Biometrics and e-Identity (e-Passport) in the European Union: End-User Perspectives on the Adoption of a Controversial Innovation

This study deals with user acceptability of a proposed e-Passport in the European Union (EU). E-passport is an advanced version of a combined national identity card and travelling document which holds digitised biometric features of its associated individual for enhanced security of personal authentication. We attempt here to investigate the nature of the innovation and citizens’ attitudes to an e-Passport (or analogous innovation) in a range of socio-political-contexts within which the implementation occur. This paper reports the findings of an Internet Survey, conducted as the second part following a larger research program on biometrics-based e- Identity (e-Passport) acceptability and deployment issues. The data collected are interpreted under the guidance of the theoretic framework ‘Price of Convenience’ briefly described and fully referenced herein and theories of national culture after Hofstede [15], [16]. We found that although a direct and complete extrapolation of results from countries of similar cultural dimensions to another is not possible, limited referencing is still possible and provides a rather rich understanding of a country when it is used together with other dimensions of study. Although useful in helping to draw parallels between different countries, Hofstede’s work is not all encompassing. Thus we also proposed other contingency factors and indicators for e-Passport acceptance which can make countries with similar cultural dimensions appear very different in biometric technological adoption.