From infrastructure to value-in-use: How citizen operant resources shape public service digital transformation in Nigeria’s National Digital ID Ecosystem
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63522/jabbs.201015Keywords:
Digital identity; Digital transformation; Service-dominant logic; Value-in-use; Citizen empowerment; Developing economiesAbstract
Digital transformation in the public sector increasingly relies on national digital identity (digital ID) systems to enhance access, efficiency, and citizen engagement, particularly in developing economies. Grounded in service-dominant logic, this study examines how citizens’ operant resources shape value-in-use experiences with national digital ID systems and influence empowerment and future engagement. Using survey data from 653 Nigerian citizens, the study empirically tests a conceptual framework linking “technology-related resources,” “social-related resources,” “digital ID usage situations,” “value-in-use,” “citizen empowerment and agency,” and “future value-in-use expectations.” Partial least squares structural equation modeling reveals that familiarity with digital IDs, digital access, social information seeking, and value co-creation seeking significantly expand the situations in which digital ID usage occurs, whereas comfort with technology alone does not. Value-in-use is primarily driven by familiarity, social resources, and comfort with technology, and emerges as the strongest predictor of citizen empowerment and future value-in-use. Usage situations indirectly influence future value through value-in-use rather than directly. Government privacy protections moderate key relationships, highlighting the institutional conditions that enable or constrain value co-creation. The findings demonstrate that citizen-defined value-in-use, rather than infrastructure adoption alone, is central to realizing the benefits of digital ID–enabled public service transformation in developing economies.
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