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Adoption, Diffusion and Use of E-government
Hassan Al-Zaabi Services in Abu Dhabi Police Force
Abstract
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasingly prevalent in peoples‟
daily lives due to the presence of e-government. This research aims to identify and understand factors
affecting the adoption and use of e-government services in a public sector organisation in a developing
country, in this case, Abu Dhabi Police Force (ADPF) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). For this
purpose a theoretical framework based on existing e-government and e-services literature was
developed. To determine its applicability, a qualitative approach involving 200 participants‟ interviews
was used in this study. The questions for the interviews were based on the constructs derived from
classic theories in the literature. The theories are: Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DOI), Technology
Acceptance Model (TAM), Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) and e-Commerce‟s
Trustworthiness models. The research study results revealed that departments that had roles and
responsibilities aligned with government online products and services, adopted e-services better.
Where training and awareness was provided, individuals adopted e-services better, and where trust in
the provision of e-services was divided in two. The first relates to e-services being better than a manual
service as e-services provide clarity and transparency. The second form of trust aligns with
confidentiality and privacy. A subset of the research revealed that demographic factors that include, an
organisational structure position and the role that one has, inhibit or encourages the use and adoption of
e-services. The contributions from this research are anticipated to be a better understanding of the
adoption, diffusion and use of e-services in the UAE region. For theory, this research study provided a
diverse approach (qualitative research) in an organisational context, the development of a conceptual
framework specific to Abu Dhabi‟s public sector department and finally, there is research conducted on
government to employee e-services in Abu Dhabi, a rare occurrence. For policymakers, the
contribution of this research is that the research can understand the impacts of policies and strategies
used for developing and implementing e-services. For practice the contribution can be in the form of
results that organisations providing external consultancy services in the UAE can identify and
understand. Therefore, results such as, lower positions individuals in departments not utilising e-
services emerged and suggest that awareness should be inherent within the organisation. By doing so,
fewer risks and waste of resources in the form of time and personnel can be avoided.
Keywords:
ICTs, E-government, E-services, Developing Countries, Abu Dhabi Government, Public Sector, Police
Force, Qualitative Research, Case Study, Technology Diffusion and Adoption Theories
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