Knowledge and understanding of effective e-government to business services remains limited. At the same time there is little empirical knowledge or theoretical understanding of how infrastructure works in the government to business domain. Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate infrastructure in e-government and to specifically understand the impact of infrastructure on the relationship between government and business services. The e-Umrah government information system in Saudi Arabia was selected as the context for the investigation and involved identifying the factors that play a role in shaping the existing infrastructure, understanding the barriers which impede the development of government to business infrastructure; and exploring the challenges within the infrastructure that hinder businesses in their use of e-government services. The system was developed to connect all government and business sectors which involve in the Umrah activities in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of facilitating Umrah services for the international visitors who come from all over the globe anytime during the year to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah to perform Umrah rituals.
A mixed method approach was utilised to investigate and understand e-Umrah system. A qualitative case study and an interpretive approach were used to understand the infrastructure of the e-Umrah system. Semi-structured interviews, informed by Star and Ruhleder's (1996) eight dimensions for investigating infrastructure, were conducted with 43 Umrah companies. The data collected was then analysed based on Miles and Huberman (1994) three steps which consisted of data reduction, data display, and data reporting to establish and follow a systematic and thematic technique of data analysis. The data reduction step was based on Newman’s (2006) three coding steps to prepare the information for interpretation and comparison. Prior to the main qualitative study, a preliminary quantitative study was conducted to gain information about the e-Umrah system, how it operates, and to understand the levels of adoption, usefulness and ease of use of the e-Umrah system.
The findings of the study demonstrate that the e-Umrah system’s infrastructure is affected by variables within each of the eight dimensions of Star and Ruhleder (1996): built on an installed base; embeddedness; embodiment of standards; transparency; become visible upon breakdown; links with conventions of practice; learned as part of membership and reach or scope. Additionally, these dimensions not only affect the infrastructure of the e-Umrah system but also have a relationship with each other. The main problem found in the e-Umrah system’s infrastructure include a lack of integration of some entities and services thereby preventing electronic transactions from taking place and hindering effective access to the use of electronic services available.
The infrastructure framework proposed by Star and Ruhleder (1996) is based on the view that the eight dimensions have a direct and relatively fixed impact on infrastructure. This study contributed to enhancement of Star and Ruhleder’s (1996) framework through the discovery that not only did the eight dimensions have an impact on infrastructure, but that each of the dimensions also had an interrelationship with each of the other dimensions. In addition, the study revealed on an adaptive framework was found to provide an in depth and intensive understanding when investigating infrastructure; thus contributing to a holistic understanding both of the framework, and of its subsequent impact on infrastructure.
Instead of focusing on one particular dimension of infrastructure, this study has adopted a more holistic approach to investigating effective e-government to business services. This holistic approach also argues that e-government should be examined from different perspectives including technological, social, political, managerial/organisational, and business aspects.
Combining all these aspects in a holistic approach to the definition and scope of e-government enables the development of a broader and contextual understanding of e-government. Rather than focusing on just one aspect of e-government and therefore narrowing it down, because effective e-government concerns not only the utilisation of information technology, but also a combination of technology with all the other dimensions of infrastructure that have been identified and investigated in the study
