290
Table 1

Inf Syst Front (2017) 19:285–300
Respondent profile

Category

Values

Frequency

Percent

Age

18–24

62

12.0

25–34

85

16.5

35–44
45–54

96
83

18.6
16.1

55–64

76

14.7

65–74
Above 75

102
12

19.8
2.3

Total
Male

516
249

100.0
48.3

Female

267

51.7

Gender

3.1.5 Risk
A user’s uncertainty about the quality of information being
gathered can potentially lead to anxiety, which can come in
the way of their adoption decision. The expected social or economic loss caused from using a new system constitutes perceived risk (Labay and Kinnear 1981; Rogers and Shoemaker
1971). In this context, the risk factor will be used to measure
users’ apprehensions of inputting personal information onto
Table 2 Respondent awareness
of open data

such websites, and also their confidence in using the information available on such websites. The quality of data published
on the Internet is often questioned, and at the same time is also
open to manipulation that in turn questions its reliability (Hand
2012). Reckman et al. (2011) point at researchers’ apprehensions in sharing data publicly as that data is at the risk of being
misused by other investigators.
Open data is open for people to use and build applications.
In the process of doing so, there is huge potential for the data
being wrongly recorded and presented. This would induce a
risk of data being wrongly interpreted by the citizens who are
relying on it to make important day-to-day decisions. At the
same time, in its raw format, the data is not available to the
public in a meaningful sense. As Roberts (2012) mentions,
such raw data can be rightly interpreted by a selective and
probably small set of technical experts, resulting in the risk
of it again being misinterpreted by the larger proportion of
citizens. They also point at the risk of digital divide and social
inequality. Risk was thus deemed an important attribute from
this study’s perspective, and was hypothesized as follows to
allow further examination in the UK context.
H5: Reduced risk is positively related to citizens’ behavioral intentions to use open data.

Category

Values

Frequency

Percent

I am interested in finding out how different
government departments work

Yes

352

68.2

No
Not Sure
Total

77
87
516

14.9
16.9
100.0

The availability of open data about public
services (E.g. education, health and social
care etc.) helps me take more informed decisions

Yes
No
Not Sure

389
37
90

75.4
7.2
17.4

Total
Yes
No
Not Sure
Total
Yes
No
Don’t know
Total

516
155
279
82
516
206
207
103
516

100.0
30.0
54.1
15.9
100.0
39.9
40.1
20.0
100.0

Yes
No
Not Sure
Total
Yes
No

271
64
181
516
213
134

52.5
12.4
35.1
100.0
41.3
26.0

Don’t know
Total

169
516

32.8
100.0

I have used open data websites before

I am aware of the type of information that
open data websites offer

Open data helps me understand how government
works, and how policies are made

I cannot relate to data on such open websites,
and would prefer more structured and
easily understandable information

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