Online tax payment systems as an emergent aspect of governmental transformation

Abstract

The achievement of governmental transformation through the use of electronically delivered services is a worthy goal that requires significant planning and research to achieve. In order to reach transformational paradigm shifts in governmental operation, it will first be necessary to understand and optimize present governmental e-Service provisions. Of these, the revenue function of taxation is paramount. This paper describes factors related to the use and acceptance by accounting professionals of information technology intended to facilitate electronic tax filing systems. Though tested in the context of governmental tax management systems in Turkey, our findings on the use and acceptance of e-Tax systems are relevant and applicable to a great number of nations and contexts as the ongoing electronic transformation of the governmental revenue system contributes to efforts to transform governments through alternative services delivery venues and channels. We discover that intention to use automated systems as part of the governmental treasury function transformation is hindered by factors that mediate actual plans to do so, mostly in terms of normative pressures and perceptions of behavioral control, which training and education may well ameliorate. Hence, transformation of the treasury function in Turkey is only partially complete and will require additional support, direction and training on the part of the government in its interactions with the tax professionals who interact with the emergent automated system.

Keywords:

• information and communication technologies
• tax management
• electronic tax payment
• technology acceptance model
• theory of planned behavior

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thomas F Stafford

About the authors

Thomas F. Stafford holds the Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from University of Texas – Arlington, and the Ph.D. in Marketing from University of Georgia. He is Associate Professor of Management Information Systems at the University of Memphis Fogelman College of Business and Economics. Stafford's work has appeared in leading journals such as European Journal of Information Systems, Decision Sciences, Communications of the ACM and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and he is currently Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Data Base for Advances in Information Systems. Stafford can be contacted via [email protected].

Aykut Hamit Turan

Aykut Hamit Turan holds the Ph.D. from Adnan Menderes University in Turkey, and currently serves as Assistant Professor at Namık Kemal University School of Business and Economics. His research has appeared in journals such as Journal of Global Information Technology Management, International Journal of Management in Education and China Media Research. Turan can be corresponded with at [email protected].