South Asian Journal of Management

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Organizational Readiness for E-governance:A Study of Public Agencies in the United Arab Emirates


Affiliations
1 Coordinator of the Public Policy Unit, Center for Public Policy and Leadership, UAE University. P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain Cty, United Arab Emirates
2 UAE University. P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


In order to make public services accessible to a wide range of end users around the clock (i.e., smart services), Smart Government (SG) utilizes advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Using ICT enables people not only to apply for services, retrieve information or download forms and applications, but also to receive the final product and services through smart phones and remote-controlled devices. The present study aims at assessing employees’ perceived organizational readiness to implement smart government within their agencies. One thousand and five hundred surveys were developed and administered to a randomly-selected sample of employees and managers working in public agencies. Statistical analyses reveal that public agencies have relatively suitable environment to implement smart government but major challenges persist. The most serious challenges are the availability of accessible Internet for clients and employees, underdeveloped legal infrastructure, clients’ literacy in information technology, and inadequate funding. These findings are discussed and recommendations are outlined for decision makers and researchers.

Keywords

E-Governance, Public Sector, Organizational Readiness, Responsiveness, Smart Government (SG), United Arab Emirates (UAE).
User
Subscription Login to verify subscription
Notifications
Font Size

  • Abu Nemeh, H. (2013, May 23). Good government goes to people and does not wait for them to come to her (in Arabic). Al Emarat Alyoum Newspaper. Retrieved May 2, 2015 from http://www.emaratalyoum.com/local-section/other/2013-05-23-1.577420.

  • Al Bayan (2015a, April 23). Ministries and federal agencies moved to smart government and one month for those late ones. Al Bayan Newspaper, April 23, 2015, Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.albayan.ae/across-the-uae/news-and-reports/2015-04-23-1.2359794?ot=ot.print

  • Al Bayan (2015b, May 24). Mohamed ben Rashid: The measure of people’s happiness is to make their life easier. Al Bayan Newspaper, Issue 12758.

  • Al Khori, A. (2014, February 26). The strategy of UAE in smart government is advanced globally (in Arabic). Abu Dhabi, UAE: Emirates Identity Authority. Retrieved October 21, 2015, from http://www.id.gov.ae/ar/media-centre/news/2014.aspx

  • Al-Khouri, A. M. & Bal, J. (2007). Electronic government in the GCC countries. International Journal of Social Sciences, 1(2), 83-98.

  • Al Zarooni, M. (February 12, 2014). Plan to use quadcopters to deliver driving licenses. Khaleej Times. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http:// www.khaleejtimes.com/article/20140211/ARTICLE/302119913/1002

  • Al-Gahtani, S., Hubona, G., & Wang, J. (2007). Information technology (IT) in Saudi Arabia: Culture and the acceptance and use of IT. Information & Management, 44(8), 681-691.

  • Babbie, E. (2004). The Practice of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Thomson/ Wadsworth.

  • Badran, A. (2014). The age of lost opportunity: smart government. Beirut, Lebanon: Al Dar Al Arabiya for Science and Publication (in Arabic).

  • Bayda, M. (2015). The most popular smart services. Al Bayan. Retrieved March 7, 2015, from http://www.albayan.ae/economy/companies-busineses/2015-01-17-1.2289478

  • Biygautane, M. (2013, June). Leadership Styles and Government Transformation: Case of Dubai’s Government Sector. Paper presented at the United Nations Public Service Forum Workshop, Bahrain.

  • Bltistein, R. (2008, May 19). Should the Government make us Happy? Retrieved August 23, 2015, from http://www.psmag.com/books-andculture/should-thegovernmentmake-us-happy-2-4541

  • Bourgon, J. (2009, October). Public purpose, government authority and collective power. Proceedings of XIV Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la administracion Publicadel, Brasil, (pp. 1-22).

  • Brown, D. (2005). Electronic government and public administration. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 7,12: 241-254.

  • Curristine, T., Lonti, Z., & Joumard, I. (2007). Improving public sector efficiency: challenges and opportunities. OECD Journal on Budgeting, 7(1), 1-4. ISSN 16087143.

  • Dohyoon, K. (July 2012). E-Government of Korea, development journey and outcomes. National Information Society Agency, NIA, 1-27.

  • Dubai Smart Government. (August 2013a). E-Visions. (118), 1-8. Available on www.deg.gov.ae.

  • Dubai Smart Government. (July 2013b). E-Visions. (117), 1-3. Available on www.deg.gov.ae.

  • Ebrahim, Z., Irani, Z., & Al Shawi, S. (2004). A strategic framework for e-government adoption in public sector organisations. A paper presented at the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) 2004 Proceedings, posted at AIS Electronic Library, http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2004/140.

  • European Commission. (2013). A Vision for Public Services. Brussels, Belgium: Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, Sustainable and Secure Society. Retrieved October 20, 2015, from http:// ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/vision-public-services

  • Field, A. (2005). Discovering Statistics using SPSS (2nd ed.). London, UK: Sage Publications Inc.

  • Fischer, F. (2012). Participatory governance: from theory to practice. In Levi-Faur, David (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Governance. Oxford: N.P.

  • Frey, B. & Stutzer, A. (2010). Happiness and public choice. Public Choice, 144(3), 557-573.

  • Hamner, M. & Al-Qahtani, F. (2009). Enhancing the case for electronic government in developing nations: a people-centric study focused in Saudi Arabia. Government Information Quarterly, 26(1), 137-143.

  • Heeks, R. & Bailur, S. (2007). Analyzing e-government research; perspectives, philosophies, theories, methods, and practice. Government Information Quarterly, 24(2) 243-265.

  • Helbig, N., Gil-Garcia, J. & Ferro, E. (2009). Understanding the complexity of electronic government: implications from the digital divide literature. Government Information Quarterly, 26(1), 89-97.

  • Hwang, S., Choi, Y. & Myeong, S. (1999). Electronic government in South Korea: conceptual problems. Government Information Quarterly, 16(3), 277-285.

  • Jahromi, M. (May 2015). Aim and end of society in Farabi’s political philosophy. Asian Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 4(2), 72-79.

  • Jeong, K. (2006). E-government: Principles and Experiences in Korea. Gil-Job E-Media.

  • Kabbani, S. (2002, July). Democracy according to Traditional Islamic sources. Paper presented at the Conference on the Future of Islam and Democracy. Washington, DC: The Ethics and Public Policy Center.

  • Kaiser, H. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39(1), 31-36.

  • Khan, M. (2015, March 23). 5 Islamic philosophers every Muslim must read. The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 23, 2015, fromhttp://www.huffingtonposts.com/muqtedar-khan/5-islamic-philosophers-every-muslim-must-read

  • Kim, H. (2011). Information society of Korea; strategies and best practices. Available at: www.agesic.gub.uy/innovaportal/file/1339/1/ballroomm_kion.pdfý Kuljambekova, A. (2013). Enhancing efficiency of human resources services in government agencies of Kazakhstan. Public Policy and Administration, 12(4), 644-649.

  • Kumar, R. (2011, May). Smart Government: Lessons from Evolution of e-governance in South Korea and the Feasibility of their Application in India.

  • LeMay, M. (2006). Public Administration, Clashing Values in the Administration of Public Policy. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education.

  • Melhem, S. (2013). Next Generation e-government: Transformation into Smart Government. Washington DC: The World Bank Group. Retrieved from http://www.asrenorg.net/eage2012/images/themes/eage2012/ASREN_Samia_Dec_2012.ppt

  • Osman, M. (2013, July 26). Development toward smart government requires development of smart services (in Arabic). Retrieved April 30, 2015, from http:// www.emaratalyoum.com/local -section/other/2013-07-26-1.594049

  • Ott, J. (2011). Government and happiness in 130 nations: Good governance fosters higher level and more equality of happiness. Social Indicators Research, 102(1), 3-22.

  • Pallant, J. (2011). SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis using SPSS for Windows (3rd ed.). Maidenhead, UK: McGraw Hill Open University Press.

  • Parent, M., Vandebeek, C. & Gemino, A. (2005). Building citizen trust through e-government. Government Information Quarterly, 22(4), 720-236.

  • Parhizgari, A. & Gilbert, G. (2004). Measures of organizational effectiveness: Private and public sector performance. Omega, 32(3) 221-229.

  • Pfiffner, J. (2004). Traditional public administration versus the new public management: Accountability versus efficiency. Institutionbuilding in Regierung un Verwaltung (pp. 443-454). Berlin, Germany: Duncker & Humbolt.

  • Sabri, A. (2009). After e-government: toward knowledge-based society (in Arabic). Social Affairs, 26(101), 191-199.

  • Schedler, J. & Summermatter, L. (2007). Customer orientation in electronic government: motives and effects. Government Information Quarterly, 24, 291-311.

  • Schuppan, T. (2009). E-government in developing countries: experiences from sub-Saharan Africa. Government Information Quarterly, 26, 118-127.

  • Sharefa, S. (2013). Role of communication and public relations in electronic government. Dubai: Publication of the Authority of Social Affairs. (in Arabic).

  • Taeger, P. (2005). Deliberative democracy and the conceptual foundations of electronic government. Government Information Quarterly, 22, 702-719.

  • Taeger, P., & Thompson, K. (2003). E-government around the world; lessons, challenges, and future directions. Government Information Quarterly, 20, 389-394.

  • Trice, H., & Beyer, J. (1993/2001). Changing organizational culture, 414-424. In Shafritz, J., and Ott, J. (eds.), Classics of Organization Theory. Orlando, Florida: Harecourt, Inc.

  • UN. (2010). United Nations e-government Survey 2010. Available at: http:// www2.unpan.org/egovkb/global_reports/10report.htm.

  • UN. (2012). Ranking of e-government. Public Administration Program. Available at: http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/datacenter/countryview.aspx.

  • Van der Voet, J. (2013, June). Implementing Change in Public Organizations: The Relationship Between Leadership and Effective Commitment to Change in a Public Sector Context. Paper presented at the 11th Public Management Research Conference, Madison, Wisconsin.

  • WASEDA University. (2012). E-government Ranking. Available at: http:// www.waseda.jp/eng/news11/120224_egov.html.

  • World Bank. (2015, January 8). Smart cities. Retrieved from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bF6cw55AAvYJ:www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ict/brief/smart-cities+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ae

  • Xu, G. (December 2013). Development through empowerment; delivering effective public services, a literature review. Asian Development Bank, No. 382, ADB Economics Working Paper Series.

  • Yaghi, A. & Aljaidi, N. (2014). Examining Organization Commitment among National and Expatriate Employees in the Private and Public Sectors in United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Public Administration, 37(12), 801-8011.

  • Yaghi, A. (2008). Good Governance Practices by Local Administration in Jordan and USA. International Journal of Rural Management, 4(1-2), 47-65.

  • Yaghi, A., Holton, E., & Bates, R. (2012). Utilizing Path Analysis to Examine the Examine the Expectancy Model in Training Transfer in Human Resource Management. Arab Journal of Administrative Sciences, January Issue, 19(1), 107-125.

  • Yaghi, A., Morris, J. & Gibson, P. (2007). Identifying Organizational Culture. Dirasat Journal, December, 35,4: 871-884.

  • Yildiz, M. (2007). E-government research; reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward. Government Information Quarterly, 24, 646-66.


Abstract Views: 149

PDF Views: 0




  • Organizational Readiness for E-governance:A Study of Public Agencies in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract Views: 149  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

Abdulfattah Yaghi
Coordinator of the Public Policy Unit, Center for Public Policy and Leadership, UAE University. P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain Cty, United Arab Emirates
Badreya Al-Jenaibi
UAE University. P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates

Abstract


In order to make public services accessible to a wide range of end users around the clock (i.e., smart services), Smart Government (SG) utilizes advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Using ICT enables people not only to apply for services, retrieve information or download forms and applications, but also to receive the final product and services through smart phones and remote-controlled devices. The present study aims at assessing employees’ perceived organizational readiness to implement smart government within their agencies. One thousand and five hundred surveys were developed and administered to a randomly-selected sample of employees and managers working in public agencies. Statistical analyses reveal that public agencies have relatively suitable environment to implement smart government but major challenges persist. The most serious challenges are the availability of accessible Internet for clients and employees, underdeveloped legal infrastructure, clients’ literacy in information technology, and inadequate funding. These findings are discussed and recommendations are outlined for decision makers and researchers.

Keywords


E-Governance, Public Sector, Organizational Readiness, Responsiveness, Smart Government (SG), United Arab Emirates (UAE).

References