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International Journal of Information Management 33 (2013) 716– 725

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Information Management

j our na l ho me pa g e: www.elsev ier .com/ locate / i j in fomgt

xamining the influence of intermediaries in facilitating-government adoption: An empirical investigation

ishanth Weerakkodya,∗, Ramzi El-Haddadeha, Faris Al-Sobhib,ahmud Akhter Shareefc, Yogesh K. Dwivedid

Brunel Business School, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UKSchool of Information Systems and Computing, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UKSchool of Business, North South University, BangladeshSchool of Business and Economics, Swansea University, Swansea, UK

r t i c l e i n f o

rticle history:vailable online 11 June 2013

eywords:-Government

a b s t r a c t

The adoption and diffusion of electronic government is often impeded by many social and individualfactors relating to citizens. In this respect, intermediaries have emerged as a new model for delivering e-government services to overcome such obstacles. This study aims to examine the role of intermediaries infacilitating e-government adoption and diffusion using a survey based empirical study of 502 participants

doptionTAUTaudi Arabiantermediary

in Madinah City in Saudi Arabia. An extended UTAUT model is used as the theoretical basis utilizing trustin the Internet and Intermediaries. The results of this study show that there are significant relationshipsamong the factors that influence intention to use e-government, namely, performance expectancy, effortexpectancy, and trust of intermediary. In addition, the findings show that there is a significant relationshipbetween facilitating conditions and usage behavior proving that intermediaries can influence adoptionof e-government services.

. Introduction

With the advancement of Internet based technologies, pressuren governments to e-enable their services have continued to inten-ify. In this regard many studies have been published with the aimf studying the adoption factors of e-government at a universalevel. However, the adoption level differs from country to coun-ry for the reason that the demographic gap, education levels andhe experiences of using technology (Internet). The diffusion anddoption of e-government services has been given much atten-ion by a number of researchers (Al-Shafi & Weerakkody, 2007;elanger & Carter, 2012; Bwalya & Healy, 2010; El-Haddadeh,eerakkody, & Al-Shafi, 2013; Heeks, 2005; Lee, Kim, & Ahn,

011). For example, Heeks (2005) suggests that the rate of adop-ion and diffusion of e-government and the factors influencingdoption and diffusion varies between countries. Heeks (2005)lso explains how e-government initiatives differ from developedountries like European nations, to middle-income countries like

atin America and East Asia, to those developing countries thatake no progress or allow limited usage of ICT in an e-government

ontext. Therefore, some citizens are bound to be excluded from

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1895266020.E-mail address: Vishanth.Weerakkody@brunel.ac.uk (V. Weerakkody).

268-4012/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.ttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2013.05.001

© 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

benefiting from e-government, creating a huge gap and inequalityof accessing e-government due to limited access to the Internet andexposure to associated ICTs (Margetts & Dunleavy, 2002). In thisregard, many countries worldwide have established solutions andstrategies to increase access to public services and effectively facil-itate the usage of information technologies (Cabinet Office, 2005;Phang, Li, Sutanto, & Kankanhalli, 2005). One of these strategiesinvolves using third party intermediary organizations to facili-tate the adoption of e-government services by offering additionalsupport to citizen (Bailey & Bakos, 1997). According to the lit-erature, the concept of the intermediary is classified in differentforms, ranging from Internet applications, such as PayPal, Ama-zon, and eBay, to physical organizations, such as estate agents,travel agents, and the Post Office (Bailey & Bakos, 1997; Janssen& Klievink, 2009). In the context of this paper, this study adoptsthe definition offered by Janssen and Klievink (2009), who definedan intermediary as – any public or private organization facilitat-ing the coordination between public services providers and theirusers.

In the context of Saudi Arabia, e-government efforts have beenlargely focused on big cities like Riyadh, Mecca and Madinah. In-

depth analysis of these cities illustrates that they have merelymanaged to implement basic e-government services, with emerg-ing research studies accentuating various barriers to successfulimplementation and progress, which are linked to the government

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V. Weerakkody et al. / International Journal

or service providers) and the citizen (user aspects) (Abanumy,l-Badi, & Mayhew, 2005; Al-Fakhri Maher, Cropf, Higgs, & Kelly,008; AL-Shehry, Rogerson, & Fairweather, 2006). Despite a dra-atic increase in the number of Internet users from about 200,000

n 2000 up to 6,380,000, a growth of about 3090% (Abanumy, Al-adi, & Mayhew, 2005; Al-Fakhri Maher, Cropf, Higgs, & Kelly,008; AL-Shehry, Rogerson, & Fairweather, 2006), there are stillelays in utilizing and adopting e-government services (Al-Sbohi,eerakkody, & Albusaidy, 2010; Hamner & Al-Qahtani, 2009).

onetheless, in order to improve usage of the e-services offeredy public administration and to minimize the difficulties that mayinder citizens from using e-government, the city of Madinah inaudi Arabia has introduced ‘intermediary organizations’. Theserganizations are operated by the private sector under Saudi gov-rnment legislation and authorization, and are considered the mostppropriate channel to mediate the relationships between govern-ent departments and citizens in a Saudi context. These offices

re independent private organizations that offer a number of ser-ices to the general public and operate in each city in Saudi Arabia.hey are used mainly to support access to public services and toollect the required fees. The offline channel is the private orga-ization that empowers citizens to access public services that arenly available through telephone or face-to-face interactions. Withhe potential that e-government has on delivering public services toitizens through a non-physical intermediary (i.e. the Internet), theadinah city government in Saudi Arabia has discovered that many

enefits can still be gained from using existing public service officeso deliver e-services by using these as an intermediary to facilitateitizen adoption of online services provided by the government.he Saudi government believes that using physical intermediariesill help those citizens who are not computer savvy and those thatave no access to computers to adopt e-government. This strat-gy takes the opposing view to the disintermediation approachwhereby intermediaries are removed from the relationship andirect contact is initiated (Chircu & Kauffman, 1999; Malone, Yates,

Benjamin, 1987). Therefore, rather than the removal of govern-ent services through offline channels, the Madinah government

as decided to re-establish them under their e-government serviceelivery strategy.

The rationale for undertaking this study is to explore what arehe important factors that affect the adoption of e-governmentervices in Saudi Arabia and what influence intermediaries haven adoption. In order to answer this question a research study isndertaken in Madinah city in Saudi Arabia. Madinah launched-government services in 2003, and at present is considered toe the second most culturally important city in Saudi Arabia. Theationale for selecting Madinah for this research is that in terms ofational progress, Madinah is the only city that has implementedhe e-government intermediary (e-office) concept under their local-government initiative. In addition, although intermediaries aresed in some countries, including in Europe, Asia and the US in an-government context, research into the impact of intermediariesn this context is rare. This research will therefore examine the rolef intermediaries in e-government adoption using the services pro-ided by the traffic department as one example of e-government inaudi Arabia. Therefore, the respondents are only Saudi male cit-zens or expatriates as females are not allowed to drive in Saudirabia.

In order to meet the aim of this research, this paper first offers arief overview of the theoretical background and the factors influ-ncing the adoption of e-government services from the citizens’erspective. Next, a conceptual model and research hypotheses

or evaluating e-government adoption in Saudi Arabia (Madinah)re introduced. In the following section, the authors describe theesearch methodology adopted to conduct the empirical data col-ection. Then the research findings are presented. Finally, the paper

ormation Management 33 (2013) 716– 725 717

concludes by summarizing the key findings and outlining somerecommendations for future research.

2. Theoretical background

As prior literature in the information systems (IS) and e-government realms show, few researchers have carried out studiesthat investigate the impact intermediaries on citizens’ adoptionand usage of e-government (Al-Sobhi, Weerakkody, & Kamal,2010; Janssen & Klievink, 2009). Most studies associated with e-government adoption have been mainly focused on the individuallevel factors that impact citizens’ attitudes toward e-government(Al-Shafi & Weerakkody, 2010; Carter & Belanger, 2005; Reddick& Turner, 2012; Shareef, Kumar, Kumar, & Dwivedi, 2011; Wang& Chen, 2012). Further, studies have also highlighted the needto examine the adoption of e-services from the users’ perspec-tive, which are prompted by the roles of intermediaries (Bailey& Bakos, 1997; Howells, 2008). Hardly any studies have focusedon understanding citizens’ behavior to examine the adoption fac-tors when using intermediaries to access e-services (Al-Sbohi et al.,2010; Janssen & Klievink, 2009). Therefore, investigating the impactof intermediary organizations into e-government adoption has aresearch value and implications for policy makers and researchers.

Since many researchers in the information systems field buildtheir argument on a theoretical background (Alawadhi & Morris,2008; Al-Shafi & Weerakkody, 2010; Carter & Belanger, 2005; Carter& Weerakkody, 2008; Reddick & Turner, 2012), it is essential topresent a theoretical model or framework that helps to understandthe factors that affect the individual level (citizens) of adoption ofe-government services prompted by intermediaries. Users’ accep-tance and adoption of technologies is considered as a primarycondition to successful implementation and progress of any IT proj-ect, since users’ attitudes to use and adopt new technologies are animportant factor that may determine the success or failure of anyinformation systems project (Pinto & Mantel, 1990; Succi & Walter,1999). According to Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, and Davis (2003: p.446), users’ acceptance of technology refers to the “initial decisionmade by the individual to interact with the technology”. It has beenfound that numerous theories and models could be used to examineusers’ adoption of information technology (IT). For example, tech-nology acceptance models (TAM), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA),Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Motivational Model (MM),Diffusion of Innovation (DOI), the Model of PC Utilization (MPCU),Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), the model combined between TAMand TPB, and finally, the most recent model, the Unified Theoryof acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) could be used. Theaim of the UTAUT model is to give a further complete explanationand prediction of users’ behaviors that any older individual mod-els could not have achieved alone. Each model mentioned aboveaimed to explain user behavior and usage of new technology witha variety of independent variables; in fact, the UTAUT Model is pro-posed based on the similarities of these independent variables fromeach models cited above. According to the number of prior stud-ies, the UTAUT model is the benchmark and most predictive modelin the technology acceptance literature (Alawadhi & Morris, 2008;Al-Shafi & Weerakkody, 2010).

The UTAUT model contains different factors that either directlyaffects usage behavior as facilitating conditions or, affect behavioralintention by other determinant factors like performance expect-ancy, effort expectancy, and social influence. Venkatesh et al. (2003)defined these factors as follows: facilitating conditions, which is

“the degree to which an individual believes that an organizationaland technical infrastructure exists to support the use of the sys-tem” (Venkatesh et al., 2003, p. 453); behavioral intention, whichis “the person’s subjective probability that he or she will perform

718 V. Weerakkody et al. / International Journal of Inf

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he behavior in question” (Venkatesh et al., 2003, p. 288); perfor-ance expectancy, which is “the degree to which an individual

elieves that using the system will help him or her to attain gainsn job performance” (Venkatesh et al., 2003, p. 447); effort expect-ncy, which is “the degree of ease associated with the use of theystem” (Venkatesh et al., 2003, p. 450); social influence, which isthe degree to which an individual perceives that important oth-rs believe he or she should use the new system” (Venkatesh et al.,003, p. 451). Also the UTAUT model considers moderator vari-bles influencing the four direct determinant factors of behavioralntentions and usage behavior such as gender, age, experience andoluntary use. However, since this paper is a result of a prelim-nary study of the factors influencing e-government adoption inaudi Arabia and the role that intermediaries play in the adoptionrocess, the adapted UTAUT research model in this study does notonsider these moderators.

. Conceptual model and research hypotheses of-government adoption in Saudi Arabia

Since intermediaries assist users to adopt e-government, from true sense, intermediaries create a facilitating environment forsers to adopt e-government services. Under this paradigmaticimilarity identified from a review of literature and theoreticalackground, we have used the UTAUT model as a framework totudy the adoption of e-government facilitated by intermediaries in

Saudi context. While the research model used in this research wasmended to suit the context of the study, the theoretical constructsncluded in the study are based on a review of literature. A modelepicting the factors influencing e-government and intermediaryoles in perceptions of enhancing intentions to e-government usaget the individual level (citizens) is presented in Fig. 1. As such,he conceptual model proposed in this study uses the followingactors from the UTAUT model: performance expectancy, effortxpectancy, social influence, and behavioral intention toward e-overnment services.

A number of studies have applied UTAUT to explore citi-ens’ acceptance of e-government in developed and developingountries, with many factors seen to be influential (Alawadhi &orris, 2008; Al-Shafi & Weerakkody, 2010; Carter & Weerakkody,

008). In this respect it is significant to consider these factors whennvestigating citizens’ intention to use e-government serviceshrough intermediaries in Saudi Arabia, which is a large developingountry. In addition, it is necessary for this study to consider andncorporate additional factors into the UTAUT model that are spe-ifically related to the Saudi Arabian context of using intermediarieso facilitate e-government adoption. As such, the model developedo study e-government systems in Saudi Arabia through the inter-

ediary channel needs to be tested for its robustness and to offer aurther explanation of the adoption of e-government services in theaudi context. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate each constructn detail, so that the relevant measurement factors toward the

ormation Management 33 (2013) 716– 725

attitudes of e-government services in Saudi Arabia are identifiedand justified.

3.1. e-Government adoption constructs

3.1.1. Performance expectancy (PE)As explained before, performance expectancy is defined by

Venkatesh et al. (2003) as a construct for UTAUT. In this researchcontext, performance expectancy (PE) refers to the degree towhich an individual believes that using e-government throughintermediary (e-office) system will help him or her to attain gainsin personal performance. This construct explains perceptions ofusefulness, outcome expectations, benefits, and availability. Sev-eral prior studies have acknowledged that PE is a strong predictorof behavioral intention toward technologies (Alawadhi & Morris,2008; Davis, 1989; Venkatesh et al., 2003). Further, e-governmentstudies (Al-Shafi & Weerakkody, 2010; Shareef et al., 2011) identi-fied precisely in the initial stage of e-government development thatfunctional benefits of the system could pursue citizens to adoptthe system. This study builds principally on the literature that hasbeen published on studies of developing countries; however, itadds an ‘intermediary organisation’ factor, which may enhance theusefulness and accessibility of e-government for citizens (Janssen& Klievink, 2009). To determine the PE construct, this studymeasured citizens’ perspectives regarding e-government servicesby benefits offered, reduced service time, saving money, effortrequired to contact government officials, and access to servicesaround the clock. In order to market e-government services,governments should gain the benefits of intermediaries’ overallfunctions (frequented by citizens) to distribute the e-governmentservices. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H1. Performance expectancy (PE) will have a positive influenceon behavior intention to use e-government services through inter-mediaries.

3.1.2. Effort expectancy (EE)In this research context, effort expectancy (EE) refers to the

degree of ease associated with use of e-government servicesthrough intermediaries. Further, this study uses the three con-structs from the UTAUT model: ease of use, complexity, andperceived ease-of-use. According to Venkatesh et al. (2003) thereare similarities between these constructs in accordance withtheir definitions and measurement scales. Previous studies havereported that when users perceive a system is easy and effortlessto use, they feel positive attitude toward acceptance of the sys-tem (Morris & Venkatesh, 2000; Venkatesh et al., 2003). Bandura’s(1986) self-efficacy theory also supports this paradigm that users’control, skill, and experience of a system, which ultimately helpthem to achieve easiness to operate the system, enhance theirmotive to adopt the system. Consequently, the following hypothe-sis is proposed.

H2. Effort expectancy (EE) will have a positive influence on behav-ior intention to use e-government services through intermediates.

3.1.3. Social influence (SI)In the current study, social influence (SI) is defined as the nor-

mative pressure of associated members like family or friends thatinfluences the intentions to use e-government through interme-diates. Normative pressure from society about intermediaries hasimpact on increasing awareness and forming social marketing toadopt e-government services. The relationship between SI and

adoption has been widely investigated in the information systemsfield (Fulk & Boyd, 1991; Fulk, Steinfield, Schmitz, & Power, 1987;Venkatesh & Brown, 2001). Many scholars in information systemshave proposed the impacts that SI represented by friends, family,

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olleagues and peers have on behavior adoption at the individualevel (Irani, Dwivedi, & Williams, 2009; Tan & Teo, 2000). Further,

study by Venkatesh and Brown (2001) found that SI of friendsnd families is a strong factor that affects adopting technologies.arketing of online government services through intermediates

herefore needs similar such signals (Maibach, 1993). For exam-le, all intermediates like government offices, banks, school andthers can be considered a hub for advertising socially about the e-overnment services and targeting individuals (citizens) in theirocation. In addition, because the intermediary is an importantource of social support for new e-government services, the inter-ediary will work similarly as other media; for example, news and

V (Al-Shafi & Weerakkody, 2007) and help increase awarenessf e-government services within society. Given this context, theollowing hypothesis is proposed.

3. Social influence (SI) will have a positive influence on behaviorntention to use e-government through intermediates.

.1.4. Behavioral intention (BI)This construct was found to have a direct influence on the indi-

iduals’ (citizens) actual usage of any technology (Ajzen, 1991).n this study behavioral intention (BI) is defined as the degreeo which citizens intend to use the Internet or an intermediaryor e-government services in the future. This argument forms theremise for hypothesis number four.

4. Behavioral intentions (BI) to use e-government serviceshrough intermediates will have a positive influence on e-overnment usage behavior.

.1.5. Facilitating conditions (FC)Many governments worldwide have proposed solutions in order

o increase access to public services and effectively facilitate thesage of information technologies (Cabinet Office, 2005; Phangt al., 2005). Saudi Arabia has established a similar solution, “inter-ediary organisations” to minimize the difficulties that hinder

itizens from using technology in general and e-government ser-ices in particular, which revolved around augmenting citizens’cceptance and usage of a new e-government gateway (Al-Sbohit al., 2010). Citizens’ empowerment was set-out by expanding theole and involvement of intermediaries in e-society to meet theain goals of Saudi e-government initiatives. In this regard and

ccording to UTAUT propositions, an intermediary can be proposedn this study under facilitating conditions (FC). In this study, a FC isefined as the degree to which citizens believe that organizationalnd technical infrastructure of intermediaries supports the use of-government services and removes barriers to adoption. FC can be

determinant to citizens’ intention toward using a technology ornnovation.

Literature indicates that technology usage is always hindered byigital divide issues (Belanger & Carter, 2006; Carter & Weerakkody,008; Loges & Jung, 2001; Selwyn, 2004). For example, illiterate,nprivileged, and poor people are often classified as non-adoptersf technology due to unfamiliarity and unavailability of the systemor them; thus, any e-government strategy will need to considerow online services facilitate all citizens, so that they are notxcluded from receiving the benefits offered by e-governmentPhang et al., 2005; Selwyn, 2004). FC (intermediaries in the Saudirabia e-government context) would be more significant towardsage behavior of e-government services. Consequently, the fol-

owing hypothesis is proposed.

5. Facilitating conditions (FC) will have a positive influence on-government usage behavior through intermediates.

ormation Management 33 (2013) 716– 725 719

3.1.6. Trust of the Internet (TI)There are many studies that have highlighted the importance

of trust in the adoption and acceptance of new technologies, andhave assessed trust as an important factor that predicts user inten-tion of e-services (Carter & Belanger, 2005; Gefen, Rose, Warkentin,& Pavlou, 2005; Pavlou & Fygenson, 2006). Once the interactionbetween parties takes place in a non-physical mode from a remotedistance through a medium like the Internet, trust becomes anessential central issue to be defined and measured. Trust plays amajor role in creating the initial relationship between citizens ande-government, where citizens still do not know about e-serviceproviders (Carter & Weerakkody, 2008). Rotter (1967) explainstrust as an expectancy that the promise of an individual or groupcan be relied upon. Broadly, the literature shows that trust is clas-sified into two parts: (1) Trust in the body (entity) that providesservices (government bodies), and (2) Trust in the tools that willbe used to deliver services to users (the Internet in this study).Teo, Srivastava, and Jiang (2008) argued that trust in the body thatprovides an online service is a necessary condition. However, it isnot only important to get users to use an ‘e-services method’, trustin the ‘e-enabler’ (Internet) is considered a significant, salient fac-tor that predicts e-government adoption (Carter, 2008; Carter &Weerakkody, 2008).

The aforementioned considerations have been hypothesized bymany researchers in the e-government realm concerning buildingtrust between ‘government bodies’ and ‘requester’ of services (cit-izens). Nowadays, Internet applications are popular in exchanginginformation and conducting transactions between government andits citizens. However, communicating with governments onlinethrough intermediaries depends on the level of trust in the Internetapplication, and this communication constantly deals with privacyand security, and risk issues. Accordingly, there are many riskswhen sharing information through the Internet, such as the risksof privacy and security (Carter & Belanger, 2005; Shareef et al.,2011). Privacy and security refers to citizens’ trust in the electronicmedium, where people usually have concerns about the securityof the technology used for exchanging and storing their personalinformation, particularly when on-line financial transactions areinvolved (Carter & Weerakkody, 2008). e-Government adoption, inturn, is dependent upon citizens’ beliefs that the medium (Inter-net) used by the government to provide e-services is highly secureand reliable to be used in providing private information (Teo et al.,2008). Thus, a high level of trust is likely to increase citizens’desire to use e-government (ibid). Also, it influences the take-upof e-government adoption. Further, developing trust between agovernment and its citizens is critical for the continued growth ofe-government services. Citizens must trust the e-enabler (Internet)to keep their information secure and private in order to accept andadopt e-government initiatives (Carter & Belanger, 2005). Giventhese arguments, the authors propose.

H6. Trust of the Internet (TI) will have a positive influence onbehavioral intentions to use e-government services through inter-mediates.

3.1.7. Trust of intermediary (TOI)Studies on the adoption of e-services through intermediaries

are just beginning to emerge and are exploratory in nature (Al-Sbohi et al., 2010; Bailey & Bakos, 1997; Howells, 2008; Janssen& Klievink, 2009; Pavlou & Gefen, 2004). Several researchers whohave studied intermediaries have shown how they can provideadded value to service providers and requesters and increase trust

between the two parties (Janssen & Klievink, 2009). For instance,according to Bailey and Bakos (1997) the central role of an inter-mediary is to enhance communication between parties by buildingtrust and reducing risks in the electronic environment. Trust of

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ntermediary (TOI) is defined as a “subjective belief with which buyer believes that the intermediary will institute and enforceair rules, procedures, and outcomes in its marketplace compe-ently, reliably, and with integrity, and, if necessary, will provideecourse for buyers to deal with seller opportunistic behaviour”Pavlou & Gefen, 2004, p.44). Given these insights, studyinghe role of intermediary could help better understand citizens’ehavior toward using e-services (Pavlou & Gefen, 2004) and pos-ibly e-government (Al-Sobhi et al., 2010; Janssen & Klievink,009). Further, in the context of Madinah city, building trust

n an intermediary will be considered as closely relevant to e-overnment services adoption, since Madinah’s citizens have toubmit their personal information to the e-government portalhrough an authorized third party organization, which is thentermediary (e-office) (Al-Sobhi et al., 2010). Therefore, we pro-ose.

7. Trust of intermediary (TOI) (e-offices) will have a positivenfluence on behavioral intentions to use e-government serviceshrough intermediates.

. Research methodology

To assess the research model adapted for this study, a ques-ionnaire survey was used. The questionnaire consisted of total 43uestions including demographic information. The questionnaireas built based on UTAUT model with revisions keeping the char-

cteristics of e-government adoption through intermediaries (seeppendix B). A pre-test was done using six researchers and threeractitioners in order to improve the questions and enhance theomprehension of respondents before final distribution (Saunders,ewis, & Thornhill, 2002). This pre-test resulted in minor amend-ent to the wording in seven questions. The proposed researchodel consists of six independent variables: performance expect-

ncy (PE), effort expectance (EE), social influence (SI), facilitatingonditions (FC), trust of Internet (TI), trust of intermediaries (TOI).hese six independent variables are measured by 32 scale itemsn 5-point Likert scale, which ranged from strongly disagree totrongly agree as follows: PE by 7 items, EE by 6 items, SI by 5tems, TI by 4 items, TOI by 4 items, and FC by 6 items. Dependentariable intention behavior (BI) is measured by 3 items in Likertcale. As the questionnaire was designed in English and the targetedesearch context is an Arabic country (Saudi Arabia), the authorsonverted the questionnaire into Arabic and validated the transla-ion by sending the questionnaire to four academic staff in a largeaudi university.

Because e-government is a relatively new concept in devel-ping nations, the authors provided a brief explanation about-government to participants through a cover letter attached withhe questionnaire. To test the hypotheses through proper sam-le, the self-administered questionnaire was distributed randomlymong 750 citizens in Madinah city of a broad diversity of citi-ens at several communities from September to December 2010.

e segmented the city into four geographical regions namedast, west, north, and south to keep our sample representativef Madinah city. From the Telephone White Pages of the city, wehen collected addresses of those areas as well as houses, con-ominiums, and apartments located in those four regions. Welso collected the addresses of the residents living in the subur-an areas in the east, west, north, and south regions immediatelyutside the city. With the help of 10 voluntary students of aaudi university, we distributed the questionnaires physically in

ll addresses with return mail postage. We personally met with theespondents and requested them to respond if they had personalxperience of using the service (e-government services provided byhe traffic department). We received total 626 responses, however,

ormation Management 33 (2013) 716– 725

124 were discarded because of incomplete answers (90 question-naires), or because they were mistakenly completed by females (34questionnaires). As stated before, since this survey was focusedon the Saudi Traffic department as an example of e-governmentservice, females were eliminated from the questionnaire sur-vey since they do not have the right to drive in Saudi Arabia.Therefore, ultimately we used 502 responses for our statisticalanalysis which indicates effective response rate as around 67 per-cent.

5. Data analysis

We first attempted to verify the sample’s representativenessby demographic analysis shown in Appendix A. From the distri-bution ratios of age, educational level, and computer and Internetexperience of our sample, although, the sample is slightly biased inrespect to regular population, since ICT behavior and e-governmentusage is relatively new trend in a developing country like SaudiArabia, obviously the interested respondents should be relativelyyoung, educated and computer and Internet skilled. Therefore, it islogically acceptable.

Since identifying influence of intermediaries on adoption ofe-government service is a new area and nature of the study isexploratory, we revised the questionnaire from the regular measur-ing items of the UTAUT model and thus, we conducted exploratoryfactor analysis (EFA). Those items which are loaded less than .40or cross loaded more than one factor were removed (Stevens,1996, pp. 389–390). Our EFA analysis retained all the six indepen-dent constructs as the pursuing factors of e-government serviceadoption offered through intermediaries. Among the 32 measur-ing items, the following items were removed: PE2 and PE5, EE3,EE4, and EE6, SI2, FC1 and FC2, and TOI1. The other measuringitems were loaded according to the definitions of the respectiveconstructs. Finally, we retained six constructs with 23 measuringitems.

Cronbach’s coefficient alpha values were chosen to examinethe internal consistency of the collected data (Hinton, Brownlow,McMurvay, & Cozens, 2004). Hinton et al. (2004) suggest fourdifferent points of reliability: excellent (0.90 and above), high(0.70–0.90), high moderate (0.50–0.70) and low (0.50 and below).Reliability tests were conducted to measure the internal consis-tency on behavioral intention to adopt e-government services thatis promoted by intermediaries’ roles in the Saudi Arabian context.The reliability for each construct was ranged from 0.723 to 0.944which indicates high to excellent reliability, and the model con-structs are internally consistent.

5.1. Structural equation modeling (SEM) through path analysis

To identify the causal relations of the independent variableswith the two dependent variables, we used path analysis throughLISREL for structural equation modeling (SEM). As data input of pathanalysis, we took the average of the measuring items of each of thevariables individually to get correlation matrix with the maximumlikelihood procedure.

Our first model analysis failed to get accepted model fitnessvalues and valid model. The model chi-square, degree of freedom(df), probability (p), and root mean square error of approximation(RMSEA) are 39.87, df 7, p-value 0.00000, and 1.23 respectivelywhich according to recommended specifications denotes unac-ceptable model fitness (see Table 1). Some constructs conceive

overlapping concepts between them, so path analysis recom-mended adding error covariance terms between the constructs,FC and EE, PE and TOI, EE and TOI. Measuring unique variancebetween constructs, which reflect certain degree of overlapping

V. Weerakkody et al. / International Journal of Inf

Table 1e-Government model fitness values.

Fit measures Recommendedvalues

e-Governmentadoption model

Chi-square (�2) p ≥ 0.05 12.18 (0.12136)Degrees of freedom 4�2/degree of freedom (df) ≤3.0 3.045Comparative fit index (CFI) ≥0.90 0.99Goodness of fit index (GFI) ≥0.90 0.98

cFvitvcatFistwt(miaiumiatp(sMicso

RMSEA <0.06 0.053Normed fit index (NFI) ≥0.90 0.99

oncept, resulted in a better model; however, it is still poor.or parsimonious model, we then verified statistically significantariables which potentially contribute as the cause of behavioralntention and finally usage behavior of e-government service (hereraffic department in Saudi Arabia) through intermediaries by ‘t’alues of all the relations between dependent and independentonstructs. Output from the path analysis indicated that PE, EE,nd TOI constructs are significant factors for behavioral inten-ion of e-government service which leads to usage behavior andC being a direct significant factor for usage behavior throughntermediaries at 0.05 level. However, TI and SI were found notignificant, even at the 0.10 level. For model validity, we removedhose non-significant relations from the model and ran it again,hich provided acceptable model fitness for e-government adop-

ion model through intermediaries as recommended by researchersHu & Bentler, 1999; Kline, 2005, pp. 133–144). The accepted

odel revealed from path analysis of SEM with loading factorss shown in Fig. 2. Chi-square statistic, p-value, RMSEA, compar-tive fit index (CFI), goodness of fit index (GFI), and normed fitndex (NFI) are listed in Table 1, with the recommended val-es acknowledged by different scholarly studies, which prove theodel validity. However, the �2 statistic is 12.18 (df = 4), which

ndicates that the null hypothesis of the model is marginally not good fit for the data. However, chi-square is very sensitiveo sample size. Larger samples, like our sample of 502 citizens,roduce larger chi-squares that are more likely to be significantType I error). Therefore, it is difficult to get a non-significant chi-quare when sample sizes are larger than 200 or so (Tanaka, 1993;aruyama, 1998). The squared multiple correlation coefficient (R2)

s 0.43, which reflects the amount of variance the independent

onstructs explain in the dependent variable. This is a statisticallyignificant contribution (Sig. = .000) and acceptable for this typef research.

Fig. 2. Citizen adoption of e-government through intermediaries.

ormation Management 33 (2013) 716– 725 721

6. Discussion

From the path analysis we observed that PE, EE, and TOI havesignificant positive effect on the behavioral intention (BI) leadingto usage behavior of e-government service through intermediar-ies. FC has also potential contribution in pursuing usage behaviorof e-government service through intermediaries. However, SI andTI have no significant causal effect on BI to create usage behaviorof e-government service through intermediaries. Therefore exceptthe hypotheses H3 and H5, all other four hypotheses were foundsignificant. EE, PE, and TOI are affecting usage behavior through BIwhereas FC is affecting usage behavior directly for e-governmentservice offered through intermediaries. The most important fac-tor influencing usage behavior through the behavioral intention toadopt e-government services is EE. The second influential factorthat impacts on the usage behavior of e-government service is FC.Then PE and TOI factors significantly contribute to the prediction ofBI leading to usage behavior of Saudi Arabia’s e-government servicethrough intermediaries.

As reviewed in Section 3, a strong association between PEand BI has been listed in literature (Carlsson, Carlsson, Hyvönen,Puhakainen, & Walden, 2006; Venkatesh et al., 2003) which is sup-ported by our statistic results. Previous studies have mentionedthe importance of EE in explaining BI to use systems (Carlssonet al., 2006; Venkatesh et al., 2003); this study found that there is asignificant relationship between EE and BI toward e-governmentadoption. A significant relationship between SI and BI has alsobeen reported in literature (Fulk & Boyd, 1991; Fulk et al., 1987;Venkatesh & Brown, 2001). SI, which is represented by friends andfamilies are very important factors in influencing others (citizens)attitude toward adoption of new e-services. However, this studyindicates that SI does not affect BI of e-government services sig-nificantly, which is a general contradiction to the UTAUT model.The reason is obvious. In this study we have defined the centralconcept of PE which is created by intermediaries. We have alsomeasured FC developed by intermediaries. Therefore, for any e-government virtual service which is provided by brick and mortarorganizations like intermediaries, general citizens are more con-cerned of its performance and auxiliary support rather than anyimaginary image of e-government services. We also find strongcorrelation between PE and SI (0.819) and between FC and SI(0.756). Therefore, we can argue that both the constructs PE andFC have explained enough variance of SI on the usage behavior ofe-government service through intermediaries; as a result SI hassignificant impact on BI. The result clearly indicates that whenmore FC are provided and more functional benefits are created bythe intermediaries of Saudi e-government, more encouragementwill be created for the citizens to adopt e-government servicesoffered through intermediaries without any direct impact of SI.The current study was designed to determine the influence of TIon BI toward e-government adoption. According to prior studies(Belanger & Carter, 2008; Carter & Belanger, 2005) TI was foundto have a positive impact on BI to use e-government. Attitude touse e-government services are influence by citizens’ beliefs thatInternet is a safe place to communicate with government online,and this is related to the legal and technological structures in thecountry (Belanger & Carter, 2008; Warkentin, Gefen, Pavlou, &Rose, 2002). Therefore, belief that the Internet is a robust and safeenvironment highly influences e-government adoption and usage(Belanger & Carter, 2008; Warkentin, Gefen, Pavlou, & Rose, 2002).When citizens’ trust increases, it leads to increase in e-governmentusage. However, this study included a new trust building com-

ponent for e-government service which is hypothesized here astrust on intermediaries. The results of this study show that inter-mediary organizations, interacting directly with citizens throughoffline means, build trust between citizens and services provider

7 of Inf

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22 V. Weerakkody et al. / International Journal

government) in Saudi Arabia’s e-government context. In thisespect, consistent with prior studies in e-commerce contextBailey & Bakos, 1997; Howells, 2008) this study found that inter-

ediary (e-office) is a very important gateway to build trustetween government departments and citizens in services pro-ided online. The possible explanations for this trust in thentermediary might be the citizens’ lack of confidence and trust inhe security features of Saudi Arabia’s e-government systems. Sinceitizens are interacting with Saudi Arabia e-government serviceshrough Internet which is assisted by intermediary organizationshrough offline service, the two constructs TI and TOI uphold over-apping variance on behavioral intention. As a result, when TOIontributes significantly as the cause of BI leading to usage of-government services offered through intermediaries, TI is not-ignificant as the cause of BI leading to usage of e-governmentervices. Hence, enough variance of TI on BI is already explainedy the construct TOI.

In the context of Saudi Arabia, the Madinah region has suc-essfully introduced intermediaries to promote its e-governmentervices. Intermediary offices (known as e-offices in Saudi Ara-ia) worked closely with local government to provide citizens theeeded help and support in accessing e-government services. This

ncluded public services such as renewing driving licences andassport renewal applications. However, while the Madinah region

n Saudi Arabia has established intermediaries under their local e-overnment strategy, other regions have yet to adapt the concept ofntermediaries in Saudi Arabia. The e-government model presentedn the study has thus opened a new avenue for citizens’ adoptionehavior of e-government in addition to the regular driving con-tructs of the UTAUT model by introducing the construct TOI. Givenhis context, the results of this study clearly demonstrate that inter-

ediaries can be utilized as a bridging channel to engage citizensith e-government services at local level particularly in countrieshere uptake of services have been low.

. Conclusion, research limitations and future directions

This finding suggests that the intermediary is a very usefulhannel gateway in improving trust and facilitating e-governmentdoption and diffusion. It also suggests that the Saudi governmenthould further exploit the intermediary (e-offices) concept in ordero enhance trust in their e-government services. Such positive atti-ude of citizens to communicate with government online throughntermediary shows that e-government adoption could increase

ith the use of intermediaries. Moreover, as the literature hashowed trust would be an issue in a non physical environment likehe Internet, such uncertain situations may entice citizens towardsing intermediaries as a gateway to adopting e-government ser-ices.

Further, the present study adds to our understanding of the rolef intermediaries in working in parallel with different constructso explain behavioral intentions to adopt e-government and con-rms previous findings. Intermediary theory suggests that the most

mportant roles of intermediaries are to enhance trust betweenwo parties (Bailey & Bakos, 1997). This is confirmed by empiricalndings in this study. Also, this study suggests that intermediariesre essential, particularly for developing countries as they developheir infrastructure to bridge any technical gaps and digital divide.he result also shows that there are considerable differences ineasuring the use of e-government services from citizens’ perspec-

ive either via direct online access or intermediaries. As a result, the

ntroduction of intermediary organizations to raise awareness andssist citizens to use e-government services is an effective initiativey the Saudi Arabian government. The results of this study showhat this initiative can not only contribute toward building citizens’

ormation Management 33 (2013) 716– 725

trust in online government services but also act as a driving forcefor the usage of e-government services.

Around the world, various initiatives have been established inthe public sector to spread the usage and adoption of e-governmentservices, including intermediaries. The aim of this study was toprovide a better understanding of the role and influence of interme-diaries in citizens’ adoption of e-government services. Our findingssuggest that factors such as performance expectancy (PE), effortexpectancy (EE), trust of the Internet (TOI), and facilitating condi-tions (FC) have an important role in explaining adoption behaviorof e-government services offered through intermediaries. Thus,the study offered a new paradigm toward modeling factors thatexplain citizens’ behavioral intention toward the adoption of e-government services offered through intermediaries. For seniormanagement and policy makers, this study is considered of signifi-cance in providing the needed guidance in facilitating the diffusionof e-government services among citizens. In this respect, inter-mediaries will help in building and establishing trust betweencitizens and government agencies. Therefore, establishing trust inintermediaries positively influences the successful adoption of e-government services rather than accentuating trust on the Internet.

To the literature, this study is offering an integrated model thatconsidered the role of intermediary in e-government adoption;this study is the first attempt to understand citizens’ perspectivestoward e-government adoption, through the intermediary channel.Thus, the above results offer many suggestions for e-governmentpolicy-makers. The most promising one is that government candiffuse e-government services to Saudi society by promoting thedevelopment of intermediaries as an important e-governmentgateway. By doing so, the strategy makers will make sure that e-government services are provided and accessible to all segments ofsociety alike. Therefore, this study has made a novel contributionin examining the role of local government intermediary (e-offices)as a facilitator between the government and citizens (and otherstakeholders) in adopting e-government services. It also extendsprevious research by highlighting the most salient factors affectingadoption of e-government. Further, this study can serve as an ini-tial point for future research in citizens’ adoption of e-governmentoffered through intermediaries in other countries. In particular,this study offers pointers to other developing as well as developedcountries who may have issues with e-government adoption dueto influencing factors such as trust in electronic services and theInternet.

Several limitations need to be considered when interpreting theresults of this study. First, this study does not measure the mod-erator variables in UTAUT. Therefore, considering the moderatorvariables could further explains the main constructs that deter-mine behavioral intention to use e-government services and usagebehavior. Moreover, previous studies have highlighted gender ashaving a moderating affect on the main constructs presented in thisstudy; therefore, considering gender issues (i.e. this study only con-sidered males) would provide further explanation of the influenceof intermediaries in e-government adoption. Also, future researchcould examine other demographic moderators such as age andInternet experiences variables within the main constructs that areidentified in this paper. Another limitation of this study is that thisresearch is based on one city in Saudi Arabia, which has adoptedthe intermediary concept under their local e-government strategy.It could be noted that the results in this study may not be applicableto others cities in Saudi Arabia or even other countries that havesimilar economical, social and cultural situations. Therefore, anygeneralizations of the results should take into account the scope of

this study. In this respect, future research could target other citiesin Saudi Arabia to examine the willingness of public sector organi-zations to shift to intermediary e-offices and the resulting impacton e-government adoption and diffusion.

of Information Management 33 (2013) 716– 725 723

A

A

V. Weerakkody et al. / International Journal

ppendix A.

Descriptive statistics of demographic information.Variables Category Percentage

Level of education High school 51.6Undergraduate 39.6Postgraduate 8.8

Age in years 18–30 50.831–45 40.445–54 6.95Below 18 or older than 54 1.9

Computerexperience in years

1–3 3.53–6 13.756–9 26.2510 yeras or above 53.95Never 2.55

Internet usage rate Everyday 49Several days a week 26.4Several days a month 18.4Never 6.2

ppendix B.

Survey constructs and definitions.

Constructs Definition Itecod

Venkatesh et al. (2003),Davis (1989), Davis,Bagozzi, and Warshaw(1989) and Moore andBenbasat (1991)

In this research, performanceexpectancy refers to the degree towhich an individual believes that usingthe e-government or intermediary’s(e-office) system will help him or herto attain gains in personal performance

PE1

PE2

PE3

PE4

PE5

PE6

PE7

Effort expectancy(Davis et al., 1989;Venkatesh et al., 2003)

In this research, effort expectancyrefers to the degree of ease associatedwith use of e-government services

EE1

EE2

EE3

EE4

EE5

EE6

Trust of intermediary

The degree which individual (citizens)believes that intermediary is a reliabletool to be used to obtain e-governmentservices

TOTOTO

TO

Use behavior (Daviset al., 1989;Venkatesh et al.,2003)

The actual use andassociated behavior of thee-government services.

UB

me

Items

Using the Traffic department website will enable me torenew my driving license more quickly

If I use the Traffic department website I will enhance mysocial status

Traffic department website would enable me to accessTraffic department information and services when I needthem – 24 hours/day, 7 days/week

If I use the Traffic department website I will spend lesstime processing my driving license renewal application

I think interacting with the Traffic department face to facewould be preferable rather than interacting online

I think interacting with the Traffic department throughintermediaries (e-offices) would be preferable tointeracting face to face with traffic department officials

I think interacting with the Traffic department throughintermediaries (e-offices) would be preferable tointeracting directly with the traffic department website

My interaction with the Traffic department website wouldbe clear and understandable

It would be easy for me to become skillful at using theTraffic department website

Learning to interact with Traffic department websitewould be easy for me

I find it easy to get the Traffic department website to dowhat I want it to do

It would helpful to use intermediary (e-offices) to interactwith Traffic department online

It would be helpful to interact online directly with Trafficdepartment

I1 I think I can trust intermediary organizations.I2 In my opinion, intermediary organizations are trustworthyI3 The intermediaries (e-offices) have enough safeguards

(passwords, secure computers etc.) to make me feelcomfortable using it to interact with the Trafficdepartment online

I4 I am not concerned that the information I submit throughthe intermediaries (e-offices) could be misused

Have you ever completed a transaction with the Trafficdepartment online?

724 V. Weerakkody et al. / International Journal of Information Management 33 (2013) 716– 725

Constructs Definition Itemcode

Items

Social influence (Ajzen,1991; Davis et al.,1989; Venkatesh et al.,2003)

In the current study, social influence isdefined as the important peoplepressure (family or friends) thatinfluences the intentions to usee-government, and the influence of anintermediary in increasing theawareness and the social marketing toadopt e-government services

SI1 People who influence my behavior think I should use theonline Traffic department services

SI2 I would use the e-government services if my friends usethem

SI3 My Friends think intermediaries (e-offices) are helpful forusing the Traffic department online service

SI4 The intermediaries (e-offices) encourage the use of onlineTraffic department services

SI5 People who are important to me think that I should use theTraffic department website facilities

Facilitating conditions(Ajzen, 1991;Venkatesh et al., 2003)

The degree which citizens believe thatorganizational (intermediary) andtechnical infrastructure support inusing e-government services andremove barriers in such relationships

FC1 I have the computer devise necessary to use the Trafficdepartment website

FC2 I have access to the internet to use the Traffic departmentwebsite

FC3 I have the internet experience necessary to use the Trafficdepartment website

FC4 Given the resources, opportunities and knowledge it takesto use the Traffic department website, it would be easy forme to use the Traffic department website

FC5 Guidance was available to me in the selection of the systemFC6 A specific person (or group) is available for me in the

intermediaries (e-offices) to provide assistance with Trafficdepartment website difficulties

Trust in Internet(Carter & Belanger,2005)

The degree which citizens believe thatinternet is reliable to be used incommunicating with governmentonline.

TI1 The internet has enough safeguards to make me feelcomfortable interacting with the Traffic departmentwebsite

TI2 I feel assured that legal and technological structuresadequately protect me from problems on the internet

TI3 I feel secure sending sensitive information across theinternet

TI4 In general, the internet is now a robust and safeenvironment in which to transact with the Trafficdepartment

Behavioral intention(Venkatesh et al., 2003;Ajzen, 1991; Davis,

In this study the behavioral intention isdefined as the degree to which citizensintend to use the Internet or an

BI1 I intend to use the Traffic website in futureBI2 I intend to use the Traffic department website directlyBI3

R

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

B

B

B

1989) intermediary for e-governmentservices in the future.

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Vishanth Weerakkody is a Senior Lecturer in the Business School at Brunel Uni-versity, London. His current research interests include service transformation andelectronic services implementation and diffusion in the public sector. He has pub-lished over 100 peer reviewed articles, guest-edited special issues of leading journalsand text books and chairs a number of related sessions at international conferences.He is currently an investigator in several European Commission funded projectsin the area of e-government and is the current Editor-in-Chief of the InternationalJournal of Electronic Government Research.

Ramzi El-Haddadeh is a full time faculty in the Business School at Brunel University,UK. He holds a PhD in information technology. His current research interests includetechnology infrastructure adoption and evaluation, and electronic-governmentadoption and diffusion. He currently serves as the managing editor for the Interna-tional Journal of Electronic Government Research. He has published peer reviewedarticles in international journals including Information Systems Management andInternational Journal of Information Management. Currently he is a co-investigatorin a number of European Commission-funded research projects on public sectortechnology usability and adoption.

Faris Al-Sobhi is holds a PhD degree in Information Systems from Brunel Universityin the UK. His research interests include electronic government IT adoption anddiffusion in the public sector. He has published in a number of peer reviewed articlesin international journals and conferences.

Dr. Mahmud A. Shareef is currently Associate Professor, School of Business,North South University, Bangladesh. He is a researcher in DeGroote School ofBusiness, McMaster University, Canada. His research interest is focused on devel-opment and performance of Electronic-government and quality management ofElectronic-commerce. He has published more than 50 papers addressing adoptionand quality issues of e-commerce and e-government in different refereed confer-ence proceedings and international journals. He was the recipient of more than 10academic awards including 2 Best Research Paper Awards in the UK and Canada.

Yogesh K. Dwivedi is a Senior Lecturer in Information Systems and E-Business atthe School of Business and Economics, Swansea, University, Wales, UK. He obtained

his PhD and MSc in Information Systems from Brunel University, UK. He has co-authored several papers which have appeared in international referred journals suchas CACM, DATA BASE, EJIS, ISJ, ISF, JCIS, JIT, JORS, and IMDS. He is Associate Editor ofEJIS, Assistant Editor of TGPPP, Managing Editor of JECR and member of the editorialboard/review board of several journals. He is a member of the AIS and IFIP WG8.6.