Public and private value in citizen participation in E-governance: Evidence from a government-sponsored green commuting platform

Citizen participation in E-governance is, essentially, a social exchange between individuals and their government through which the citizen creates public value as well as acquires private value. The direct effects of participation antecedents on participation outcomes have been fully examined, but few researchers have investigated the internal mechanism of citizen participation at the level of psychological value perception. The roles of perceived public and private value between the participation antecedents and outcomes remain unclear. Private value merits careful research in particular as the E-governance environment is being shaped by increasing privatization and continuous IT innovation. Based on the cognitive integration theory and the civic voluntarism model, this paper proposes a theoretical framework to examine the mediating roles of two values. We built a complete research model encompassing ten hypotheses centered on citizen e-participation in the context of green commuting governance. By analyzing survey data on a green commuting platform, we demonstrate the significant mediating effects of these two values and greater effect of private value acquisition on continuous e-participation intentions than public value creation. Our results have important research implications in regards to the roles of perceived values in participation, especially perceived private value.