E-Government Adoption, Acceptance, Usage and Diffusion in The Saudi Arabian Context
Al-Khouri & Bal (2006) collected data from 64 participants using questionnaires and 19 participants using telephone interviews while investigating the practices of GCC countries with regard to e-government. Government-to-business e-government in GCC countries progresses at a very slow rate since users do not trust the strength of their security and privacy (Al-Khouri & Bal, 2006). The authors recommended for implementation of national ID schemes by utilizing advanced technologies such as biometrics, smart cards and public key infrastructure. The paper has greatly contributed to building citizens’ trust since many governments adopt enhanced security technologies such as biometric.
By collecting data using 22 semi-structured interviews, observations, reading electronic documents and reports, 19 articles from newspapers and 12 websites to investigate how governments in developing countries adopt e-government systems, Al-Shehry (2009) found that the adoption of e-government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is motivated by political, economic, social, cultural, geographic and managerial factors. However, the research was performed in a limited geographical area and included low number of participants that makes its findings not suitable for generalization. With the use of initial framework, triangulation and taking a case study approach, the paper has greatly contributed to the area under question as it has enabled successful adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia.
Trust plays a major role in encouraging citizens to adopt and use e-government. Alsaghier, Ford, Nguyen & Hexel (2009) proposed a conceptual model of the trust of citizens in e-government that included attributes from many disciplines such as e-commerce, sociology, psychology and human computer interaction, and utilized Q-Methodology to validate results and found that the trust citizens have on a technology depends on the trust they have on the government and the e-government application. The results are accurate as it used a reliable methodology, Q-Methodology, to validate results.
The governments in developing countries spend a lot of money in developing and implementing e-government and like any other information technology application; there is need for evaluation of government. Alshawi & Alalwany (2009) developed evaluation criteria, which utilizes citizens in performing initiatives of government, which should be used to evaluate e-government systems. They recommend that the adoption of the criteria would make the governments to understand the factors that influence the adoption and use of e-government in their regions. Citizens are the user of e-government and their involvement in implementation and evaluation processes greatly determines the success of the technology.
Alshehri & Drew (2010) utilized qualitative research methods such as interviews and questionnaires to investigate the challenges facing e-government adoption in Saudi Arabia and found that lack of information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, security and privacy, lack of training, and lack of policies and regulations that govern e-government use hindered success adoption of e-government. Being a pilot study, the researchers recommended that further research should be done on the subject to obtain comprehensive and reliable results. Even though, it is a pilot study; it provides direction for further research.
By performing a qualitative research using questionnaires to investigate the challenges and obstacles that hinder effective adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia, Alshehri, Drew & Alfarraj (2012), gathered data from 460 citizens of Saudi Arabia and other IT experts from public institutions and found that lack of information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, security and privacy, lack of training, and lack of policies and regulations that govern e-government use hindered success adoption of e-government. The research has greatly contributed to the field of e-government as it has enabled various stakeholders to implement recommendations and improve user adoption.
Like any other product or service, the quality of websites greatly determines their acceptance and usage. By utilizing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, Alshehri, Drew, Alhussain & Alghamdi (2012) collected data from 400 respondents using the structural equation modeling (SEM) with the help of AMOS tools to study the effect of website quality on the adoption of e-government by citizens. They found that the quality of government websites and the level of support provided in the websites greatly influences citizens’ adoption of e-government. The results are reliable based on reliable model and research method used.
By applying Unified theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model Alshehri, Drew, Alhussain & Alghamdi (2012) investigated the effects of trust in acceptance of e-government by citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and found that the trust citizens have on both the government and e-government service determines their acceptance of e-government. E-government cannot be successfully accepted when the issue of trust is not properly checked. The research has greatly contributed in the field of study by enabling other researchers and IT professionals to develop ways of building trust of citizens.
Alsowoyegh (2012) utilized research framework model to analyze earlier literature and identify the cultural factors that influence the adoption of e-government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Alsowoyegh (2012) also utilized qualitative research methods to conduct three case studies in specific three public institutions in Saudi Arabia. The findings revealed that since citizens in Saudi Arabia still value their culture, culture influences the adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia. However, the research encountered various limitations including not being able to effectively interview participants of the opposite sex since culture does not encourage this. The research has contributed to the area under study incorporating culture during implementation of such technologies.
Altameem (2007) collects and analyses data using both qualitative and quantitative methods utilize literatures of other scholars to investigate the factors that impact the implementation of e-government and develop a model, which contains twenty four factors divided into governing, organizational and technical dimensions, for the implementation of e-government. However, the study has the limitation of sample size since it only involved IT professionals who are involved in the implementation of e-government.
After surveying 533 citizens of Saudi Arabia and using structural equation model to analyze data, to investigate factors that influence citizen’s acceptance of e-government services, Alzahrani (2011) found that social, trust and gender influence the acceptance of e-government by citizens. The paper recommends the inclusion of other factors such as cultural factors in further researches and since trust is complex its various attributes should be investigated and included in the model. The research has greatly contributed to the study by developing a model that can be improved by other researchers.
While developing an instrument used for measuring the acceptance of electronic public services by citizens of Saudi Arabia, Alzahrani, Stahl & Prior (2012) utilized innovation diffusion theory, technology of acceptance model, theory of planned behavior and web trust models. The data was analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis inside the structural equation modeling. Alzahrani, Stahl & Prior (2012) developed a powerful instrument for measuring the acceptance of e-public services by Saudi citizens which provides various stakeholders with the opportunity to utilize it to study various strategies. The instrument has and will always be utilized by IT professionals for measuring users’ acceptance to new technologies.
In investigating the relevance of technology acceptance model for the websites of e-government in the private sectors of Saudi Arabia, Baakeel (2012) utilized a qualitative research method to collect information using online questionnaire from 102 participants. The findings of the research revealed that participants found e-government easy to use, useful and have positive attitude towards e-government. The research has a limitation of not covering offline population in order to develop a firm conclusion.
Basri (2012) examines the theoretical framework variables of technology acceptance model to investigate the acceptance of information communication and technology services and e-services in the public sector in Saudi Arabia. By using structure equation modeling to gather information from 200 respondents, Basri (2012) found that lack of training, resistance to change, culture and language barrier influence the public sector users to accept technologies. The study was limited by the area of study as TAM is always relevant to nations that are not to the west. More study that includes additional variables to the model is proposed for future research.
Various factors are responsible to the development of e-government that encourages a sustainable world. Bawazir (2006) by utilizing the internet and other information technology infrastructure, Saudi Arabia is encouraging sustainable development. The implementation of e-government and other e-business activities and services such as e-commerce encourages the utilization of internet therefor promoting sustainable development. The article is important as it does not only encourage the implementation of e-government, but also focuses on developing a sustainable world and development.
Cloud computing is the utilization of computer resources through the internet. it helps to improve the efficiency of e-government and same considerable costs since government services are installed in one central place in the cloud and users or the government pays for them as a service, as a resource or as a platform (Chanchary & Islam 2011). It also provides on-demand and scalable services to users (Chanchary & Islam 2011). Chanchary & Islam (2011) propose a model for the utilization of cloud computing in e-government in Saudi Arabia that would be friendly to users and efficiently distribute workload. Since cloud computing is a recent technology that has not been implemented by many organizations, the paper brings it into the limelight for its utilization in Saudi Arabia’s e-government.
By drawing relevant literature regarding e-government implementation stages, benefits and challenges, Drew (2011) found that the implementation of e-government faces technical challenges such as incompatibility and lack of universal standards, lack of or presence of weak ICT infrastructure, privacy and security, change resistance, lack of support from top management, barriers in organizations, digital divide, cultural barriers, lack of expertise and lack of finance. The research has greatly contributed in the field of e-government implementation as experts develop ways of reducing most of the barriers.
Gulati & Yates (2011), in their efforts to examine the global divide in e-government implementation, analyzed the effect of policies developed nationally on the United Nations’ Web Measure Index and found that e-government is extensively utilized in countries that have telecommunication regulatory bodies, have stiff competition among telecommunication firms, and allocate a lot of money on information communication and technology. The study is educative to countries that want to adopt and use quality ICT but do not want to invest in the field.
Halpern, Rozaidi, & Ki (2012) examined 160 websites from 82 different countries to investigate the how citizens in the Arab world have responded and utilize Web 2.0 based applications in their e-government platforms. They found that though countries that are not in the Arab world encourage access to more information by users and upload more social media applications in their e-government portal, there was no difference in participation and use of Web 2.0 technologies in the Arab world. Web 2.0 technology has gained wide spread usage and by studying it in relation to e-government in the Arab world, the research has made great contribution in incorporating it in e-government.
By utilizing previous literature and using data from 2003, 2004 and 2005 United Nations report regarding the readiness of e-government readiness in developing countries, Imran & Gregor (2007) found that factors that inhibit the adoption and use of information communication and technology in developing countries include political unrest, lack of or poor ICT infrastructure, access to ICT infrastructure by users and leadership unwillingness to accept technological change. The results of the research are reliable as it utilizes data from United Nations – a reputable organization.
Katchanovski, & La Porte (2009) utilized regression analysis of public agency websites got from the Cyber Policy Research Group (CYPRG) to investigate the openness of cabinet-level websites in developing countries and found that democracy level, colonial legacy, status of economic development and colonial legacy affect the openness of cabinet-level websites in developing countries. The findings are very helpful in identifying the reasons the implementation of Web 2.0 technologies varies greatly in government websites in developing countries.
E-government has encouraged standardization and interoperability of e-government and e-business. Since its inception, e-government has enabled many government institutions and ministries to do their things uniformly. Standardization involves technical standards and behavioral standards; technical standards include currencies and weights and behavioral standards include job qualifications (Pankowska, 2008). Businesses can also communicate and share information by the government through e-business and e-government. Standardization is important among government ministries and institutions and the research has contributed a lot in the field including standardizing ICT infrastructure in government institutions.
By developing a conceptual framework which was based on Technological-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework and utilizing questionnaire as a qualitative methodology and analyzing data using SPSS version 17.0 and Partial Least square (PLS), Pudjianto & Hangjung (2009) found that the factors that affect the assimilation of e-government in developing countries include competition, top management, compatibility of organizations and regulatory issues. The results of the research are reliable as the researchers used reliable data collection and analysis techniques such as Questionnaires, SPSS and PLS.
Rana, Dwivedi, & Williams, (2012) utilized various literature from reputable databases such as the ISI Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar and scholarly e-government journals discussing about challenges and critical success factors that are necessary for successful implementation of e-government services and found the challenges to include security and privacy, digital divide, lack of trust, bad leadership and success factors to include satisfying users, providing accurate information and enhancing security. The study, when it was being done, had a limitation of not utilizing e-government adoption articles that were published in the last few months. The study has contributed a lot to the field of identifying success factors that influence adoption of e-government.
Due to the similarities in socio-cultural characteristics, economies, religion and languages, Rorissa, Potnis & Demissie (2010) studied the similarities among of e-government websites in the Middle East and North Africa and found that similarities existed in the stages of development of the services offered by e-government websites. They therefore recommended for an in-depth examination of 230 websites in 18 Middle East and North Africa countries in order to develop better e-government platform that are user friendly. Though the study covered a limited sample population, it has recommended for inclusion of more participants in the area.
Sahraoui (2005) found that there are high investments towards adoption of e-government but there are low investments in developing IT skills and web content; most governments focus on transforming existing offline services to online services as there are high doubts that technology would fully replace face-to-face services since the culture in the nations encourages interpersonal relationships, and e-government projects are at a higher risk of failure if appropriate measures are not taken. By utilizing case study methodology and performing comprehensive surveys, the research paper has produced reliable results which have greatly contributed to the area of study.
Sahraoui, Gharaibeh & Al-Jboori (2006) identified various challenges that affect e-government in Saudi Arabia to include lack of willingness of transformation and reformation by political leaders, lack of involving users in e-government implementation, inadequate IT infrastructure, security and privacy, improper management of e-government programme, lack of application of proper evaluation tools and cultural barriers. The research has greatly contributed to the identification of means of countering challenges.
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