title: Factors Influencing Users' Intentions to Use Mobile Government Applications in Saudi Arabia.
Creators: name: Alotaibi, Raed Shujaa
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Saudi Arabia
subject: Mobile government applications
subject: Technologies

description: In Saudi Arabia, although some m-government services and applications have been released, m-government is still in its infancy. To date, there have been insufficient empirical studies to (i) identify and measure the factors that influence users’ intentions to use m-government applications in Saudi Arabia, (ii) measure the Saudi citizens’ attitudes towards using m-government applications, (iii) measure the influence of three moderators (gender, age and usage experience) on relationships between independent factors—attitude toward use (ATU), perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived trustworthiness (TRU)—and the dependent factor behavioural intention to use (BIU), and (iv) validate and examine the applicability of the modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to determine the above factors in the Saudi m-government context. Consequently, the main aim of this study is to identify and measure factors that influence users’ intentions to use m-government applications in Saudi Arabia. It also aims to (i) measure the Saudi citizens’ attitudes towards using m-government applications, (ii) measure the influence of gender, age and usage experience on relationships between independent factors—(ATU), (PU) and (TRU)—and the dependent factor BIU, and (iii) examine and validate the applicability of a modified TAM in the Saudi m-government context. Acknowledging and addressing these factors will support future m-government services and implementation. This study adopted a mixed methods approach (explanatory sequential design). The first phase involved a quantitative study with more priority and weight to address study’s aims. This was followed by a qualitative study using 14 citizens to confirm, interpret, explain and provide deeper understanding of the results from the quantitative study, especially unexpected results based on citizens’ perceptions. The quantitative results revealed that ATU, PU and TRU significantly and positively influence users’ intentions to use m-government applications in the Saudi context. Perceived ease of use (PEU), awareness (AWAR) and perceived security (SEC) did not influence users’ intentions to use m-government applications in Saudi Arabia. The results also showed that Saudi citizens have a positive attitude toward using m-government applications. Furthermore, the results revealed that the relationship between ATU and BIU is moderated by gender, age and usage experience: female, younger and less experienced users are more likely to use m- government applications compared with male, older and more experienced users. The relationships between PU and BIU, and TRU and BIU are not moderated by gender, age and usage experience. The quantitative results also revealed that the proposed TAM model has a good fit values and is valid in the Saudi m-government context. The qualitative results confirmed the quantitative results regarding the influence of PU on BIU. If users perceived m-government applications to be useful in terms of saving time and effort, increasing productivity, and helping them to easily accomplish their goals they would use the m-government applications. The qualitative results also confirmed quantitative results regarding the influence of ATU on BIU: the benefits of using m-government applications such as saving time, effort and increasing productivity improved user attitudes toward using these applications. Finally, the qualitative results confirmed the quantitative results regarding the influence of TRU on BIU with users trusting the government that provided the applications to protect their data and enable them to achieve their goals. The qualitative results also explain why PEU, AWAR and SEC did not influence BIU of m-government applications in the quantitative study. PEU did not influence BIU of m-government applications in the quantitative study because (i) users focusing on and needing useful services and caring less about ease of use of the applications, and (ii) some users face difficulty in using m-government applications. AWAR did not influence BIU of m-government applications in the quantitative study because (i) the level of awareness is low among citizens, and (ii) users already trusting the government so doing what the government asks them. SEC did not influence BIU of m-government applications in the quantitative study because these applications have been provided by government who the users already trust or the users are more focused on useful services and do not care very much about security. The qualitative results revealed that positive attitudes toward using m-government applications are stronger for females than males. As Saudi society is considered conservative, females prefer to do their work in their homes where they can meet societal circumstances and obligations. Using the m-government applications allows them to complete their relevant tasks from home. Given that they are currently also restricted from driving they are keen to use the m-government applications rather than having to go to the ministries personally. Younger citizens also prefer to use m-government applications (have more positive attitudes) than older citizens because younger generations usually like to discover new technology and are more familiar and experienced with technology. Also, as Saudi culture encourages younger people to serve older people and the young people usually have better skills in using new technologies. Finally, the qualitative results revealed that the attitude toward using m-government applications is stronger for citizens with less experience than those with more experience because they want to benefit from using new technologies and improve their e-skills, and most ministries in Saudi Arabia now only provide their services via electronic systems and applications. In summary, this study provides a clear picture about factors influence on users’ intentions to use m-government applications in order to help decision makers in Saudi government to better implement m-government applications to furnish citizens with the associated benefits.