Investigating the critical factors for the adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia
Creators: name: Almukhlifi, Ayman Fehaid S
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 350303
subject: Business information systems

description: Electronic government (e-government) is about the use of information and communications technologies for improving the delivery of public services. It is becoming increasing popular across the world because of the benefits it can bring including streamlining the interaction between citizens and public organisations, improving the transparency of public decision making and promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of public organisations. As a result, many countries across the world have introduced e-government programs for utilising the benefits of e-government.<br><br>Following the global trend, Saudi Arabia has been actively pursuing the development of e-government. A unique e-government program with two specific e-government development plans has been implemented. The first one aims to provide stakeholders with specific public services through e-government. The second one focuses on enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of public organisations in the delivery of public services. This has led to the implementation of many e-government initiatives such as mobile government, electronic procurement, electronic recruitment, and open data portal. Despite these efforts, the adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia is unsatisfactory. This shows the need for better understanding the adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia.<br><br>The objective of this research is to investigate the critical factors for the adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia from the perspective of citizens. Specifically, the research aims to (a) identify the current patterns and trends of the adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia and (b) explore the critical factors for the adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia. To achieve the aims of this research, an extensive review of the related literature has been conducted to the development of a conceptual framework for investigating the critical factors for the adoption of e-government. This conceptual framework is then tested and validated using structural equation modelling based on the data collected in Saudi Arabia.<br><br>The study reveals that information quality, service quality, computer self-efficacy, computer anxiety, personal innovativeness, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness are the critical factors for the adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia. It further reveals that transparency strengthens the relationships between perceived usefulness and the adoption of e-government, and perceived ease of use and the adoption of e-government. This study finds that Wastta negatively affects the relationship between perceived usefulness and the adoption of e-government. Based on the critical factors identified, a new framework for better understanding the adoption of e-government is developed.<br><br>This study contributes to the e-government research from both the theoretical and the practical perspectives. Theoretically, this study (a) develops a conceptual framework for better understanding the adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia, and (b) explores the effect of transparency and Wastta on the adoption of e-government. This study is the first of this kind that addresses the moderating influences of transparency and Wastta on the relationship between perceived usefulness and the adoption of e-government, and perceived ease of use and the adoption of e-government. Practically, this study provides an in-depth investigation of the critical factors for the adoption of e-government to provide decision makers in Saudi Arabia with useful guidelines on how to encourage Saudi citizens to adopt e-government. Such guidelines are helpful for other countries in their active pursuit of the development of e-government.