The Deployment of E-Government in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: factors in E-Government adoption

Abstract

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is one of the countries in the Middle East region that has started to implement e-government as a new technology in order to build knowledge based society. Despite the growing importance of e-government in Jordan, there is a lack of attention in investigating the social factors that may influence the adoption of e-government by the citizens. This paper examines the social factors the might influence e-government adoption by citizens in Jordan. These factors are examined through a literature search and questionnaire and data collected from 400 Jordanian participants, the research explores four different social factors: trust in terms of the security and privacy and trust in government, attitudes and beliefs, education, and accessibility. The Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory (Rogers, 1983) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) is used in this research as the applicable theoretical background in examining social factors influencing e-government adoption in Jordan. This article provides an approach to bridging the gap between the theoretical design of e-government and the actual deployment of e-government services in society through interaction with the Jordanian citizens as end users. In order to form a wide-ranging and prudent framework for e-government adoption in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a model for e-government adoption in Jordan is designed. The constructs of the model are integrated from TAM, DOI Theory and other social factors identified in previous research. The validity of the framework is examined using multiple regression analysis to illustrate the different factors and to formulate the essential constructs of the research model. The findings indicate that website design, beliefs, complexity, and perceived usefulness are significant factors that may influence the intention of Jordanian citizens to use e-government.