MGAUM: a new framework for the mobile government service adoption in Saudi Arabia

Many governments are now taking advantage of the latest developments in mobile technology to take the digital delivery of government information and services (e-government) to their citizens, companies and other government agencies a stage further. Accessing government information and services via a mobile device (m-government) also has unique advantages over e-government, not least enabling users to access government services at any time and from any location. Nevertheless, many Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, are experiencing a low adoption rate of these services, and face a number of issues related to adoption, implementation and use. In spite of this, a review of the literature shows that little research into identifying and understanding the factors that influence adoption of m-government services by citizens from citizens’ and providers’ perspectives in these countries has been conducted. Thus, this research aims to investigate and analyze factors that can impact Saudi citizens’ intention to adopt and use m-government services in Saudi Arabia; and to provide the knowledge needed to ensure a high level of success when implementing m-government services in this context. This research has developed a model called the Mobile Government Adoption and Utilization Model (MGAUM) based on a critical analysis of the literature that relates to acceptance of technology, along with insights from several models and theories commonly used to analyze acceptance and usage of technologies. The MGAUM focuses on understanding and analysing factors that could influence citizens’ adoption and use of Saudi m-government services from two different perspectives: that of Saudi citizens, and that of key officials responsible for implementing e-government and m-government services in Saudi ministries. A ‘quantitative dominant’ mixed method was used, with a quantitative primary method and additional qualitative method as complementary. A survey was used to collect quantitative data, and the final sample consisted of 1,286 valid responses. The survey revealed that Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Perceived Mobility (PM), Social Influence (SI) and Perceived Compatibility (PCOM), Perceived Trust (PT), Culture (CULT), Citizen Service Quality (CSQ) and System Quality (SQ) were the most significant factors affecting citizens’ intention to adopt and use m-government services. Semi-structured interviews with key officials responsible for e-government and m-government in eight Saudi ministries were conducted to obtain qualitative data. From these managers’ perspectives, all the factors were considered significant apart from Culture. This study provides several recommendations based on the result of the quantitative and qualitative investigations into the field of m-government services for government agencies, m-services providers and practitioners