you again adopt this
system?)
5 point Likert scale This section presents the loadings of the model variables and subse-
quently the results of the statistical analysis.
Y/N
Less than 25, 25 to 50, 5.1. Model variables categories
…, 200 or more
Daily, weekly,…
Less than 1 year, 1 to
5.1.1. Administrative burden reduction
2 year, …more than 5 Respondents present mixed perceptions of the contribution of the
5 point Likert scale use of the B-to-G e-service to the reduction of their administrative bur-
5 point Likert scale den. A mere 7% perceive a large contribution, and 37% of the respon-
5 point Likert scale
dents perceive a moderate positive contribution. One fifth (19%) of the
5 point Likert scale
5 point Likert scale respondents perceive a (very) negative contribution and 37% does not
5 point Likert scale perceive any contribution.
5 point Likert scale
5.1.2. System implementation
Definitely, probably, A large part of the respondents perceived that the implementation of
neutral, probably not, the B-to-G application went well (45%) or very well (17%). Approximate-
definitely not ly one third of respondents (29%) responded neutral. The remaining re-
spondents (9%) perceived the introduction as not successful (at all).
166 R. Arendsen et al. / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169

5.1.3. Confirmation of system adoption The standardized path coefficients in Fig. 2 show the following sig-
The majority of the respondents indicated that they would, given the nificant direct effects: ease of use on confirmation (β = .25); productivity
experiences so far, definitely (46%) or probably (32%) adopt the B-to-G on confirmation (β = .21); size on administrative burden reduction
application again. A smaller group of respondents (5%) indicated that (β = .20); ICT staff on administrative burden reduction (β = .19); atti-
they would probably/definitely not adopt the application again. The re- tude on System implementation (β = .20); ICT staff on System implemen-
maining respondents (17%) answered neutral. tation (β = .16); administrative burden reduction on confirmation
(β = .20); and System implementation on confirmation (β = .20).
5.1.4. Organizational characteristics Squared multiple correlations provide information about the vari-
A large majority of the respondents express a positive (56%) or very ance accounted for by the complete set of variables and showed that ad-
positive (20%) attitude towards the use of ICT within their business. ministrative burden reduction was accounted for 21.7%, implementation
However, almost 70% of the businesses do not employ their own ICT was accounted for 21.1%; and confirmation was accounted for 21.9%.
staff.
6. Conclusions
5.1.5. Organizational usage characteristics
Nearly 60% of the participating companies exchange less than 25 Our research goal was to explore in which way the reduction of the
messages per week with related governmental organizations by means administrative burden contributes to the business assessment of
of one of these B-to-G e-services. About 28% of respondents exchange business-to-government systems in use. The related research questions
25 to 100 messages per week. The remaining respondents exchange are answered in this paragraph.
more than 100 messages per week.
The B-to-G applications mentioned are being used on a rather fre- Do business-to-government systems in use reduce the administra-
quent basis. Nearly 40% of the participating companies use their B-to-G tive burden of businesses, according to the assessment of business
application on a daily base, 24% on a weekly basis, 34% on a monthly representatives?
basis, and only 2% of companies use the application once a year.
The period in use differs over groups of respondents. One fifth (19%) In this study we did not find an overall positive nor overall negative
of the companies already use one of these B-to-G e-services for more answer to this question. Positive perceptions however prevail: 44% of
than 5 years, 53% of the companies between 5 and 1 year and 28% less the respondents perceive a large or moderate positive contribution
than one year. (see Subsection 5.1). These figures correspond with results of earlier
perception studies in 2005 and 2009 amongst more than 500 Dutch
SMEs. Bongers and Arendsen (2006) show that between 40% and 45%
5.1.6. Perceived organizational benefits and innovation characteristics
of their respondents perceived electronic data interchange with govern-
Table 4 presents the assessment of the perceived changes between
mental organizations in general to contribute positively to cost savings,
the former situation and the system in use. The 5 point Likert-scale
quality enhancement and productivity improvement. A large scale pri-
has been summarized into three scores (the scores on the options
vate businesses survey (n = 601) on the governmental e-service qual-
‘much’ and ‘very much’ have been summed).
ity, showed that 45% of Dutch businesses expected that e-government
would successfully reduce their administrative burden, 23% of the re-
5.2. Structural equation modeling spondents reacted negatively (Ernst & Young, 2009).
Organizational characteristics prove to be the dominant factors
Using a confirmatory factor analysis, the validity of a causal structure influencing the perceived administrative burden reduction. The vari-
of the hypothesized model was tested. All observed items within the ables Size and ICT staff show a positive significant relationship with the
same variable category were allowed to co-vary with one another. perceived burden reduction. As indicated in Subsection 2.2 earlier adop-
The results obtained from testing the validity of a causal structure of tion studies (Arendsen, 2008; Kuan & Chau, 2001) in this B-to-G area in-
the hypothesized model showed that the initial model did not fit the dicated organizational readiness being the most impacting factor: the
data, χ2 (57) = 224.02; χ2/df = 3.93; SRMR = .15; TLI = .63; and ability to adopt is more important than the benefits of the adoption.
RMSEA = .12 (90% confidence interval, CI = .11, .14). Post hoc modifi- This study shows that organizational characteristics have explaining
cation indices suggested an improved fit by adding a path from ease of power too in the (mandatory) usage phase.
use to confirmation, and to correlate the error terms of the perceived None of the hypothesized relationships with the more quantitative
organizational benefits items and the perceived innovation characteristics. usage characteristics prove to be significant. This confirms however for-
Furthermore, the modification indices suggested to correlate the error mer quantitative business cases (Arendsen, 2008) showing that these
terms of attitude and the perceived organizational benefits item
complexity.
The re-specified model generated a good fit, χ2 (49) = 78.47;
Table 5
χ2/df = 1.60; SRMR = .09; TLI = .93; and RMSEA = .06 (CI = .03,
Mean and standard deviation of the variables.
.08). Table 5 summarizes the mean and standard deviation of the vari-
ables. The correlation matrix of the measures is shown in Table 6. The Variables Mean Standard deviation
path model with standardized path coefficients is presented in Fig. 2. Size 2.6 1.3
Attitude 4.0 .7
ICT staff 1.7 .5
Quantity 2.1 1.5
Frequency 2.0 .9
Table 4 Period in use 3.2 1.9
Perceived benefits and innovation characteristics. Ease of use 3.6 1.0
Productivity 3.5 1.0
Perceived changes in: Worsening Neutral Improvement
Data entry 3.4 .9
Ease of use 14.2% 27.7% 58.1% Complexity 3.0 1.0
Productivity 13.6% 28.8% 57.6% Compatibility 3.3 1.0
Data entry 17.3% 30.4% 52.3% Administrative burden reduction 3.2 1.0
Complexity 21.0% 57.6% 21.4% Implementation 3.7 1.0
Compatibility 16.2% 46.1% 37.7% Confirmation 1.8 .9
 R. Arendsen et al. / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169 167

Table 6
Correlation matrix of the measures.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

1 Size – .10 −.58⁎ .29⁎ −.24⁎ .23⁎ .09 .08 .12 .06 .11 −.02 −.11 −.07
2 Attitude – −.11 .07 −.04 .04 .14⁎ .11 .12 .30⁎ .07 .05 .25⁎ −.14
3 ICT staff – −.37⁎ .26⁎ −.27⁎ −.07 −.06 −.11 −.03 −.06 −.14 .15⁎ .15⁎
4 Quantity – −.58⁎ .49⁎ −.02 −.11 −.01 −.05 .08 .07 −.05 −.11
5 Frequency – −.65⁎ .08 .07 −.04 .04 −.03 −.04 .14 .00
6 Period in use – −.10 −.06 .00 −.15⁎ −.02 .03 −.13 .03
7 Ease of use – .61⁎ .51⁎ .48⁎ .53⁎ .32⁎ .29⁎ −.37⁎
8 Productivity – .62⁎ .38⁎ .53⁎ .41⁎ .28⁎ −.40⁎
9 Data entry – .34⁎ .43⁎ .32⁎ .14 −.28⁎
10 Complexity – .29⁎ .24⁎ .29⁎ −.24⁎
11 Compatibility – .27⁎ .22⁎ −.31⁎
12 Administrative burden reduction – .11 −.30⁎
13 Implementation – −.29⁎
14 Confirmation –
⁎ p b .05.

kinds of e-government services to business are not likely to result in
substantial reduction figures. The business representatives participating
in this survey apparently do not disagree with that conclusion.
Have business-to-government systems in use successfully been imple-
mented, according to the assessment of business representatives?
Nearly two third (62%) of the respondents assess the implementa-
tion as being successful. This can be explained by the fact that many
businesses in the logistics domain have already an installed base of
(EDI) systems and are familiar and experienced with updates and the
integration of new inter-organizational systems and interfaces.
Again organizational characteristics prove to be the dominant factors:
Attitude and ICT staff show a positive relationship with the perceived
successfulness of the implementation. Perceived innovation characteris-
tics complexity and compatibility do not have a significant relationship
with the perceived successfulness of system implementation.
A vast majority (87%) of the businesses in this study provide a confir-
mation of their former adoption decision. Both the perceived reduction
of the administrative burden and the successfulness of the implementa-
tion raise the general assessment of business-to-government systems in
use and thereby contribute to the confirmation assessment. In terms of
Rogers' (2003) adoption process: in this case perceptions of both the im-
plementation and the usage phase have an impact on the final overall
confirmation.
Surprisingly the perceived benefits productivity and ease of use show
a direct positive relationship with the overall assessment of business
outcome, the variable Confirmation. Morgeson and Mithas (2009)

Perceived
organisational benefits

ease of use

productivity

Organisational 0.25
characteristics data entry 0.21

size
0.20

attitude administrative burden

0.19 reduction

ICT staff 0.20

confirmation
0.20 of system adoption

0.16 0.20
quantity

system implementation
frequency

period in use

complexity
Organisational
usage
characteristics compatibility

Perceived
innovation characteristics

Note: p < .05. Only the significant paths are shown.

Fig. 2. Path model with standardized path coefficients. Note: p b .05. Only the significant paths are shown.
168 R. Arendsen et al. / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169
point to the fact that customers come to their e-government experience
with relatively low prior expectations and are (more) pleased with the
experience in relation to their own lower expectations. Apparently in
this case too low expectations are positively disconfirmed (Olshavsky
& Miller, 1972). Business representatives relate their perceived en-
hanced usage experience, related to the traditional and less satisfying
paper based services, directly to their overall assessment of business
outcome.
7. Discussion
This study contributes to our knowledge about e-government as-
sessment and evaluation in general and to the relationship with the re-
duction of the administrative burden in specific.
This study has been conducted within a rather ICT-sophisticated
environment. Amongst the relatively large and experienced trade and
logistics oriented businesses within the population the use of inter-
organizational ICT systems is ‘business as usual’; the use of EDI systems
being state-of-the-art. That might explain the overall positive confirma-
tion despite the bias to mandatory system use. One could argue that
governmental pressure to adopt and use these e-government systems
might cause resistance and negative perceptions. This is not the case,
which seems to support conclusions of earlier studies on the role of ex-
ternal (governmental) pressure as an adoption factor of e-government
systems (Arendsen, 2008). Arendsen concludes that the perceived gov-
ernmental pressure did not have a positive nor a negative effect of the
business adoption decision. As in our study the installed base of ICT sys-
tems seemed to be the most influencing driver behind the adoption de-
cision and perceived benefits.
In contrast to the very positive confirmation, the overall perception
of the realized reduction of the administrative burden however is less
positive. This can be explained by the fact that larger businesses, as ex-
plained before, suffer less from this burden than smaller businesses do.
Another explanation might be that the term Administrative burden is
a too vague concept to many businesses. Nijsen (2003) already argued
that these information obligation costs are hard to isolate and to quan-
tify next to the regular business operations costs. Our study shows
that businesses do not perceive direct relationships between perceived
organizational benefits and the reduction of the administrative burden
(as was hypothesized in the conceptual research model). The perceived
benefits Productivity and Ease of use in our questionnaire have been de-
liberately designed as (quantitative and qualitative) indicators of bur-
den reduction but apparently are not recognized that way by the
respondents. These perceived benefits however do have a direct positive
relationship with the confirmation of the adoption decision. We suggest
that in a new version of the research model the relationship between
the perceived benefits and the administrative reduction is further
detailed.
A second indication of the inapplicability of the term Administrative
burden reduction is presented by the non-existence of explaining
power of the usage related variables. These quantitative, message vol-
ume related, variables by definition are indicators of the administrative
burden (see Subsection 2.1). None of the hypothesized relationships
however proves to be significant. Possibly the amount of B-to-G mes-
sages is too small related to the amount of B-to-B messages to be
relevant.
This apparent non-relevance of quantitative indicators is however
remarkable and asks for further detailed research: how to measure
information obligations in a way that it supports to quantify (f) actual re-
duction results. Especially while most of the measurement and reduction
programs currently are being based on the message based cost driver
approach.
These findings illustrate and confirm the ambiguity and complexity
of the relation between (e-)governmental and business perceptions,
goals and interpretations. Our research shows that perceived benefits
in terms of administrative process productivity and ease of use play a
more important role than message and systems related variables.
This helps understand existing differences in appreciation be-
tween business and governmental representatives on the success-
fulness of e-government projects in reducing the administrative
burden on businesses: generic, message standards based governmental
calculations, systems and projects versus specific (size, attitude, ICT
installed base, …) business situations. In other words, it illustrates the
fundamental conflict of interests between the governmental (macro,
political) business case and the private companies (micro, economical)
business case; a benefits paradox.
We expect that this research encourages scientists to further explore
and design measurement methodologies of the effectiveness and effi-
ciency of administrative processes.
We hope that our research inspires law and policy makers to design
legal and ICT systems that fit to business processes ‘by design’, thus
preventing burdens.
References
Actal, Dutch Advisory Board on Administrative Burden (2010). Advies ICT-beleid en
vermindering regeldruk [Advise ICT policy and reducing the regulatory burden]. The
Hague: Actal.
Agostini, P. L., & Naggi, R. (2010). B2G electronic invoicing as enforced high impact
service: Open issues. In A. D'Atri, & D. Sacca (Eds.), Information systems: People, orga-
nizations, institutions and technologies. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer Physica-Verlag.
Allers, M.A. (1994). Administrative and compliance costs of taxation and public transfers in
the Netherlands. Groningen: University of Groningen.
Arendsen, R. (2008). Geen bericht, goed bericht, Een onderzoek naar de effecten van de
introductie van elektronisch berichtenverkeer met de overheid op de administratieve
lasten van bedrijven [Research into the effects of EDI on the administrative burden on
businesses]. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Arendsen, R., van Engers, T. M., & Schurink, W. (2008). Adoption of high impact govern-
mental eservices: Seduce or enforce? In M.A. Wimmer, H. J. Scholl, & E. Ferro (Eds.),
Lecture notes in Computer Science 5184, Proceedings EGOV08 (pp. 73–84). Berlin
Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Azadegan, A., & Teich, J. (2010). Effective benchmarking of innovation adoptions: A theo-
retical framework for e-procurement technologies. Benchmarking: An International
Journal, 17(4), 472–490.
Bentler, P.M. (1988). Causal modeling via structural equation systems. In J. R. Nesselroade,
& R. B. Cattell (Eds.), Handbook of multivariate experimental psychology (pp. 317–335)
(2nd ed.). New York: Plenum.
Bentler, P.M. (1989). EQS structural equations program manual. Los Angeles: BMDP Statis-
tical Software.
Bergeron, F., & Raymond, L. (1997). Managing EDI for corporate advantage: A longitudinal
study. Information & Management, 31, 319–333.
Bharosa, N., Janssen, M., Hulstijn, J., Van Wijk, R., & De Winne, N. (2011). Managing the
transformation to Standard Business Reporting: Principles and lessons learned from
the Netherlands. The Proceedings of the 12th Annual International Conference on Digital
Government Research.
Bongers, F., & Arendsen, R. (2006). eGovernment: Carrot or stick? Proceedings of the
IADIS-conferenceDublin: IADIS.
Bonnefoy, J. C. (2003). Budgeting reforms and electronic governance in Latin America. Public
administration: Challenges of inequality and exclusion. Miami (USA): International
Association of Schools and Institutes of Administrations.
Boonstra, A., & De Vries, J. (2005). Analyzing inter-organizational systems from a power
and interest perspective. International Journal of Information Management, 25,
485–501.
Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K. A.
Bollen, & J. S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136–162). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Brynjolfsson, E., & Hitt, L. M. (2004). Beyond computation: Information technology,
organisational transformation, and business performance. In T. W. Malone, R.
Laubacher, & M. S. S. Scott Morton (Eds.), Inventing the organisations of the 21st Cen-
tury. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Byrne, B.M. (2001). Structural equation modelling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications,
and programming. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
CBS (2012). statline.cbs.nl/statweb/ (Oktober 11th, 2012)
Chau, P. Y. K. (2001). Inhibitors to EDI adoption in small businesses: An empirical inves-
tigation. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 2, 78–88.
Chwelos, P., Benbasat, I., & Dexter, A. S. (2001). Research report: Empirical test of an EDI
adoption model. Information Systems Research, 12, 304–321.
Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of in-
formation technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319–340.
Dutch Ministry of Finance (2007). Merkbaar minder regeldruk!, Kabinetsplan aanpak
administratieve lasten [Action plan reduction of administrative burden]. Tweede
Kamer, vergaderjaar 2006–2007, 29 515, nr.202, The Hague.
EIM (2005). Elektronische overheid en administratieve lasten van het bedrijfsleven, Een
toekomstverkenning [e-Government and the administrative burden on businesses].
Zoetermeer: EIM.
 R. Arendsen et al. / Government Information Quarterly 31 (2014) 160–169
Elgarah, W., Falaleeva, J., & Saunders, C. S. (2005). Data exchange in interorganizational
relationships: Review through multiple conceptual lenses. The Database for
Advances in Information Systems, 36, 8–29.
Ernst & Young (2009). Ondernemers gaan voor eOverheid [Entrepreneurs and e-Government].
(The Hague).
European Commission (2004). The European e-Business Report 2004, a portrait of
e-business in 10 sectors of the EU economy. The European e-Business Market W@tch.
Brussels: Enterprise and Industry Directorate General.
European Commission (2006). i2010 eGovernment Action Plan: Accelerating egovernment
in Europe for the benefit of all. COM(2006), 173 final, Brussels.
European Commission (2007). Action programme for reducing administrative burdens in
the European Union. COM(2007) 23 final, Brussels.
Frambach, R. T., & Schillewaert, H. (2002). Organizational innovation adoption: A
multi-level framework of determinants and opportunities for future research.
Journal of Business Research, 55(2), 163–176.
Gelauff, G. M. M., & Lejour, A.M. (2006). The new Lisbon Strategy, an estimation of the eco-
nomic impact of reaching five Lisbon Targets. Industrial Policy and Economic Reforms
Papers, No.16168. Brussels: Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General.
Grandon, E. E., & Pearson, J. M. (2004). Electronic commerce adoption: An empirical study
of small and medium US businesses. Information & Management, 412, 197–216.
Hammer, M., & Mangurian, G. E. (1987). The changing value of communications technol-
ogy. Sloan Management Review, 28, 65–72.
Hart, P., & Saunders, C. (1997). Power and trust: Critical factors in the adoption and use of
electronic data interchange. Organization Science, 8, 23–42.
Henriksen, H. Z. (2002). Performance, pressure and politics: Motivators for adoption of inter-
organizational information systems. (PhD dissertation). Copenhagen: Copenhagen
Business School.
High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens (2009). Opinion of
the high level group, subject priority area taxation (VAT). Brussels: European Commission.
Holbert, R. L., & Stephenson, M. T. (2002). Structural equation modeling in the communi-
cation sciences, 1995–2000. Human Communication Research, 28(4), 531–551.
Hoyle, R. H., & Panter, A. T. (1995). Writing about structural equation models. In R. H.
Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Comments, issues, and applications
(pp. 158–176). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Hu, L. -T., & Bentler, P.M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure
analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation
Modeling, 6(1), 1–55.
Iacovou, C. L., Benbasat, I., & Dexter, A. S. (1995). Electronic data interchange and small or-
ganizations: Adoption and impact of technology. MIS Quarterly, 19, 465–485.
Jones, S., Irani, Z., & Sharif, A. (2007). E-Government evaluation: Reflections on
three organisational studies. Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International
Conference on System SciencesWaikoloa, Big Island HI, USA: IEEE Computer So-
ciety Press.
Kuan, K. K. Y., & Chau, P. Y. K. (2001). A perception-based model for Edi adoption in small
businesses using a technology–organisation–environment framework. Information &
Management, 38, 507–521.
Kunstelj, M., & Vintar, M. (2004). Evaluating the progress of E-Government development:
A critical analysis. Information Polity, 9(3–4), 131–148.
Mäkipää, M. (2006). Inter-organizational information systems in cooperative inter-
organizational relationships: Study of the factors influencing success. In R. Suomi
(Eds.), Project e-society: Building blocks. 6th IFIP International Conference on
e-Commerce, e-Business and e-Government (I3E 2006). (pp. 68–81). Boston: Springer.
Malone, T. W., Yates, J., & Benjamin, R. I. (1987). Electronic markets and electronic hierar-
chies. Communications of the ACM, 30, 484–497.
Morgeson, F. V., III, & Mithas, S. (July/August). Does E-government measure up to
e-business? Comparing end user perceptions of U.S. federal government and
e-business web sites. Public Administration Review, 740–751.
Nijsen, A. F. M. (2003). Dansen met de Octopus, Een bestuurskundige visie op
informatieverplichtingen van het bedrijfsleven in de sociale rechtsstaat [An administrative
vision on the information obligations within the social constitutional state]. Delft:
Uitgeverij Eburon.
Nijsen, A. F. M., & Vellinga, N. (2002). Mistral, a model to measure the administrative burden
of businesses. Research Report, H200110. Zoetermeer: EIM.
Ntaliani, M., Costopoulou, C., & Sideridis, A.B. (2012). Alleviating SMEs' administrative
burdens: The rural inclusion initiative. In H. Jahankhani (Eds.), ICGS3/e-Democracy
2011. LNICST, 99. (pp. 237–244).
OECD (2003). From red tape to smart tape: Administrative simplification in OECD countries.
Paris: Organisations for Economic Co-operation and Development.
OECD (2007). Netherlands, OECD e-government studies. Paris: Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development.
169
Olshavsky, R. W., & Miller, J. A. (1972). Consumer expectations, product performance, and
perceived product quality. Journal of Marketing Research, 9(1), 19–21.
Premkumar, G., Ramamurthy, K., & Crum, M. (1997). Determinants of EDI adoption in the
transportation industry. European Journal of Information Systems, 6, 107–121.
Premkumar, G., Ramamurthy, K., & Nilakanta, S. (1994). Implementation of electronic
data interchange: An innovation diffusion perspective. Journal of Management
Information Systems, 11.
Raus, M., Liu, J., & Kipp, A. (2010). Evaluating IT innovations in a business-to-government
context: A framework and its applications. Government Information Quarterly, 27,
122–133.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.)New York: Free Press.
Rowley, J. (2011). e-Government stakeholders—Who are they and what do they want?
International Journal of Information Management, 31, 53–62.
Schillewaert, N., Ahearne, M., Frambach, R., & Moenaert, R. K. (2000). The acceptance of
information technology in the sales force. ISBM Report 15. The Pennsylvania State
University: Institute for the Study of Business Markets.
Teo, H. H., Tan, B. C. Y., & Wei, K. K. (1997). Organizational transformation using electronic
data interchange: The case of TradeNet in Singapore. Journal of Management
Information Systems, 13, 139–165.
Ter Hedde, M. J., Arendsen, R., & Van Dijk, J. (2010). Percepties van bedrijven over
elektronisch berichtenverkeer met de overheid [Perceptions of businesses regarding EDI
with government]. Enschede: University of Twente.
Thong, J. Y. L. (1999). An integrated model of information systems adoption in small busi-
ness. Journal of Management Information Systems, 15(4), 187–214.
Tornatzky, L. G., & Fleischer, M. (1990). The process of technological innovation. Lexington
Young Books.
UK Cabinet Office (2006). Administrative burdens—Routes to reduction. London, UK: Better
Regulation Executive.
Undheim, T. A. (2007). Reducing administrative burden with egovernment, fostering
public sector performance in Europe. European Review of Political Technologies, Vol.
4, Brussels: Politech Institute.
van den Boer, Y., Pieterson, W. J., & Arendsen, R. (2011). Channel choice in the G2B con-
text: Towards a research agenda. Proceedings of the 11th IFIP Conference on e-Business,
e-Service, e-Society, Lithuania.
van Dijk, J. A. G. M. (2006). The network society. Social aspects of new media (2nd ed.).
London, Thousand Oaks CA, New Delhi: Sage |Publications.
van Heck, E., & Ribbers, P.M. (1999). The adoption and impact of EDI in Dutch SMEs. Pro-
ceedings of the 32nd Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science.
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of informa-
tion technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425–478.
Wegrich, K. (2009). The administrative reduction policy boom in Europe: Comparing
mechanisms of policy diffusion. London: London School of Economics and Political
Science.
World Bank Group (2006). Review of the Dutch administrative burden reduction program.
Washington: World Bank Group.
Young, D., Houston, H., & Kelly Rainer, R. (2000). Strategic benefits from a mature innova-
tion. Mid-American Journal of Business, 15, 43–52.
Zhu, K., Kraemer, K. L., & Xu, S. (2002). A cross-country study of electronic business adop-
tion using the technology–organization–environment framework. Proceedings Of The
Twenty-Third International Conference On Information Systems.
Zuurmond, A., & Robben, F. (2009). We need to dig a new Suez Canal: How can ICT help
changing compliance costs in the next 20 years? In A. Nijsen (Eds.), Business regula-
tion and public policy: The costs and benefits of compliance. New York: Springer.
Rex Arendsen is currently the head of the research department of the Dutch Tax and Cus-
toms Administration. He contributed to this research as a part time assistant professor of
e-Government at the Center for e-Government Studies at the University of Twente.
Oscar Peters is the director of the Institute of Behavioral Research at the University of
Twente.
Marc ter Hedde contributed as a researcher at the Center for e-Government Studies at the
University of Twente.
Jan A.G.M. van Dijk is a professor of communication science, in the domain of the sociol-
ogy of the information society at the University of Twente. He is the chair of the Depart-
ment of Media, Communication and Organization. He also is the scientific director of the
Center for e-Government Studies.