Prioritization of factors influencing employee adoption of e-government using the analytic hierarchy process
Published date | 13 March 2017 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-04-2017-0028 |
Pages | 116-137 |
Date | 13 March 2017 |
Author | Kriti Priya Gupta,Preeti Bhaskar,Swati Singh |
Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Information & communications technology |
Prioritization of factors
influencing employee adoption of
e-government using the analytic
hierarchy process
Kriti Priya Gupta,Preeti Bhaskar and Swati Singh
Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies, Noida, India and
Faculty of Management Studies, Symbiosis International University, Pune, India
Abstract
Purpose –Government employees have various challenges of adopting e-government which include
administrative problems, technological challenges, infrastructural problems, lack of trust on computer
applications,security concerns and the digital divide. The purpose of this paperis to identify the most salient
factors that influencethe employee adoption of e-government in India as perceivedby government employees
involvedin e-government service delivery.
Design/methodology/approach –The paper first identifies differentfactors influencing the employee
adoption of e-government on the basis of literature review and then finds their relative importance by
prioritizing them using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The AHP is a multi-criteria decision-making
(MCDM) tool which combines all the factors into a hierarchical model and quantitatively measures their
importance through pair-wisecomparisons (Saaty, 1980). Eleven influencingfactors of employee adoption of
e-government have been identified, which are categorized under four main factors, namely, “employee’s
personal characteristics”,“technical factors”,“organizationalfactors”and “trust”. The data pertainingto pair-
wise comparisons of various factors and sub-factors related to the study is collected from ten senior
governmentemployees working with different departments and bodies of the Governmentof National Capital
Territoryof Delhi.
Findings –Based on the results obtained, the findings reveal that “organizational factors”and “technical
factors”arethe two most important factors which influence the intention of governmentemployees to adopt e-
government. Moreover, “training”,“technical infrastructure”,“accessspeed”,“technical support”and “trust”
in infrastructure are the top five sub-factorswhich are considered to be important for the employee adoption
of e-government.
Research limitations/implications –One of the limitations regarding the methodology used in the
study is that the rating scaleused in the AHP is conceptual. There are chances of biasing while making pair-
wise comparisons of different factors. Therefore, due care should be taken while deciding relative scores to
different factors. Also,some factors and sub-factors selected, for the model may have interrelationshipssuch
as educational level and training; computer skills and trust; etc., and these interrelationships are not
considered by the AHP, which is a limitationof the present study. In that case, the analytic network process
(ANP) can be a better option.Therefore, this study can be further extended by consideringsome other factors
responsiblefor e-government adoption by employees and applying theANP in the revised model.
Practical implications –The results of the study may help government organizations, to evaluate
critical factors of employee adoption of e-government. This may help them in achieving cost-effective
implementationof e-government applications by efficiently managing their resources.Briefly, the findings of
the study imply that government departments should provide sufficient training and support to their
employees for enhancing their technical skills so that they can use the e-government applications
comfortably. Moreover, the government departments should also ensure fast access speed of the e-
governmentapplications so that the employees can carry out their tasks efficiently.
Originality/value –Most of the existing literature on e-governmentis focused on citizens’point of view,
and very few studies have focused on employee adoption of e-government (Alshibly and Chiong, 2015).
Moreover, these studies have majorly used generic technology adoption models which are generally
JSIT
19,1/2
116
Received13 April 2017
Revised10 June 2017
8 July2017
4 August2017
Accepted5 August 2017
Journalof Systems and
InformationTechnology
Vol.19 No. 1/2, 2017
pp. 116-137
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/JSIT-04-2017-0028
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1328-7265.htm
applicableto situations where technology adoption is voluntary.As employee adoption of e-government is not
voluntary,the present study proposes a hierarchy of influencing factors and sub-factors of employeeadoption
of e-government, which is more relevant to the situations where technology adoption is mandatory. Also,
most of the previous studies have used statisticalmethods such as multiple regression analysis or structural
equation modellingfor examining the significant factors influencing the e-government adoption.The present
study contributesto this area by formulating the problem as an MCDM problem and by usingthe AHP as the
methodologyto determine the weights of various factors influencingadoption of e-government by employees.
Keywords India, E-government, AHP, MCDM, Prioritization, Employee adoption
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
E-government originated in India during the 1970s with a focus on automation and
interconnectionin the areas of defence, economic monitoring, planning,elections, census and
tax administration. Keeping in mind the various positive impacts of e-government, the
Government of India approved the National e-Governance Plan on May 18, 2006. With an
objective to “make all government services accessible to the common man in his locality,
through common service delivery outlets, and ensure efficiency, transparency, and
reliability of such servicesat affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man”
(Gupta et al., 2016b).The National e-Governance Plan includes online servicesfor income tax
department (www.incometaxindia.gov.in), passport department (www.passportindia.gov.
in), company affairs, central excise, pensions, land records, road transport, property
registration, agriculture, municipalities, gram panchayats (rural), police, employment
exchange and e-courts[1].
There are enormous benefits of e-government, but some definite hurdles are observed
while implementing or rolling out e-government applications in the government
departments of India (Sarkar, 2008). Governments invest large sums of money in
implementing e-governmentprojects for benefiting the citizens, but success of these projects
depend a lot on their adoption by the government employees. Government employees have
various challenges of adopting e-government which include administrative problems,
technological challenges, infrastructural problems, lack of trust on computer applications,
security concerns and the digital divide. The adoption and diffusion of e-government
depends heavily on the integrated vision of government employees on information and
communication technology(ICT) and their intention and willingness to adopt e-government.
Once the government employees acceptthe requirement of e-government, they can convince
the citizens about its utilities and benefits which will help in a holistic diffusion of e-
government. In India, there is a huge momentum to create several e-government
applications and reap their benefits. However, the government employees need to
understand the usefulness of ICT in the governance and are required to be fully convinced
about the necessity of e-government (Alshibly et al., 2016). E-government may not be a
successful ventureunless the government employees appreciate and adopte-government.
Although ICT has brought revolutionarychanges in several parts of the globe, the usage
of ICT in the governance is relativelynewer in developing countries like India. There is lack
of awareness about importance of computerization among the government employees in
India. The Government officers and employees in India have phobia of computers and do
not wish to learn new technology. Most of the Administrative Officers, Heads & Section
Officers of the government organizations in India are not technically sound and hence face
difficulties in operating e-government applications. Also, there is a lack of training centres
for the employees where they can be technically trained on operating the e-government
applications and handling the technical difficulties. Many government employees face
Employee
adoption of e-
government
117
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