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Top1. Introduction
Although characterized as conservative and inefficient, the government has begun to improve performance in recent years (Karwan & Markland, 2006). Inspired from the private sector, the public sector has begun to introduce the IS to offer better citizen services and increase organizational performance. Introducing IS into public sector organizations is a process of digital government (or e-government) implementation. The e-government explores how governments can use information and communication technologies to implement government principles and achieve policy goals (OECD, 2016). In Taiwan, the government has implemented e-government since 1998. In 2011, the National Development Council launched the phase IV e-government program (2012–2016) with funding of approximately US$288.33 million (NDC, 2016). According to the report of Waseda University’s international e-government ranking of 2015, which surveyed the e-government implementation of 63 countries, Taiwan is ranked 17th (Waseda University, 2016). From these perspectives, Taiwan may be a benchmark for understanding IS implementation in the public sector. Particularly, introducing knowledge management system (KMS) to improve government processes may be an important step toward good governance. KMS is composed of KM-related tools, such as data management system, intranet, groupware and other technologies that are associated with the organizational practice of KM (Kuo & Lee, 2011). KMS may improve organizational excellence if it is properly implemented and fully comprehended by users (Matayong & Mahmood, 2012). In Taiwan, Kaohsiung City government has introduced a knowledge management system (KMS) for attaining performance since 2003. KMS is a mandatory IS and the Kaohsiung City government requires its employees to use it. Generally speaking, a voluntary system is defined as one where users perceive adoption of the system as non-mandatory (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000). In a voluntary use environment, users perceive that they have willful choices to use the system. In terms of voluntary continued IS use, users have volitional control to decide whether or not to continue using the system. In contrast, a mandatory system is defined as one where users perceive that they are organizationally compulsory to use the system (Agarwal & Prasad, 1997; Brown et al., 2002; Venkatesh & Davis, 2000). In a mandatory use environment, users are required to use a specific system in order to keep and perform their jobs (Brown et al., 2002; Koh et al., 2010) regardless of whether they intend to use it. In terms of mandatory continued IS use, users are forced to continue using the system. A number of studies regarding the notion of mandatory versus volitional usage behavior have been widely discussed in the IS literature. Prior studies (e.g., Karahanna et al, 1999; Moore & Benbasat, 1991; Rawstorne et. al., 1998) argued that contexts of IS adoption range between two poles: one end by voluntary adoption and the other by mandatory adoption. That is, a given IS adoption decision may seem more or less voluntary on a continuum of voluntariness. Though there can be wide variability in user perceptions of voluntariness (Agarwal & Prasad, 1997; Karahanna et al., 1999; Venkatesh & Davis, 2000), Reinders et al. (2015) mentioned that mandatory use of the IS leads to reduced perceptions of freedom of choice and increased levels of feeling manipulated.