Electronic services with impact on quality of life - a survey of usage and attitudes of north-western croatian

Abstract

Nowadays governmental and non-governmental organizations and private businesses offer a range of electronic services that, if used, directly or indirectly affect quality of life. The supply of electronic services is growing fast, and this growth is expected to continue in the near but also in the distant future. Current generation of digital natives will not know how to live without ICTs and services provided by these technologies. User attitudes towards electronic services and the relationship between their supply and demand are the focus of this paper. Data on demand for and user attitudes towards electronic services were collected on a representative sample of adult population from Northwest Croatia. Participants were interviewed using a measurement instrument created for this purpose. Survey covered usage of electronic services offered by various governmental and non-governmental organizations and private businesses, the nature of user attitudes and the extent to which electronic services are used for the purpose of education, communication, entertainment, employment, improvement of health services and culture. The results show that, on the one hand, participants' demand for electronic services is very poor, while on the other hand their motivation and attitudes towards these services are very positive. Consistently significant differences were found in usage and attitudes toward electronic services by age, level of education and English language fluency. On the other hand, gender, standard of living and urban / rural residence were generally not associated with differences in usage of or attitudes to electronic services.