The psychological cost of sharing: How personal information requirements affect e-government app adoption

E-government apps enable sustainable public governance, but their effectiveness hinges on citizens' willingness to use them. Drawing on self-determination theory, this research investigates how requirements for personal information sharing in e-government applications influence the intention to use the app. Four experiments conducted in Japan demonstrate that higher levels of required information sharing are negatively associated with citizens' intention to use an e-government app and to thereby help reduce the government's environmental footprint (more for consumers with overall environmental concerns, but less for consumers with specific concerns about government service sustainability). This negative association appears to be mediated by attitudes toward e-government app usability, the government, and the app's personal information management. When an e-government app is perceived as highly useful, mandatory information sharing triggers a positive attitude toward information management, counterbalancing the otherwise negative impact of mandatory personal information sharing. Gender moderates these relationships. Despite large within-gender variability, on average, women show greater sensitivity to privacy risks, stronger negative responses to mandatory information sharing, and a preference for diverse app functionalities, while men demonstrate a preference for streamlined, functionally similar services. The findings offer policymakers guidance on balancing the needs of sustainable governance with citizens' psychological well-being and privacy concerns.