E-Public Engagement: Formulating a Citizencontent Engagement Model

Governments around the world are increasingly using the internet to inform, interact and communicate with their citizens, thereby fostering e-public engagement. A significant research focus has been restricted to how governments use the internet, the policies surrounding its use, and how it impacts or benefits governance and public engagement. However, there is a need for studies to investigate –from the citizens’ perspective – factors that may influence citizens’ engagement with governments’ contents on the internet. This study, therefore, investigates citizens-content engagement using a qualitative approach. Findings indicate that there are five main factors that influence such engagement: information need, attributes of the contents, the perception of the writer, trust in government, and citizens' affinity for governments’ online platforms. With these five factors, this study formulates a citizen-content engagement (C-CE) model.