Mohammed Alsaif
H1: Positive Usage behaviour will be significantly influenced by behavioural intention.
Knowledge, persuasion, decision and confirmation form the four stages of the adoption process described by van Dijk et al.( 2008). Perception of the system or knowledge is the starting point for adoption, but an important factor for adopting a new system is based on beliefs about the system( Shareef et al., 2011). Therefore, this study has included awareness of the system to the original model to help predict e‐ Government adoption better.
H2: Behavioural intentions to adopt e‐Government services in Saudi Arabia are affected significantly by awareness of the system.
The factors influencing adoption of e‐Government from the perspective of citizens of Saudi Arabia are identified within this amended UTAUT model. Effort, cost and time saving were benefits of using e‐ Government systems that could measure performance expectancy, and complexity or ease of use of adopting e‐Government systems could measure effort expectancy. The Arab culture suffers from both planning constraints and sense of time, as this system offers greater flexibility that citizens are encouraged to adopt. One important predicator that determines the intention to use technology is performance expectancy( Alawadhi and Morris, 2008; Venkatesh et al., 2003; Al‐Shafi and Weerakkody, 2010). In Saudi Arabia especially, the dominance of men in social roles has also resulted in men being more interested in accomplishment than women. Moreover, Venkatesh and Zhang( 2010) consider that effort expectancy is a stronger variable, which has an impact upon women’ s adoption of technology during the early experience stages. Therefore the following hypotheses are proposed:
H3: Behavioural intentions to use e‐Government services in Saudi Arabia will be significantly affected by performance expectancy and this relationship would be moderated by gender.
H4: The intention to use e‐Government services in Saudi Arabia will be significantly affected by effort expectancy and this relationship would be moderated by gender and internet experience.
Research findings suggest that the adoption of new technology is affected by compatibility, effort expectancy and performance expectancy as significant factors( Venkatesh et al., 2003; Carter and Belanger, 2005). A further factor that could be significant for e‐Government adoption in Saudi Arabia, as it has a culture of segregation of genders, would be compatibility, as women can access government services online. Although e‐ Government adoption cannot overcome the cultural preference for face‐to‐face interaction, the hot climate of the country could be another factor that would encourage compatibility of e‐Government in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, personal attitude factor was added to the original model to include a compatibility variable.
H5: Behavioural intentions to adopt e‐Government services in Saudi Arabia are affected significantly by compatibility and this relationship would be moderated by gender.
As Saudi society demonstrates high power distance and collectivist dimensions, social influence on the behaviour of individuals to adopt e‐Government services was determined by evaluating the influence of friends, family and other significant people known to individuals. Social influence could also be moderated by gender, as females demonstrate more sensitivity to other opinions, as well as the factor of age, as younger citizens would be more likely to copy the behaviour of others. This contrast with individuals with lower levels of education or those with less experience of using the Internet who tends to follow the norm at an early stage( Al‐Gahtani et al., 2007; Venkatesh and Zhang, 2010).
H6: Intention to use e‐Government systems in Saudi Arabia is affected significantly by social influence and this relationship would be moderated by gender, age, level of education and internet experience.
Factors of face‐to‐face interaction preference and uncertainty avoidance cultural values in Saudi Arabia reveal the country has a high score, so the model of trust in government( Belanger and Carter, 2008) has been included in this study to the original model to measure how citizens’ initial trust influences their intention to adopt and use e‐Government services, so trust of government agencies and trust of the Internet were used to measure disposition of trust.
H7: Intention to use e‐Government services in Saudi Arabia will be significantly influenced by trust in the Internet and this relationship would be moderated by internet experience.
H8: Intention to use e‐Government services in Saudi Arabia will be significantly influenced by trust of the Government.
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