Interpreting the trustworthiness of government mediated by information and communication technology: Lessons from electronic voting in Brazil. Information Technology for Development
Original citation: Avgerou, Chrisanthi, Ganzaroli, Andrea, Poulymenakou, Angeliki and Reinhard, Nicolau (2009) Abstract The electronic voting system of Brazil is understood to be widely trusted by the citizens of the country and international observers. More precisely, it is seen as a trustworthy mechanism of producing elections results that accurately represent the choices of the electorate. In this paper we discuss briefly the concepts of trust and trustworthiness and focus to examine the formation of beliefs regarding the latter. We argue that the belief of trustworthiness is only partly attributable to the perception of the merits of the technical system and its enactment procedures. Significant role in the formation of this belief in the case of the Brazilian electronic elections has played the the reputation of the institutional actors responsible for the elections -the Superior and the Regional Electoral Courts. We therefore conclude that, unlike common assumptions about the potential of e-government in developing countries to restore trust in government institutions which are considered untrustworthy, the production of trust in ICT-mediated government services relies on citizens' perceptions of their trustworthiness
