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The Influence of Culture on the Successful Implementation of ICT Projects in Omani E-Government

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The Influence of Culture on the Successful Implementation of ICT Projects in Omani E-Government The Influence of Culture on the Successful Implementation of ICT Projects in Omani E-government An Explanatory Approach Using a Multiple Case Studies Strategy from an Information Systems Perspective A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Zamzam Saif Al-Lamki to The School of Computer Science and Statistics Trinity College Dublin Supervisors: Dr. Aideen Keaney Dr. Frank Bannister July 2018 DECLARATION I confirm that this study is wholly my own work. The thesis does not incorporate, without proper acknowledgement, any material submitted previously for a degree or a diploma at any university. I also declare that this work is original and has not been submitted previously for any degree award. I declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I declare that the ideas, results, findings and conclusions reported in this thesis are entirely my own efforts. I also declare that this thesis has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other university and it is entirely my own work. I agree to allow the library to do so on my behalf, subject to Irish Copyright Legislation and Trinity College Library conditions of use and acknowledgement. __________________ Zamzam Al-Lamki 31/7/2018 SUMMARY To date, there have been relatively few studies which have investigated the impact of culture on e-government implementation. Of these, some have focused on failed e-government projects while others have sought to identify the factors leading to success. However, the limited number and scope of studies to date has meant that the impact of culture on public sector ICT implementation is still not well understood. The research described contributes to improving our understanding of this phenomenon by investigating the impact of culture on the successful implementation of four ICT projects in the Omani public sector. The objective of the research was to gain a deeper understanding both of the factors which can support such success and those which may hinder it. This gap in our knowledge has a specific significance when it comes to e-government projects where cultural dimensions typically go well beyond the boundaries of the implementing organisation itself. This is something that is particularly the case in Arab countries. The research follows a mixed methods sequential explanatory research design. This guides the direction of the collection of the data, the analysis of data, and the mixture of quantitative and qualitative data in multiple case studies. The mixed methods approach is adopted to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon under investigation, i.e. effects of cultural dimensions on the successful implementation of ICT in Omani public organisations. The quantitative data were collected and analysed in the first stage of the research (a survey of 857 employees). In the second stage, 41 semi-structured interviews were undertaken and analysed. This strategy is particularly useful when unexpected findings emerge from the first stage of quantitative research, as the researcher can then investigate these in more detail in the qualitative stage. This strategy also provides further confirmation for the research model and answers the research questions. The findings from this research in some cases confirm those found in other studies and in a number of instances contradict those found in previous work. The findings show of the six national culture dimensions tested against the user satisfaction rating regarding the use of the systems in four public organisations, only three dimensions, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism/Collectivism and Indulgence/Restraint were found to exert a significant influence on the successful implementation of ICT projects in Oman. For organisation culture, the findings also show that two dimensions out of four Need for Security and Results-Oriented were shown to have an impact on successful ICT implementation in e- iii government projects. In addition, all seven workplace factors namely Self-Efficacy, Peer Influence, Resistance to Change, Legacy System, Top Management Support, Project Management Standards and Communication are found to significantly influence ICT implementation. The results of this study showed that Self-Efficacy scored the highest correlation of factors with ICT, followed by Top Management Support while Resistance to Change displayed the lowest correlation with ICT success. This study has also revealed the nature and correlation between the different dimensions/factors related to (national and organisational) culture and the workplace and how this correlation contributes to successful of ICT implementation. Further, this study identified and explored four new dimensions and factors that may stimulate successful ICT implementation in the Omani context which has presented the key findings of the qualitative data. These dimensions/factors are identified as tolerance, effective leadership, experts in ICT and situational-awareness. To date, culture has not yet received as much concern or attention as it deserves in the world of e-government studies is still not well understood, especially when it comes to the public sector. This study addresses this gap and the extant literature, and the research findings provide both a theoretical and a practical contribution in the field of e-government. The results of the research include a preliminary framework that captures the factors that influence the successful implementation of ICT. The findings of this research can inform not only further studies of successful implementation of ICT in e-government projects in public sector, but also those based on other studies of information systems such as e-commerce, e- learning, e-voting in public and private sectors. The findings also have practical implications for research in Oman. iv DEDICATION O Allah! All praise and gratitude be to You. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Having reached the end of the journey of my research and after sincerely thanking Allah for all the blessings, I would like to thank all those who have helped me in completing this piece of academic study. This thesis is dedicated to the soul of my father who encouraged me to be the best I can be, to have high expectations and to fight hard for what I believe. I feel he is always with me supporting and guiding. Great and sincere thanks to my mother for her daily prayers. She has supported me throughout my life and have really be exerting enormous efforts to make me who I am. She is always proud of my achievements. My husband, Mohammed, his love, understanding and encouragement have helped me overcome all the difficulties and challenges. He supported me in every step of my study. He always provided me with best opportunities in life. I owe my sincere thanks and gratitude to my sons and my daughters (Muntasir, Mataz, AL Anoud, Ghaida and Fatima( whose encouragement, support and prayers from start to finish have helped me greatly to complete this work. My first grandchild Neam, the moon of my life, has always been a source of joy to me. I would also like to thank my brother, Dr. Nabhan Al-lamki, for his exceptional guidance, support and assistance throughout the research process. Special gratitude is owed to my supervisors, Dr. Frank Bannister and Dr. Aideen Keaney for their veritable advice and guidance throughout the various stages of my study without which I could have never done this research. Despite your busy schedules, you have always been of great support and encouragement to me. I do really appreciate all the efforts you made in providing me with the valuable feedback and motivating discussions on the countless drafts of this study. Thanks go to all staff from the Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Civil Service and Ministry of Health in Sultanate of Oman who cooperated with me throughout the course of this research and coordinated the data collection process. Special thanks also go to the research participants (Ministers and all other Ministries’ officials and staff) in Oman. vi Thanks to all friends for their support and encouragement. Very special thanks go to all members of my family, especially my brothers and sisters, for the assistance they provided me with. Words cannot express the amount of gratitude that I have for all of you. vii ABSTRACT Given the importance of ICT in the modern world, it is surprising that so little attention is paid to the impact of culture on the success of the implementation of ICT. While an enormous amount of research has gone into understanding the factors that can hinder the successful implementation of ICT, the impact of culture has been largely ignored. This lacuna has a particular significance when it comes to e-government projects where cultural dimensions normally go well beyond the boundaries of the implementing organisation. As a result of this gap, any study investigating the impact of culture on ICT project success, including this one, currently lacks a validated theory with which to understand the impact of cultural factors on e-government projects and, in the case of this research, specifically in Omani public sector. More specifically, there seems to be a lack of knowledge on how culture affects the success of ICT implementation in public organisations. A major reason for this gap in research is the absence of an overlap between those who research culture and those who study information systems (IS) success. Existing IS success models focus on other factors such as systems quality and ease of use, generally ignoring the more subtle, but potentially equally important impact of culture. This research first identified cultural variations in four public organisations in Oman and then investigated how these variations and characteristics of national culture affect the degree of success of ICT projects in these organisations. This investigation used a mixed of quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the culture of each organisation, the culture within the ICT project teams and how both of these sat within the broader national culture of Oman.
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