Year

2017

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration

Department

Faculty of Business, University of Wollongong in Dubai

Abstract

The advent of information and communication technology (ICT) into many domains of public administration has accelerated the shift from traditional work to more ICTbased work in governmental departments. This new paradigm has paved the way for the implementation of e-Government initiatives and enhanced the efficiency, effectiveness, quality, speed, and accessibility of their public services. However, no specific model of e-Government has been universally accepted. There are various reasons for this, including socio-cultural norms, economic, and political factors that may affect the design of the system, and citizens’ decision to adopt e-Government models. As a result, it is important that we investigate the factors that affect the adoption of e-Government services in developing countries that have recently undergone a transition to the information society, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This study probes the factors that social theories argue play a key role in motivating citizens to adopt the online public services provided by the Government of the Abu Dhabi Emirate as part of its e-Government initiative. The Modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was used to detect adoption and acceptance of e-Government services. UTAUT model has been extended by including Government trust and Internet trust as both those concepts of trust are considered to be key components of any improvement in public management.

The study used an online questionnaire to survey citizens from heterogeneous groups of the Abu Dhabi population. To test this model, the questionnaire consisted of 41 questions sent by email to these groups to assess their intent to use e-Government services and their actual use of various and selected e-services; 638 respondents returned complete and usable questionnaires. The collected data was quantitatively analysed using regression and SEM. The results recorded statistically strong evidence for highly significant positive correlations between behavioral intention to use e-Government services and the independent variables, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, trust in the internet, and trust in e- Government. However, the effect of social influence on behavioral intention is not found to be significant. Further, facilitating conditions do not significantly affect the use of e-Government services.

Gender as a moderating factor was found to impact the relationships between effort expectancy and behavioural intention whereas the other moderating factors (age, experience and education) did not affect the relationship. Age as a moderating factor has an impact on performance expectancy and behavioural intention, whereas the other moderating factors (gender, experience, and education) did not affect the relationship. Finally, experience impacts the relationship between facilitating conditions and behavioural intention whereas the other moderating factors (gender, age, and education) did not affect the relationship.

The researcher argues that the realization of e-Government benefits depends largely and critically on citizens’ satisfaction with their experience and continuing use of e- Government services. Further research is required to expand the demographic and geographic scope of this study to better unpack the influence of moderating factors, such as gender, age, experience, and education.

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.