Measuring Social Factors in E-government Adoption in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Abstract

This paper explores the measurement of social factors in e-government adoption in a developing country (Jordan). The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is developing strong Information Communication Technology (ICT) with the aim of becoming a knowledge based country and a regional Information Technology (IT) centre. Although e-government is an important part of this strategy, there appears to be a lack of understanding of the social factors that may influence citizens’ intention to use e-government. This paper makes a contribution in examining these factors 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, internet and computer skill confidence, and website design. The measurements used in examining these factors were mostly adapted from previous research. We developed new measurements for the factors of internet related beliefs, internet and computer skill confidence, and website design. This research uses exploratory factor analysis to identify the main factors that may influence e-government adoption in Jordan.