The Citizen´s Role in National Electronic Identity Management - A Case-study on Austria

A number of European countries are about to introduce electronic systems for identity management (IDM). The main objectives are to improve security in online services and unify authentication. User centricity is a crucial factor to be considered here as well. This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of user centricity in the context of national IDM, taking the Austrian system as an example. The findings show that beyond technical design, considering key factors for user centricity such as equality of access, privacy and convenience combined with real incentives from the users´ point of view are crucial for the success of national IDM.