THE ACCEPTANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE SAUDI ARABIAN PUBLIC SECTOR: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

摘要

Acceptance of IT is deemed a necessary condition for its success; However, resistance to computer systems by managers and professionals is a widespread problem. IT studies have mainly concentrated on first world/developed counties such as the USA and the UK. Drawing upon the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study aims to identify factors that contribute to the acceptance of IT in the Saudi Arabian public sector. Quantitative data were gathered by means of a questionnaire survey completed by 645 IT users in public sector organisations in Saudi Arabia. Our TAM model accounted for 45 percent of the variance in the usage of IT. Our study has uncovered some expected and some unexpected findings that reflects the nature of acceptance of IT in a non Western society. Of interest is the finding that voluntariness is important, because the acceptance of IT increases when individuals feel that IT usage is not mandatory, even if it is part of their work. This finding supports earlier research that mandating the use of IT is not a good solution to its lack of usage.