Research into Citizens' Adoption of E-government

293 Pages·2014·2.4 MB·English

by  Mohammed Alsaif

Factors Affecting Citizens’ Adoption of E-government
Moderated by Socio-cultural Values in Saudi Arabia
By
Mohammed Alsaif

A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Institute of Local Government Studies
School of Government and Society
College of Social Sciences
University of Birmingham
July 2013
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Abstract

Many governments around the world have accelerated their implementation of e-
government, in order to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, quality, speed and
accessibility of their services. However, there is no universal model that may be applied to
governments worldwide. Each government implements its own individual programme,
whilst taking into account the characteristics of the country that involve social, cultural,
economic and political factors. Characteristics such as these may assist or hinder the
implementation and adoption of e-government. E-government adoption had been studied
widely from the perspectives of technical and management factors. There is a need for
further research to examine the human factors involved, and particularly the cultural,
social and psychological elements of users in developing countries. This is seen by the
researcher as particularly relevant when considering the different cultural and social issues
related to citizens using e-public services in developing countries rather than developed
countries. The literature review of technology adoption and culture values suggests that
low levels of adoption of e-government in developing countries should not be blamed on
the culture or individual citizens, but that new technology needs to be adapted to suit the
culture of Arab societies to achieve high diffusion of technology.

This study aims to consider the problems associated with the low response of citizens to
the adoption of e-government in developing Arab countries, with a predominant focus on
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is necessary for this new innovation to be tailored to
citizens’ wishes, and taking into account the religious, cultural, traditional and other beliefs
to ensure the widespread adoption of this innovation.

The study used an online quantitative questionnaire to survey citizens from heterogeneous
groups within a diverse area of Saudi Arabia as a case study. The study has validated the
Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) in Saudi Arabia and has
extended the theory by including further variables such as the trust, compatibility,
awareness and the service quality which we proposed to influence citizens’ adoption of e-
government in Saudi Arabia. The findings reveal that performance expectancy is the strong
predictor of the intention to use e-government followed by the trust of the internet. In
addition, intention to use behaviour, computer self-efficacy and availability of resources
found to be significant predictors of the usage behaviour.
I
Acknowledgements
Praise to Allah the Almighty, Creator and Sustainers of the Universe, and prayers and
blessings are sent on His Prophet.

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my academic
supervisor Dr Philip Whiteman and Professor Chris Skelcher for their excellent
supervision, constructive guidance, invaluable feedback, and encouragement during my
PhD journey. Their insightful comments, critical advice, and immense knowledge gave me
the confidence to keep pushing the boundaries of my work.

Secondly, my greatest indebtedness to my wife for her encouragement, inspiration and
support. She provided a suitable environment which is a spirit of achievement and success.
The thanks extended to my little boy Othman for his patience during my busy days.

I owe a special thanks to my father for his continues emotional and financial support; this
thesis would not have been possible without the daily phone support and encouragement.
To my Mother whose soul and spirit are still with me; always her prayers and love inspire
me to achieve my ambition. I am grateful also to my sisters and brothers for their moral
support, continuous prayers, and endless encouragement.

Special thanks to my sponsor -Ministry for Higher Education in Saudi Arabia, for their
financial and academic support, represented by the cultural attaché in London during my
PhD Study.

Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all individuals who have supported me by
participating in the survey or given assistance to me in any respect during the development
of my research work. This thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and
grammar by Mr David Thomas.

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Declaration
Some of the material contained herein has been presented in the form of the following
publication:

Alsaif, M. (2013). Factors Affecting Citizens’ Adoption of E-government Moderated by
Socio-cultural Values in Saudi Arabia. In ECEG2013 13th European Conference on
eGovernment vol 2. Como, Italy, 13-14 June 2013. England: Acpi. 578- 586.
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List of Abbreviations

B2B Business to Business
B2C Business to Consumer
C2C Consumer to Consumer
CFA Confirmatory Factor Analysis
CITC Communication and Information Technology Commission
CRM Customer Relation Management
DOI Diffusion of Innovations Theory
EBPP Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment
EDI Electronic Data Interchange
EFA Exploratory Factor Analysis
G2B Government to Business
G2C Government to Citizens
G2E Government to Employee
G2G Government to Government
G2N Government to Non-profit sector
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GLM General Linear Module
GSN Government Secure Network
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IDV Individualism
IT Information Technology
ITU International Telecommunication Union
IQ Information Quality
IS Information Systems
ISD Information System Development
KSA Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
MCIT Ministry of Communication and Information Technology
MM Motivational Model
MPCU Model of PC Utilisation
PDI Power Distance Index
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PEOU Perceived Ease of Use
PKI Public Key Infrastructure
PU Perceived Usefulness
RDD Random Digital Dialling
SAMA Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority
SCT Social Cognitive Theory
SLRs Strategic Literature Reviews
STC Saudi Telecommunication Company
STS Socio-Technical System
TAM Technology Acceptance Model
TOI Trust of the Internet
TOG Trust of the Government
TPB Theory of Planned Behavior
TRA Theory of Reasoned Action
UAE United Arab Emirate
UAI Uncertainty Avoidance Index
UN United Nations
UTAUT Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... I
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. II
Declaration............................................................................................................................... III
List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... IV
List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... XII
List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ XIII
Chapter 1: Introduction
The Context of the Research ..................................................................................................... 1
Problem statement ................................................................................................................... 10
Objectives of the Research ...................................................................................................... 12
Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 12
Research Significance.............................................................................................................. 13
Thesis Structure ....................................................................................................................... 14
Chapter 2: Research Framework .................................................................................... 15
Chapter 3: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Background ................................................. 15
Chapter 4: Theoretical Research ..................................................................................... 16
Chapter 5: Research Design ............................................................................................ 17
Chapter 6: Data Presentation and Analysis ..................................................................... 18
Chapter 7: Discussion ...................................................................................................... 18
Chapter 8: Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 18
Chapter 2: Research Framework
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 19
E-government background ...................................................................................................... 19
E-government and E-commerce .............................................................................................. 21
E-government Definition ......................................................................................................... 24
E-government cataloguing ....................................................................................................... 27
E-government Sectors ..................................................................................................... 28
Government to Citizens (G2C) .................................................................................... 28
Government to Business (G2B) .................................................................................. 29
Government to Government (G2G) ............................................................................ 29
Government to Employee (G2E) ................................................................................. 29
VI
E-Government Stages ...................................................................................................... 30
Presence Stage ............................................................................................................. 31
Interaction Stage .......................................................................................................... 31
Transaction Stage ........................................................................................................ 32
Transformation Stage .................................................................................................. 32
E-government opportunity ....................................................................................................... 36
E-government constraints ........................................................................................................ 40
Success factors for e-government implementation .................................................................. 44
E-Government Implementation and Adoption ........................................................................ 48
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 52
Chapter 3: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Background
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 54
Saudi Arabia: Characteristics .................................................................................................. 55
Saudi Arabia: Location .................................................................................................... 55
Saudi Arabia: Demographic information ........................................................................ 56
Saudi Arabia: Climate ..................................................................................................... 57
Saudi Arabia: Economy ................................................................................................... 57
Saudi Arabia: Culture ...................................................................................................... 58
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: The ICT Sector ..................................................................... 61
National Information Technology Plan ........................................................................... 62
Saudi Arabia: ICT Indicators .......................................................................................... 62
Saudi Arabia: e-commerce .............................................................................................. 64
E-government project in Saudi Arabia .................................................................................... 66
Yesser program ................................................................................................................ 66
E-government projects: national initiatives ..................................................................... 71
Saudi E-government Portal "Saudi" ............................................................................ 72
SADAD E-Payment System ........................................................................................ 72
Smart Card Project ...................................................................................................... 73
E-Umrah project .......................................................................................................... 73
Electronic Data Interchange Project (SaudiEDI) ........................................................ 73
Al Madinah Almunawwarah E-Government Portal .................................................... 74
Human Resource initiative .......................................................................................... 74
Initiatives for infrastructure improvement .................................................................. 75
VII
Saudi Arabia: M-government .................................................................................................. 76
UN Assessment of e-government Development ............................................................. 77
Saudi Arabia: Research into Technology Adoption ................................................................ 78
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 81
Chapter 4: Theoretical Research
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 82
Adoption's Theories and Models ............................................................................................. 82
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) ................................................................................. 83
Theory of planned behaviour (TPB) ............................................................................... 84
Motivational Model (MM) .............................................................................................. 85
Model of PC Utilisation (MPCU) ................................................................................... 85
Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) ....................................................................................... 86
Diffusion Of Innovation Theory (DOI) ........................................................................... 87
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) .......................................................................... 88
Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) ..................................... 89
E-government adoption: Model of trust and risk ............................................................ 91
Research into Citizens’ Adoption of E-government................................................................ 92
E-government adoption: socio-cultural characteristics ......................................................... 102
Research Based Theory ......................................................................................................... 108
Research Hypothesis Development ....................................................................................... 112
Awareness of the system ............................................................................................... 112
Compatibility ................................................................................................................. 112
Social influence ............................................................................................................. 113
Performance expectancy ................................................................................................ 114
Effort expectancy .............................................................................................................. 115
Trust ............................................................................................................................... 116
Behavioural intention .................................................................................................... 117
Computer self-efficacy and resource availability .......................................................... 117
Quality of Information ................................................................................................... 119
System quality ............................................................................................................... 120
Proposed Research Model ..................................................................................................... 120
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 121

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