Mohammed Alsaif
Arabia has an average score for masculinity( 52) compared to other countries, which could be linked to factors associated with religion, as women have a high dependency on men and have a lower level of involvement in society( Hofstede, 2001).
Short‐term orientation describes a society that adheres to past and present traditions and presents a static orientation, which contrasts with long‐term orientation that focuses on perseverance and thrift to achieve dynamic progression and future rewards( Hofstede, 2001). Therefore, it could be argued that societies who strongly value the need to fulfil social obligations and are conservative and traditional are unlikely to accept and use new innovations( Erumban and Jong, 2007; Arslan, 2009). Saudi Arabia is described as a religious and traditions adherence society but the long‐term orientation value was not measured for Saudi Arabia.
According to Hall( 1966) Arab countries have a critical cultural factor influencing these societies which is sense of time, as this is regarded as a static phenomenon, so that events generally happen without planning. As e‐ Government services are available online at all times and from any location, this flexibility could be supported by this cultural characteristic to adopt this new technology, as users do not need to use this at specific times.
The adoption levels in Saudi Arabia have not fulfilled expectations. Religious adherence, collectivism and tribal systems influence the culture of Saudi people, which often make them reluctant to change, but e‐Government could be compatible with this culture if cultural issues are considered when promoting the adoption of e‐ Government.
3. Research model and hypotheses
The adoption of technology by users has revealed salient constructs from the review of literature that have been based on UTAUT, TAM, DOI or TPB, but researchers have also attempted to include more salient variables to explain their findings better by integrating two or more theories. This study will consider the aforementioned socio‐cultural value of Saudi Arabia to identify the catalyst factors affect the adoption of e‐ Government in Saudi Arabia and justify the proper based model for the study.
Although UTAUT was developed relatively recently, when applied to studies of technology adoption within different contexts, its reliability, validity and suitability have been proven( Al Awadhi and Morris, 2008). Eight models of psychological theories, diffusion of innovation and technology acceptance were compared to formulate the UTAUT model. Over a six‐month period, this model was validated by four different organisations, so that account could be taken of high levels of variance of usage intentions regarding adoption of technology( Venkatesh et al., 2003). Social influence, effort expectancy and performance expectancy are the three determinants of intention to use technology within UTAUT, so that voluntariness of use, experience, gender and age form four moderate variables, and actual use is determined by the facilitating condition.
Technology adoption is affected by personal or attitudinal characteristics that are included within UTAUT, but are also involved in TPB, DOI and TAM. As Saudi culture demonstrates low individuality and high collectivism, the social influence factor of UTAUT makes this suitable. As technology adoption is fostered by the importance of computer knowledge and availability of money and time( resources), UTAUT includes facilitating factors that are not identified in DOI and TAM models. Therefore, this study has developed a research model based on UTAUT that has been modified so that it is suitable for the case study and the research area. The aim of this study is to explain e‐Government adoption in Saudi Arabia better by investigating more variables from the perspective of citizens. Therefore, the study has selected the UTAUT model as a base model for this research due to its reliability, validity and suitability for the study.
Voluntariness of use, experience, gender and age determine how the main factors are affected by these fourmoderated variables of UTAUT. This study has adapted these moderated variables to make the context more suitable by taking out voluntariness of use variable, as e‐Government in Saudi Arabia already operates on a voluntary basis and is at an early stage of development, so the moderated variable of level of education has been added to the model, which will moderate the adoption behaviour.
E‐Government adoption or actual use of the system by citizens can be predicted by the intention to use the system variable( Ajzen, 1991), but actual use of the system in the UTAUT model is related directly to facilitating conditions factors( Venkatesh et al., 2003).
581