Development of E-government Services in Iran: A Comparison of Adoption Constructs

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1 Development of E-government Services in Iran: A Comparison of Adoption Constructs Lotfollah Forozandeh Dehkordi Assistant Professor at Payame Noor University, Iran l.forozandeh@gmail.com Reza Rasouli Assistant Professor at Payame Noor University, Iran r_rasouli@pnu.ac.ir Zahra Zebardast M.Sc of MBA, Payame Noor University, Iran pnumodir@gmail.com ABSTRACT This survey has been conduced to observe what factors effect e-government adoption in Iran. The considered research constructs includes Demographic factors i.e. age, gender and education, IT knowledge, Internet access, Trust, Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease of use and System and Web characteristics i.e. Reliability, Self-Service and linkage. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used to examine the relations. The results indicate that IT knowledge, Internet access, Perceived usefulness and Self-Service have significant direct effect on e-government adoption. The results are significantly useful for successful deployment of e- government. Further research can also be applied using the obtained results to identify the indirect effects of the constructs. At the end some suggestions offered to governors to good implementing e-government in Iran. Keywords: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), E-government, Self Service, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) INTRODUCTION In order to achieve successful implementation and use of e-government requires three steps: establishment of principal foundations (e.g. Internet banking structures and rules), arrangement of electronic government (e.g. human resources and procedures) and finally its usage by the citizens. In order to achieve this goal, the government information and services should be accessible in the appropriate sites and systems. The citizens then may utilize these services to reduce effort/cost and increase satisfaction. Kokkinaki and Thrasson have studied the usability of 13 Minicipalities of Cyprus [3]. They suggested increasing quality standards for e-government sites and improving content update. They underlined the need for a forum responsible for the formulation of EG policy. They believed that a unit should be responsible for maintenance, support and hosting of EG initiatives especially when lacking necessary infrastructure or human resources. However, it is not enough for acceptance by the citizens (as the third step of e-government implementation). In other words, every new technology may or may not meet the citizens adoption criteria. These criteria first have been studied by Davis as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [15]. He believed that perceived usefulness has impact on intention to use a new technology. Perceived ease of use can reinforce this relation. External factors can influence these two and finally the intention to use. As a result, different external factors may influence on intention to use and acceptance of e-government. This study aims to explain the most important factors in EG adoption studies according to the literature and consider their effects on EG adoptionaccording to the United Nations report, Iran was ranked 98 and 108 respectively in 2005 and 2008 in e-government readiness between the world countries [23]. Lower levels of Internet access provided in Iran and its further challenges hinder promotion of Information Technology knowledge contemporary to universal progresses in IT. The reliability of e-government systems and services is relatively lower than the universal standards [24], [25]. On the other hand, the young, educated population eagerly tries to make use of Internet and digital media to enhance accomplishment of tasks and reduce the related cost/effort/time. As a related 30

2 study to pervasive Internet usage, a step towards e-government, Pilling and Boeltzig conducted a qualitative analysis on 25 program staff and 21 program users from U.S and U.K to identity effective strategies for encouraging marginized groups of people to use the Internet [1]. They carefully used the experiments of the initiatives and suggested strategies for enhancing the awareness and interest of citizens about the Internet and e-government, improving Internet access and IT skills and finally promoting accessibility and usability of EG services. A remarkable solution offered was a Free Computer and Internet Access. Regarding the current differences in Internet access conditions in Iran with either U.S or U.K, the importance of their solution is strengthened. LITERATURE REVIEW Many studies have been done in the field of adoption of new technologies, especially e-government.in 2004, the emergence of EG services in East Africa has been studied [2]. Kaaya considered EG adoption in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda by investigating 98 government agency websites. She found a few early adopters in each of which, but increasing in number over the years. However the adoption patterns were more gradual in Tanzania and Uganda than Kenya. She noted to resource constraints, lack of government reinforcement for electronic fulfillment of the tasks, and lack of demand by the potential users (maybe during lack of knowledge) [2]. In the same year, Sukasame studied five factors affecting the e-services of Thailand s governmental web portal [4]; these were reliability, content, ease of use, linkage and self-service. She concluded positive associations between the five mentioned factors and perception of e-services by investigating Pearson s correlation. The most effective factor in her study was reliability. Her target population, however, was 15 experienced undergraduate students from 5 Thailand universities. Carter and Belanger integrated constructs from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [15], Diffusions of Innovation theory (DOI) [5] and Web Trust Model [16] to consider the adoption factors between 136 undergraduate students including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived image, perceived relative advantage, perceived compatibility, trust of the Internet and trust of the government. However they found only perceived compatibility, perceived usefulness and perceived relative advantage impressing on EG adoption. Later in 2008, Carter studied the impact of six factors (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust of the Internet, trust of the government, computer self-efficacy and having previous EG transaction) on intention to use e-government between 105 citizens from a community concert in US [10]. He found that perceived usefulness is the most powerful predictor of EG adoption. After that, trust of the Internet, having previous EG transaction and perceived ease of use are in order the next predictors. In another study, Christian Schaupp and Carter have conducted a study on 260 MBA, upper level and graduate accounting students to consider citizens perception of trust of the e-file, trust of the Internet, perceived risk and optimism bias [14]. He reported that all the factors have impact on intention to use e- filing. In two similar studies, Colesca and Dobrica studied the effect of demographic factors, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived trust, satisfaction an perceived quality on EG adoption [13], [6]. Except some demographic factors, all the factors had significant impact on adoption. Finally, Noting to E-commerce as a similar study, the adoption was tested in five Arab Middle East s countries by Nathan and Ahmad [12]. They found knowledge effective on EC adoption, but trust and risk were not significant. RESEARCH DESIGN 3.1. Theoretical Framework In the information era, one of the most important aspects of efficiency of every new technology is its acceptance. In order to consider the EG acceptance, after reviewing different factors based on the literature, the most significant items were selected according to the literature to be considered as the research constructs. The research constructs are described as follows: Demographic characteristics. Age, gender and education are the three separate constructs of the research IT knowledge. One of the important aspects of adoption of new technologies is the citizens knowledge about internet, computer and electronic devices and communications. It is due to the fact that they may have 31

3 tendency about using new technology, but lack of IT knowledge usually leads to more usage of online transactions [17] Internet Access. Internet is used as a framework for most electronic transactions. Citizens accomplish not only their Government related needs using this framework, but also perform banking transactions (IB), educational tasks, research and medical care through internet. It provides the transactions with lower cost along with increasing their overall knowledge [1]. Pilling and Boeltzig believed that Internet access makes the other factors accessible [1] Trust. Trust refers to citizens perceptions regarding the ability of the government (or related agencies) in providing the service [14]. Different environments showed different behavior about trust and its impact on EG adoption. For example in some studies, there is significant relation between trust and EG Adoption [14]. Some other researchers detached trust into two separate constructs. For example, Carter used trust of the internet and trust of the government [10]. He concluded that only trust of the internet and is a significant predictor of EG Adoption. In a different study, Schaupp and Carter stated a reverse result for E-File adoption [14] Perceived usefulness. Perceived usefulness is related to the benefits of using EG according the citizens beliefs [10]. Davis defines perceived usefulness as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance [15]. Davis introduced this factor along with perceived ease of use in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). His model is covered in different studies during years in different platforms and cultures [8], [29], [6] and [10] but with changes in results Perceived ease of use. Perceived ease of use is related to the effects needed to establish a system. Davis refers to perceived ease of use as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort [15]. Carter and Belanger stated that perceived ease of use is predicted to influence perceived usefulness; hence, the easier to use a system, the most useful system would be [8] System and Web characteristics a. Reliability: Reliability is related to the technical functionality of the system including the extent to which the system/web site is available, and functioning properly [4], [18]. Sukasame [4] referred to Santos statement about reliability as the ability of performing the promised service accurately and consistently [19]. In the EG studies, reliability is related to both public sector systems (i.e. ATM s, mobile devices, self-service devices, card readers of shops, etc.) and web sites. A reliable EG web site should have suitable design and frequent updates. More importantly, it should support correct functioning of the transactions, online purchase, and billing activities. Reliability is also related to the loading time and accessibility of the web site. Finally, a reliable EG service integrates all the mentioned systems together [4]. b. Self-service: The ability of doing transaction/service quickly and conveniently by oneself instead of asking others (e.g. a clerk) is defined as self-service. For example users prefer to see, browse, compare and select the items in the chain stores by themselves instead of ordering them. Also they prefer to browse between books; read parts of them and select one for borrow in the libraries. In e-services, the electronic nature of the services (i.e. Internet, ATM, etc.) provides this freedom for the user. According to [4] and [20], some other common examples are through ATM s, shipping, making reservations and purchasing tickets through internet and kiosks. c. Linkage: Linkage is related to the number and quality of links provided in a governmental web site [4], [19]. In order to have a proper linkage over the site, it is necessary to avoid broken links, set up proper links and maintain these links by regular checking [4] Research Hypotheses Studying the factors affecting on adoption of EG is a prerequisite for successful design, implementation and deployment of EG services. As a result, the following hypotheses are proposed: H1: Demographic characteristics (age, gender and education); - H1a: younger people will have higher levels of e-government adoption - H1b: Men will have higher levels of e-government adoption - H1c: People with higher educational levels, will have higher levels of e-government adoption H2: IT knowledge; higher levels of IT knowledge will be positively related to EG adoption H3: Internet Access; higher levels of Internet Access will be positively related to EG adoption H4: Trust; higher levels of Internet Trust will be positively related to EG adoption H5: Perceived usefulness; higher levels of perceived usefulness will be positively related to EG adoption H6: Perceived ease of use; higher levels of perceived ease of use will be positively related to EG adoption H7: System and web characteristics: 32

4 H7a: Reliability; higher levels of reliability will be positively related to EG adoption H7b: Self-service; higher levels of self-service will be positively related to EG adoption H7c: Linkage; higher levels of Linkage will be positively related to EG adoption METHODOLOGY 4.1. Questionnaire Design and the Pilot Test Multi-item scales have been defined to measure each constructor. Due to variety of respondents, it was needed to customize the criteria for both comprehensiveness and considering various cultures in the included citizens. A seven-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 (never or very bad according the question) to 6 (always, so much or very good according the question) is employed and the initial questionnaire was developed. Then, in order to see how strongly each item measures the corresponding construct, a pilot test with 44 randomly selected citizens was conducted. After considering Chronbach s alpha for the constructs, the gathered data in the pilot study were used to revise the initial questionnaire. Finally, 64 questions were developed and the pilot test was repeated ensuring reliable results (considering Chronbach s alpha). All the constructs were measured valid and the questionnaire s validity was confirmed Sampling and Data Analysis Technique The study was conducted by the multi-stage method in order to increase preciseness of the sample and conclude accurate results. The survey was completed by 492 randomly selected citizens from Mazandaran and Gilan (two northern provinces in Iran) in the following manner. First, the population of the two provinces and their cities were extracted from Iranian National Portal of Statistics web site [26]. Then, dividing to several geographical areas, counties and cities were selected randomly from each area (as about one third of the counties and cities at each area were selected). In addition, 31 cities were selected between 91 total cities. After that, in order to collect 600 questionnaires based on the total population of these cities, it was arranged to collect from 1 to 172 questionnaires from 31 cities. For example, 172 numbers collected from Rasht, 65 from Sari, 58 from Amol, and 1 from Asalem. During to some problems, it was not possible to collect data from four cities. In addition, subtracting these numbers and also the invalid questionnaires (i.e. the questionnaires with more than a threshold missing data) from 600, 492 valid questionnaires were considered. These items were collected from: - Students (from universities) - Governmental offices such as banks - Visiting homes - Pedestrians The number of each one was approximately equal to the others. All the selection process was carried on by multistage method. For example, several random streets were selected, then several offices, and so on. The only prerequisite for answering the question was a threshold of IT information and high school degree. The overall process was controlled in order to produce more reliable, realistic and precise results. Once the survey was completed, all raw data were coded and entered in Statistical Package for social Sciences (SPSS) version 17. Several types of statistical analysis were conducted. First, descriptive statistics is analyzed. Then, reliability and internal consistency of the scale is tested using Chronbach s alpha. After that, using Lisrel 8.5 software, Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) is used for hypothesis testing. RESULTS The demographic profile of the respondents is shown in table 1. More than one third of the respondents are females. Most of them are aged between 21 and 30 and approximately half of them have bachelor degree. Means and standard deviations are depicted in table 2. During the natural achievement in sample selection (instead of surveying only more educated citizens, etc.), the results indicate that results for IT knowledge (and some other factors) is relatively low (2.62 out of 6) but realistic. The standard deviation however, in all cases is relatively high meaning so many differences in citizens knowledge and perceptions. Before applying the data for the model, a reliability analysis was performed to verify the consistency of different measures of a variable (i.e. Chrobanch s alpha, as well 33

5 as the pretest done in the pilot test). As shown in table 2, the alpha coefficients exceed 0.7. The overall model fit for the proposed research model was truly adequate as is shown in table 3. Considering the T-values in Table 4, the hypotheses H2, H3, H5 and H7b are supported. The structural model produced by Lisrel software is depicted in Figure 1. The one-way paths between variables indicate direct effects. However, as indicated in Table 4, only four of the effects in this stage are significant (T>2). And they explain 48 percent of the variance in the dependent variable (R 2 =0.48). The other relations can be studied later to consider indirect effects too. DISCUSSION Between the posed hypotheses, H2, H3, H5 and H7b are supported. In this section, the effects of all the respected factors are discussed and limitations of the study are then considered. Hypothesis H2 indicates that higher levels of IT knowledge increase intention to use e-government. In fact, IT knowledge is the most powerful factor. It was predicted that knowledge has a key role in EG adoption as well as many other systems. In Iran, however, because of being in the first stages of deployment of electronic government services, the threshold of common IT knowledge is relatively low. In this study, the average level of IT knowledge was % Hence the differences in EG adoption rates raise when comparing unskilled and semi-skilled (with IT) citizens. Considering the high standard deviation confirms this claim. However, when facing with time consuming official activities, a citizen with remarkable level of IT knowledge first looks for alternative ways of achieving the tasks (i.e. electronic methods); hence the EG services are being used and accepted. The citizens without this knowledge, however, continue their common behavior; hence the services are not accepted. Hypothesis H2 is also supported. This indicates that the users with more Internet Access have more intention to use EG services. This factor is more powerful than the two others. It is also predicted that Internet access has impact on IT knowledge. This can be verified in another research. Considering low level of Internet access (%41.77 in average) comparing with other countries and also the potential impact of Internet access on IT knowledge (and maybe some other variables), its impact on EG adoption may rather increase. Hypotheses H5 and H7b are also supported. In other words, higher levels of perceived usefulness as well as self-service will lead to higher levels of intention to use EG services. Citizens who value the benefits of using electronic services are more likely to adopt EG services. Hence, the governmental agencies should communicate the benefits of using electronic services to the citizens in order to attract non-adopters. Public media such as TV and newspapers are significant here. The average level of perceived usefulness was %38.83 (in average 2.33 out of 6, =1.80). The governmental ownership of TV programs may be a reason for this relatively low level. There is also positive relation between self-service and EGadoption. Citizens who want to customize the tasks by themselves (e.g. track their orders online) are more likely to adopt EG services. Other hypotheses are not supported indicating that there is not significant relation between demographic factors, trust, perceived ease of use, reliability and linkage with EG adoption. They are justified with [8] and [12], but different from [13], [6] and [4]. This is maybe because of the overall low level of citizens knowledge, Internet access and in general, life situations. For example, citizens with low income level have fewer choices to think about their preference (i.e. to use or not to use the services electronically). There is no computer, no Internet, etc. in these cases. Finally, the mentioned factors may have effects on each of four factors with significant results (i.e. IT knowledge, Internet access, perceived usefulness and self-service). This can be studied in another research comprehensive. This study aimed to expand the sampling area to produce more realistic results and solve the limitations of must studies considered in the literature. As a result, the multi-stage manner of sampling was conducted to gather the data from two provinces (instead of a university, a company, etc.). However, it could be expanded over the other provinces to consider the different cultures all over Iran. The main limitation of this research was that income level missed to be considered as the demographic factors. It can play a determinant role in adoption. CONCLUSION The aim of this paper was to conduct an extensive reliable study on acceptance of e-government in Iran. Despite most previously applied research (as mentioned in the literature), the source of the data was the exact selection 34

6 between the citizens of the cities in the two provinces based on multi-stage method (considering geographical situations). As an implication to this study the indirect relation between the independent variables and EG adoption can be studied in further researches. The public sector can attract citizens in using electronic services considering the achieved results. On the other hand, as government service providers make advancements into their services, it is necessary to both enhance citizens perceptions about the services and increase their IT knowledge by improving their Internet access. REFERENCES 1. Angelika, I.K, Alkis, T., (2008), Ausability of E-Government initiatives in Cyprus: ISBN: IADIS Bitner, M. J., Brown, S. W., Meuter, M. L., (2000), Technology infusing in service encounters. Academy of marketing Science, 28 (1), pp Blanger, F. Hiller, J, and Smith, W., (2002). Trustworthiness in Electronic Commerce: The role of privacy, security, and site Attributes. Journal of strategic Information System, (11:3/4), pp, Carter, L. Belanger, F., (2004), Citizen Adoption of Eectronic Government Initiatives : Proceedings of the 37 th Annual Hawaii Internatinal Conference on,pp Carter. L., (2008),E-government diffusion: a comparison of adoption constructs: Journal, Transfrming Government: People, Process and Policy,pp Colesca, S.E., Dobrica, L., (2008), Adoption and use of E-Government Services: The case of Romania, Journal of Applied Research and Technology, Vol 6, No Colesca, S.E., Liliana, D., (2008), E-government Adoption in Romania: International Journal of Business, Economics, Finance and Management Sciences 1:2. 8. Countries of The World, March, 21, 2010, 9. Davis, F.D., (1989), Perceived usefulness, Perceived eas of use, and uer acceptance of information technology, MIS Quarterly, pp Dimitrova, D.V., Chen Y.c., (2006). Profiling the adopters of e- government information and services: the influence of psychological characteristics, civic mindedness, and information channel,social Science computer Review, (24:2), pp, Dinesh, A. Julius, H. Kailash Joshi., (2008), Perspectives of citizens towards e-government in Thailand and Indonesia: A multigroup analysis : information Systems Frontiers,pp Index of Economic Freedom, International Telecommunication Union, Access March , Kaaya, J., (2004), The emergence of e-government services in East Africa: tracking adoption pattern and associated factors: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series; Vol. 60 pp kim, Sh.,(2007), Cross-national Analysis of Global E-government: Public Orgaization Review.Springer Netherlands. pp Measuring Business Regulations, Access March , Nathan, R Ahmad, M., (2008), Factors Affecting Electronic Commerce Adoption Among Middle East's Consumers: College science in india 2:1 18. National Portal of Statistics, Access October , Patrick Lee, Ch., Edith Lei, U.,( 2007), Adoption of E-Government Services in Macao : ACM International Conference Proceeding Series; Vol. 23, pp Pilling, D., Boeltzig, H., (2007(, Moving Toward E-Government: Effective Strategies for Increasing Access and Use Of the Internet Among Non-Internet users in the U.S. and U.K: Proceedings of the 8th annual international conference on Digital government research conference, pp Rogers, E.,(1976), New product adoption and diffusion. Journal of Consumer Reserch, 2,pp Santos, F., (2003), e-service quality: a model of virtual service quality dimensions. Managing Service Quality, 13 (3),pp Schaupp, Ch.L. Carter, L., (2008), The impact of trust, risk and optimism bias on E-file adoption : Journal Information System Frontiers, Publisher Springer Netherlands, DOI: /s

7 24. Sharifi, H., Zarei, B., (2004), An Adaptive Approach for Implementing e-government in I. R. Iran, Journal of Government Information, Vol. 30, No. 5-6, pp Shing Yiu, C., Grant, K., Edgar, D., (2007). Factors affecting the adoption of Internet Banking in Hong Kong-impications for the banking sector, International Journal of Information Management, 27, Sukasame, N., (2004), The Development of E-Service in Thai Government. BU Academic Review, 3(1), United Nations, UN E-Government Survey 2008, From E-Government to Connected Governance, Zeithaml, V. A., (2002), Service excellence in electronic channels. Managing Service Quality, 12 (3),pp Table1- Demographic profile of respondents Measure Item Frequency Percentage Male Gender Female Missing Age > Diploma Junior Educational Level Bachelor Master Phd Table 2- Reliability Analysis, means and standard deviations of the constructs Construct Number of items Chronbach s Mean (from alpha 6) SD IT Knowledge Internet Access Trust perceived usefulness Perceived ease of use Reliability Self-service Linkage EG Adoption

8 Table 3- Model fit summary Fit index Value Recommended Result 2 /df /df < 2 Supported p-value 1 P > 0.05 Supported RMSEA 0.00 RMSEA < 0.09 Supported GFI 0.99 GFI > 0.9 Supported AGFI 0.98 AGFI > 0.85 Supported NFI 0.99 NFI > 0.9 Supported CFI 1.00 CFI > 0.9 Supported Table 4- Results Hypothesis Variable T-Value Standardized coefficient (β) Significance supporte d H1a Age No No H1b Gender No No H1c Education No No H2 IT Knowledge level Yes H3 Internet access level Yes H4 Trust No No H5 Perceived usefulness level Yes H6 Perceived ease of use No No H7a Reliability No No H7b Self-service level Yes H7c Linkage No No R 2 =.48 Figure 1- Structural Equation Model produced by Lisrel 37