Gender and cultural differences in adoption of e-business infrastructure in UAE

This paper presents and discusses the impact of gender on the e-business infrastructure. This study investigates differences in the adoption of e-business infrastructure among users specially focus on United Arab Emirates users. Four hundred and twenty two responses to a web-based survey questionnaire are discussed. Study also examine whether there exist any significant gender-related differences in online consumer trust. © 2008 IEEE

Determinants of social and institutional beliefs about internet acceptance within developing country’s context: A structural evaluation of higher education systems in Pakistan

This study aims to extend a model of technology acceptance to suit in developing country’s context. The model attempts to identify relationship between social and institutional factors over behavioural intention and usage. Recently, ‘acceptance and adoption of information technology (IT) in multicultural setting’ is becoming topic of interest for IS researchers. In this line, numerous theories and models are proposed to contribute in examining factors of IT acceptance and reluctance. It is argued that the models in published literature are found culturally biased, which successfully present results in only American and European context, however, their validity became questionable when they were tested in south Asian countries context. Additionally, lack of research is observed to predict individual’s cognitive behaviour of acceptance, which are influenced by social factors (i.e. peer influence and superior influence, voluntariness, experience) and institutional factors (i.e. local institutional management influence and top-level governmental policies influence). This study used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) based on Partial Least Square (PLS) method to analyse the data. The results reveal that the proposed conceptual model achieves acceptable fit and the hypothesised paths are valid

Factors affecting e-government adoption in the state of Qatar

Electronic government (e-government) initiatives are in their early stages in many developing countries and faced with various issues pertaining to their implementation, adoption and diffusion. Although e-government has increased transparency and improved communication and access to information for citizens, digital diffusion of information is often achieved at high cost to government agencies. Conversely, citizens’ adoption of e-government services has been less than satisfactory in most countries. While studies by researchers continue to outline the most salient adoption constructs, as well as various frameworks and models for understanding adoption, research by independent consultancy/research organisations has produced a host of statistics and league tables of good and bad practices of service delivery. Like many other developing countries, the e-government initiative in the state of Qatar has faced a number of challenges since its inception in 2000. This study utilises the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to explore the adoption of e-government services in the state of Qatar. 1179 citizens were surveyed to collect primary data. A regression analysis was conducted to examine the influence of the factors adapted from the UTAUT on e-government adoption. Reliability test reported values of the various constructs vary between (0.74) and (0.91). The findings reveal that effort expectancy and social influences determine citizens’ behavioural intention towards e-government. Additionally, facilitating conditions and behavioural intention were found to determine citizens’ use of e-government services in Qatar. Implications for practice and research are discussed

Review of Research on Culture and ICT: Insights from the Arab World

Most published research on information and communication technology (ICT) application has been in the context of advanced economies of the world, particularly western countries, viz. Europe and North America. Research on ICT impact on socio-economic development has been primarily focused on eastern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Relatively little research has been published on ICT in the Arab world. But better appreciation of the role of Arab culture on ICT use may help in providing guidance for more successful implementation of ICT in the future. To help ascertain this role we reviewed the literature between 2003 and 2016 focusing on ICT implementation in Arabic speaking countries

The Influence of Societal Culture on the Adoption of Information Systems: The Case of Libya

This study is part of a larger study that explores societal and organizational culture factors that influence the adoption of information systems (IS) in Libya’s Oil and Banking sectors (Twati & Gammack, 2004; 2006). Using a structured survey questionnaire based on the work of Geert Hofstede’s Value Survey Module (VSM 94), 400 questionnaires were administrated to middle and top management employees in more than 15 government and public organizations in the two named industry sectors. The findings showed that there is a direct positive relationship between Hofstede’s (1980) societal culture dimensions and the adoption of IS. The findings also showed that there are no differences in the societal culture dimensions between the two sectors covered in this study. This implies that the adoption of IS is influenced by societal culture and other factors, which are worthy of investigating. The future implications of this research are also discussed

An Analysis Of The Moderating Effect Of Age On Smartphone Adoption And Use In The United Arab Emirates

This paper investigates the adoption of smartphones among different age groups in the youth segment of the population in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The proposed model is based on an extension of the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2). A total of 437 questionnaires were distributed face to face to smartphone users in Dubai. The findings showed that age is a significant moderator in the proposed model, as significant differences were found between smartphone users in the UAE aged 18–22 and those aged 23–29. Specifically, age moderated the relationship between behavioural intention and five independent factors included in the proposed model: culture-specific beliefs and values, perceived relative advantage, price value, effort expectancy, and enjoyment. In addition, age moderated the effect of habit on actual use of smartphones. Accordingly, this research provides information that can help mobile companies and developers of mobile applications to improve the way they target customers in the UAE

The intention to use mobile digital library technology: A focus group study in the United Arab Emirates

IGI Global (“IGI”) granted Brunel University London the permission to archive this article in BURA (http://bura.brunel.ac.uk).This paper presents a qualitative study on student adoption of mobile library technology in a developing world context. The findings support the applicability of a number of existing constructs from the technology acceptance literature, such as perceived ease of use, social influence and trust. However, they also suggest the need to modify some adoption factors previously found in the literature to fit the specific context of mobile library adoption. Perceived value was found to be a more relevant overarching adoption factor than perceived usefulness for this context. Facilitating conditions were identified as important but these differed somewhat from those covered in earlier literature. The research also uncovered the importance of trialability for this type of application. The findings provide a basis for improving theory in the area of mobile library adoption and suggest a number of practical design recommendations to help designers of mobile library technology to create applications that meet user needs

Factors and Impacts of Low Utilization of Internet: The Case of Arab Countries

The Arab countries are greatly behind in terms of their levels of Internet usage. The Arab countries are under pressures to adopt and promote digital transformation. Data in Arab countries are hard to get, resulting in paucity of understanding the factors that affect the use of Internet in Arab countries. This paper combines research from academic and major international organizational literature to examine and synthesize the current use of Internet in Arab Countries. The obstacles and the factors that affect the use and growth of Internet are language, government policies, culture, cost and technology. They are discussed with their impacts

Identifying the Determents of Government E-Service Quality In the UAE

Globally, government entities are facilitating ever more over-the-internet transactional services. In the Middle Eastern context, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is at the forefront. Although the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the UAE has adopted appropriate e-service quality (ESQ) assessment tools in-house, these tools are designed only for back-end developers, not for gauging end-user satisfaction levels. In light of this, we developed a conceptual framework for the holistic measuring of such citizen opinions. The study incorporated a survey instrument on a sample population (n = 2,197) for investigating the ESQ of the UAE Ministry of Interior transactional e-services. Key findings indicate that most ESQ content factors (excepting reliability) and all ESQ delivery factors, along with Trust in government positively impacted the ESQ user perceptions measured in terms of reuse intentions and overall satisfaction levels. However, familiarity with information and communication technology (ICT familiarity) was found to be insignificant. Responsiveness has the largest impact on ESQ perceptions. Interestingly, no differences between the genders were observed, but age, education and nationality all led to statistically significant differences. This research study adds an in-depth case to the relevant literature on public sector e-service provision in the Middle East and also to the one that considers ESQ assessment. The dissertation furnishes some suggestions about the wider and more systematic deployment of the analytical framework in future studies

Employees’ behavioural intention to smartphone security:a gender-based, cross-national study

Despite the benefits of bring your own device (BYOD) programmes, they are considered one of the top security risks companies are facing. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature in understanding gender differences in employees' smartphone security behavioural intention. This research analyses gender differences in smartphone security behavioural intention among employees in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States (US). The research develops a new model, the behavioural model of cybersecurity (BMS), based on a combination of the protection motivation theory (PMT), the general deterrence theory (GDT) and Hofstede's cultural dimensions. A questionnaire was distributed to employees in both countries. A total of 1156 useable responses were analysed using partial least squares-structural equation modelling. The findings show that gender differences exist, but neither male nor female employees in either country are aware of the risks associated with their use of smartphones, despite their awareness of the existence of their company's BYOD security policies. The research provides theoretical and practical contributions by developing a new model combining the PMT, GDT and Hofstede's cultural dimensions and suggests gender differences in employees' smartphone security behavioural intention in a cross-national context. It has several practical implications for practitioners and policymakers