The impact of organisational culture on WiMax adoption by Saudi SMEs

Although there is some research that examines Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access (WiMax) adoption, the role of the organisational culture by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has not been studied in the context of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This paper presents the outcome of a study carried out to examine the impact of organisational culture on the WiMax adoption by SMEs in the KSA. Based on Cameron and Quinn's Organisational Culture Assessments Instrument (OCAI), 63 questionnaires were distributed to different SMEs in Saudi Arabia. The results showed that there is a relatively low level of WiMax adoption by Saudi SMEs. Findings stated that Saudi SMEs are dominated by the clan culture where people are less innovative than the people in adhocracy culture

The Impact of the Rate and Variety of uses of Fixed and Mobile Broadband on the progress of CPE: A Chartered Accountant’s Perspective

To examine the impact of the usage of fixed and mobile broadband on the progress of continuing professional education (CPE) from the perspective of chartered accountants in Saudi Arabia, an e-mail survey was conducted. A random sampling of chartered accountants in Saudi Arabia was investigated. This research was aimed to identify any correlation between the time of the day (e.g. before work, in the morning, during work, mid-day, after work, late afternoon/evening, night, late night, intermittently throughout the day) and the rate and variety of use of fixed and mobile broadband services. This research also aimed to understand the rate and variety of use of broadband services and their impact on CPE progress from the chartered accountant’s perspective

Factors Affecting Malaysian Accountants\u27 Broadband Adoption and Use Behavior

The aim of this study was to examine the factors affecting the adoption of broadband Internet in a developing country context by focusing upon Malaysia. The data relating to these factors was collected using a survey approach. The findings of this paper suggest that constructs such as relative advantage, utilitarian outcomes, service quality and primary influence are important factors affecting Malaysian accountants’ broadband adoption and Internet use behaviour. The paper proceeds to outline the research limitations and implications

WiMax technology adoption by SMEs in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This research focuses on developing a framework for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) technology adoption by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). WiMax has emerged as a technology to overcome the limitations of traditional and existing broadband technologies and support a great number of organisations and consumers/citizens in providing a higher speed over substantial distances i.e. in areas that are difficult for wired infrastructure to reach. Despite all the interest in the types of broadband adoption as demonstrated by SMEs in several countries, there seems to be slow progress and lack of information supporting the decision making process for WiMax technology adoption by SMEs specifically in the context of KSA. This may illustrate that SMEs adopt WiMax technology solutions at a slower pace and make them characterised as laggards in terms of new technologies adoption. This research takes into consideration this literature gap and makes a step forward and investigates on WiMax technology adoption by SMEs in KSA with an organisational cultural view, vendors’ commercialisation strategies and government policies by analysing the normative literature related to this research. The data collection of this study was carried out in two phases including quantitative and qualitative approaches. The first phase of the research provided results indicated that, the Saudi SMEs who participated in this research are strongly dominated by clan culture and adhocracy culture. These cultures also have a positive impact on the Internet technologies adoption such as WiMax by SMEs. It is found that, the combination of clan and adhocracy cultures in Saudi SMEs is making them more likely to adopt latest Internet technologies. In the second phase, the results showed a wide difference in views among SMEs, WiMax vendors and government agencies involved in WiMax technology diffusion to SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Although WiMax technology started as an innovation that has the potential to be disruptive and could replace the widely diffused fixed wire line Internet connection, the research findings showed an interesting deviation from this path. In particular, the WiMax technology market analysis in Saudi Arabia highlighted the vendors’ tendency to treat WiMax technology as a sustaining innovation. Research findings also indicated that, the Saudi government provided funds for Information and Communications Technology‘s diffusion in the country. However, the level of awareness displayed by SMEs is persistently low. Knowledge deployment, mobilisation, innovation directive and subsidy have been emphasised by SMEs as the most important government interventions that might have an impact on WiMax adoption by them. Finally, further important issues have been uncovered by the research such as taxation, experience exchange, herd culture/bandwagon, consumer right protection and customer service in relation to the adoption of WiMax by SMEs. The perceived future prospect of these additional issues has been considered as an influence on adoption of WiMax technology by SMEs. The findings of this research can be useful to guide analysts and researchers in determining critical aspects of the complex issues involved in technologies adoption, and lead to suggestions for further valid research

Intention to use e-government services among the academic staff in Saudi universities

E-government diffusion and usage is a global topic that concerns many countries worldwide. E-government is a way for providing services of government over online channels of communication to its citizens. Saudi Arabia has implemented a program of e-government in 2005 to encourage performance of public sectors through acquiring the benefits of Information Communication Technology (ICT) advances. This study focuses on the factors that influence intention to use e-government among the academic staff in Saudi Arabia. In addition, this study is to identify the mediating role of e-government awareness on the relationships between social influence, trust of internet and trust in intermediaries and intention to use e-government and the mediating role of perceived risk on the relationships between trust of internet and trust in intermediaries and intention to use e-government. Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), this study integrated these factors to examine their influences on intention to use e-government. This study utilized a quantitative approach using a survey to reflect consumers’ perspectives towards e-government usage. To examine the hypothesized model, the data were collected from the academic staff working in Saudi public universities. This study employed Partial Least Squares techniques to confirm the validity and reliability of the measurement model and to examine the structural relationships. The findings of the study confirmed the influences of social influence, e-government awareness, trust in intermediary and perceived risk on intention to use e-government. Further, awareness of e-government is influenced by social influence, trust in Internet and trust in intermediary and mediates the relationship between these factors and intention to use e-government. Trust in Internet factor emerged as significant predictor of consumers’ risk perceptions and mediates the relationship between this factor and intention to use e-government. This study has important implications for e-government practitioners, researchers and policy decision makers interested in the implementation of e-governmen

Examining the influence of intermediaries in facilitating e-government adoption: an empirical investigation

YesThe adoption and diffusion of electronic government is often impeded by many social and individual factors relating to citizens. In this respect, intermediaries have emerged as a new model for delivering e-government services to overcome such obstacles. This study aims to examine the role of intermediaries in facilitating e-government adoption and diffusion using a survey based empirical study of 502 participants in Madinah City in Saudi Arabia. An extended UTAUT model is used as the theoretical basis utlising trust in the Internet and Intermediaries. The results of this study show that there are significant relationships among the factors that influence intention to use e-government, namely, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and trust of intermediary. In addition, the findings show that there is a significant relationship between facilitating conditions and usage behaviour proving that intermediaries can influence adoption of e-government services

An investigation of e-government progress in Oman: A survey of public sector workers

E-government has become increasingly pervasive in modern society and it has emerged as an effective means of delivering government services to citizens. While most early e-government efforts were concentrated on developed countries, in the recent past, it has also become popular in many developing countries. Most notably are the Middle Eastern countries that have continued to invest significantly into e-government initiatives in the last five years; the Sultanate of Oman is one such example. However, although large investments have been made since 2003 to facilitate the implementation of electronic services in the public sector in Oman, only limited progress has been made in terms of realising fully functional e-government. The aim of this paper is to identify the factors that are currently influencing the development and implementation of e-government in Oman using a quantitative survey-based empirical study in three key public service agencies in Muscat, the capital of Oman. The research identified ten different factors that were influencing the progress of the national e-government project, e-Oman, from the viewpoint of government employees. The most salient of these factors was the Omani IT workforce capability and the citizens' trust and confidence in using e-services

An Investigation of the Factors Affecting Consumers’ Adoption of E-commerce: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia

This study identified a gap in the adoption of electronic (e)-commerce in Saudi Arabia in particular and developing countries in general and hopefully, provides some useful insight regarding e-commerce in Saudi Arabia. This study is limited to a small nation or group which makes generalization not essential (Bryman 2008,p.391). But at the same time, it provides a good base for further work that can be based on the findings of this study. Businesses across the world are launching e-commerce to increase sales by reducing costs, and extending their activities to serve their clients anywhere in the world. The literature, however, shows that in many developing countries e-commerce projects have failed due to a lack of consumers' readiness to adopt it whereas consumers in the developed countries have already incorporated e-commerce into their daily lives. In order for e-commerce to be successful in developing countries, consumers need to accept and adopt this service. This gap is addressed by this study so that developing countries come to benefit from e-commerce and avoid possible failures. The study presents the key factors (enablers and barriers) that affect consumers’ adoption of e-commerce. It aims to understand consumers’ perspectives, move theoretically to obtain suppliers’ comments on consumers’ viewpoints, gather any new aspects mentioned by them and finally to combine the two perspectives together to arrive at the final findings. The researcher investigated a number of research methodologies to find the one appropriate for this study. As a result, a qualitative research approach was adopted, which was used to understand and explain the phenomenon under investigation. Grounded theory methodology (GT) was used since it uses theoretical sampling that helped to achieve the study’s goals by moving theoretically from the first empirical study to the second. The study used various techniques to collect evidence such as semi-structure interviews, observations and official documents. The two empirical studies of this research offered a good understanding and further insights into e-commerce adoption among consumers. It reveals a roadmap for suppliers and governments that enable them to adopt e-commerce among consumers in developing countries. The findings of this study are divided into the following dimensions: cultural, telecommunication infrastructure, technical, suppliers’ responsibilities, financial, awareness, legal, delivery, tangible and intangible end-user characteristics, security, geographical and government’s responsibilities dimensions. Government’s responsibilities have been found to be the core category that affects most of the factors that are germane to this study. These factors can help decision makers understand the issues that are involved and effectively address them. The final paradigm model presented in chapter 8 illustrates the phenomenon, its causes, conditions, specifications and the required strategies that help to increase e-commerce adoption among consumers