Emad Abu-Shanab

How perceptions of E-participation levels influence the intention to use E-government websites

Purpose This study aims to predict the intention to participate (ITP) in public activities by utilizing five levels of e-participation reported in the literature. The study used the levels of e-informing, e-consulting, e-involving, e-collaborating and e-empowering as predictors of the intention to participate in e-government services. Design/methodology/approach An empirical test was adopted using a survey to measure the five levels of e-participation and the dependent variable, ITP in e-government initiatives. The survey included items from previous studies translated to Arabic. Subjects responded to a five-point Likert scale to measure their perceptions regarding the sub-dimensions of each e-participation level. Statistical analyses of the collected data were conducted to test the assumed hypotheses. Multiple regression of the five predictor levels was conducted to predict the ITP in e-government services. Findings All the estimated means of e-participation levels were moderately perceived. The regression results indicated a significant prediction of three levels: e-informing, e-consulting and e-empowering. The other two levels (e-involving and e-collaborating) failed to predict the ITP. The coefficient of determination R2 resulting from the regression test was significant at the 0.001 level, which explained 61.9 per cent of the variance in the dependent variable. Research limitations/implications The instrument used is a newly developed one in Arabic language, which might have influenced the results. The distinction between e-involving and e-collaborating might not have been recognized by subjects, which might have increased the limitations of the study. The results of this study call for more research to validate the instrument and try to see if new statements of e-consulting and e-involving might be employed. The other side could be to reduce the levels to three levels only or merge the insignificant ones into one (four levels only). Practical implications Governments need to assert the role of citizens in the decision-making process. Such assertion is done through the e-participation process. Social implications Jordanians perceive the e-informing and e-consulting levels to be a foundation that can be easily attained, but jumping to the e-empowering level means that the society is keen on the partnership with the government. Originality/value This study is the first to use the participation levels (five levels) as predictors of the ITP. Most studies have utilized theories such as technology acceptance model (TAM), theory of reseaoned action (TRA) and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and other technology adoption theories. Also, this research has established ground for an Arabic survey to measure such levels, regardless of their prediction or description purpose.

The influence of knowledge management practices on e-government success: A proposed framework tested

This paper aims to examine the perceived influence of knowledge management (KM) practices on the success of e-government initiatives. This paper proposes a framework depicting the overall perspective of the interactions between the environment and KM practices and associated processes in the context of e-government.,A conceptual framework was built to set the stage for empirical analysis, which included four major constituents: IT infrastructure, administrative issues, KM practices and e-government projects success. A sample of 181 civil servants completed a survey measuring the factors included in the research model. Structural equation modeling technique was used to test the model.,Results have identified IT infrastructure and administrative issues as significant predictors of e-government projects’ success, where the relationship was mediated by KM practices. The model explained 52.7 per cent of the variance in e-government success.,Governments need to enforce policies to encourage KM practices and make available the needed infrastructure for such environment. The sample size and the new Arabic survey used in the study are the major limitations, where more research is encouraged to validate the instrument and generalize the findings to different environments.,This study is the first in Jordan, and one of the few that related e-government to KM practices by proposing a comprehensive model that sums the factors related to such relationship. Its value stems from its sample of public employees and the support of its proposed framework.

Exploring Factors Affecting Users' Satisfaction Toward E-Learning Systems

E-learning is emerging as thenewphenomenonofmodern education.Universities are adopting e-learning as a strategy for the improving the teaching/learning process. The primary question addressedinthispaperisrelatedtothefactorsinfluencingtheadoptionofe-learning.Anintegrated modelwasusedtoexplorethefactorsinfluencingstudents’satisfactionwithe-learninginJordan. The model adopted five variables from the technology acceptance model, Delone and McLean modelandthesocialcognitivetheorytopredictstudents’satisfactionwithe-learning.Asampleof 386studentswasutilizedandaninstrumentwith30itemswasused.Resultsindicatedthatperceived easeofuse,perceivedusefulness,systemquality,informationquality,andcomputerself-efficacy aremajorfactorsinfluencingstudents’satisfaction.Thecoefficientofdeterminationestimatedto be0.498,andyieldedafullsupportofallproposedhypotheses.Conclusionsandfutureworkare reportedattheendofthisstudy. KEywoRdS E-Learning, Information Quality, Jordan, Satisfaction, Self-Efficacy, System Quality, TAM

Utilizing Cloud Computing in public sector cases from the world

E-government success requires leadership, huge funds and efforts to overcome the challenges faced by governments especially in developing countries. Cloud computing is an option that can provide governments with lower infrastructure costs and less initial investment than proprietary systems. Other benefits like scalability and flexibility will make cloud computing a tempting option. On the other hand, many challenges face the adoption of such option besides the perception of low control and risks of privacy and security breaches. This paper explored cases from the world for implementing cloud computing in areas like education, evoting, healthcare, lab management, army and other areas.

E-government contribution to better performance by public sector

E-governmentisanewphenomenonthatimprovespublicservicesprovisiontocitizens,improves publicsectorperformance,andenrichesthepoliticalarena.Suchambitiousobjectivesarenotfully investigatedintheliterature,wheremostresearchfocusedontheserviceprovisionarea.Improving publicsector’sperformanceisavitaldimensionofe-governmentbenefitsandaddressesthedemands forcuttingbudgetsandthefinancialsituationsfacingmanygovernmentsacrosstheworld.Thisstudy exploredthee-governmentliteraturetosummarizethereportedcontributionsofe-governmentin relation to improvinggovernmentperformance.Thesecondobjective is toconductanempirical testforourpropositionsbasedonpublicemployees’perceptionsregardingthesetofbenefitsand contributionsallegedbyresearch.Asampleof107publicemployeesfilledasurveysummarizing thecontributionsofe-governmentbasedon6majordimensions.Conclusionsandfutureworkare statedattheend. KEywoRdS Benefits of E-Government, E-Government, Empirical Study, Jordan, Public Sector Performance

The antecedents of trust in social commerce (Review)

Social commerce is a new phenomenon of e-commerce that utilizes social medial platforms and applications to conduct e-commerce activities. Uncertainty and high level of risk are the main characteristics of online environment. Trust is always a critical issue influencing peoples adoption of e-commerce environment. Most studies focused on trust in e-commerce, but there are a limited number of works on the topic of social commerce. In this paper, we reviewed the literature to investigate the antecedents of trust in s-commerce. The Eleven factors were extracted from the literature that are related to the adoption process: Social presence of web, perception of others, interaction with sellers, emotional social support, informational support, positive reviews, word of mouth, affective influence, brand influence, advertising value, and viral reach prospects. A proposed framework is depicted at the end for future testing.