icegov2012 proceedings

6. DISCUSSION
This study expands the concepts and understanding of the factors
related to the three predefined layers of contexts, knowledge and
information content, organizational, and national contexts.
Related to the knowledge and information layer of context, the
case study revealed four factors: codifiability; perceptions of the
content’s value; sensitivity; and, confidentiality. The study
pointed to new ways in which the perceptions of a specific
content’s sensitivity and confidentiality might influence exchange
activities in TPSKNs. As revealed in the case study, the
perception by Saudi participants of the system’s data as being
sensitive did not influence their intention to exchange that data
with their CDC counterparts, although said perception did
influence their intention and desire to have full control over that
data. The same phenomenon can be seen with regards to
confidentiality, in that Saudi perceptions of confidential data—or
data which should be seen as being confidential—did not prevent
the CDC team from accessing the data required to conduct their
work, although it did restrict their means of access to that data.
The case study expands the concepts and understanding of the
factors related to the organizational layer of context as well. These
factors include: goals and interests; trust and past relationships;
executive support; authority and hierarchical structures;
leadership; resources; skills; capabilities; commitment;
organizational culture; and, perceived risk. This research
identified the perceptions of partner’s values as one of those
additional organizational level factors which motivated
collaboration in TPSKNs. Also, the case study discusses the ways
in which the identified factors influenced exchange activities
during the collaboration toward adopting the Hajj-MDSS.
As with regard to the national layer of context, the study discussed
five factors. These factors include: political support; political
relations; national events; national law; and, national language.
The case provided empirical evidence for the influence of these
identified factors and expanded the understanding on the ways in
which they may influence the effectiveness of TPSKNs. For
instance, the case study found that the intention to collaborate
with another country that needs assistance toward addressing
global issues and concerns may not be influenced by relation at
political level while the strong relations at political level still
proved to be significant for ensuring better outcomes. Also, the
influence of national language found to be evident even when all
participants from both sides are fluent and able to speak the same
language.
As the case study was centered on adopting an existing system to
suit a new context, It expands upon the considered contexts to
include a technological context, central when collaboration
centers on implementing a new system or adopting an existing
system. Five distinct factors related to the technological context
were evident in this case. Ease of use, compatibility with other
systems, ICT infrastructures, the ability to meet technical
requirements, and the additional system features, such as culturalrelated
dimensions—e.g. software capable of supporting different
languages and calendars— were identified as additional factors
influencing exchange activities in TPSKNs. Figure 2 depicts the
factors influencing exchange activities in TPSKNs, discussed
above and informed by the collaboration between the MoH and
CDC aimed at implementing the Hajj-MDSS during the 2009
Hajj.
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Figure 2. Factors Influenced Sharing and Exchange
Activities during the Adoption of the Hajj-MDSS
7. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE WORK
The research design and methods used by this study have
employed several measures meant to ensure the reliability and
validity of the research and its conclusions. As with any research
endeavor, however, this study is limited in certain respects. One
of the main limitations stems from the low matching level
between those participants representing the Saudi MoH and those
representing the US CDC available to be interviewed as part of
this research. The study faced specific challenges in this regard, as
some CDC participants were unavailable to be interviewed due to
their responsibilities in other countries. Furthermore, Saudi
participants were representative of multiple organizational levels,
from the technical level up to the ministerial level. Such was not
the case, however, with the three CDC participants available and
amenable to being interviewed. Participants from the CDC were,
in fact, representative of essentially the same organizational level,
despite the fact that one such participant had acted as a team
leader throughout the collaborative process. The collected data
would certainly be richer had participants from CDC representing
different organizational levels. Finally, since data collection relied
mainly on semi-structured, face-to-face interviews, bias may have
occurred due to the time lag between the timing of data collection
and the end of the project, the differences between the stated and
actual behavior of the participants, the sensitivity of the questions,
and incomplete or inaccurate recall on the part of interviewees.
Future publications will present the remaining findings of the
study and discuss the extended version of the Dynamic Model of
Transnational Knowledge Networks (DMTKNs) that has been
developed based on the presented findings.
8. REFERENCES
[1] Gharawi, M. and Dawes, S. Conceptualizing knowledge and
information sharing in transnational knowledge networks. In
4th International Conference on Theory and Practice of
Electronic Governance. 2010. Beijing, China.
[2] Slaughter, A. A New World Order. Princeton University
Press, Princeton: New Jersey, 2004.
[3] Betsill, M., and Bulkeley, H. Transnational networks and
global environmental governance: The cities for climate
protection program. International Studies Quarterly.,
48(2004), 417- 493.
[4] Raustiala, K. The architecture of international cooperation:
Transgovernmental networks and the future of international