Search

In most online commercial transactions, customers’ feeling of uncertainty about the success of an exchange can be attributed to its faceless and intangible character (Beldad et al. 2010). Uncertainty eventually may lead people to search for certain cues to minimize uncertainty’s discomforting effect and to aid them in deciding whether or not to engage in an exchange in which success is not guaranteed. Whenever people encounter uncertainty in an online exchange, they look for cues that could increase their confidence in the exchange partners. These confidence-enhancing cues or trustworthiness features, according to Beldad et al. (2010), may be either attributes of the exchange partner (e.g., reputation) or characteristics of the channel used for the online exchange (e.g., website design, security seals).

Improving the usability of government portal sites requires a focus shift from system to user in both research and design. Empirical studies into user behavior are needed to support decisions on navigation, labeling and search systems. This paper presents such a study. Through scenario based interviews data were collected on citizens’ information seeking needs and search strategies. Additionally, server logs files were analyzed. The results demonstrated the complexity of the search task from a user perspective, and provided suggestions for user friendly portal design. On the basis of the results it was recommended that portal sites’ navigation systems should be context-rich, and labeling systems should be adapted to citizens’ colloquial speech.