NASCENT CONNECTIONS 2013

Proceedings of Swansea University Business School

Postgraduate Research Conference

15 May 2013

Edited by Y.K. Dwivedi, N. Koenig-Lewis, A. Pullen,

E. Robbins, A. Simintiras

i

Nascent Connections 2013

Proceedings of Business School Postgraduate Research Conference

Swansea University

15 May 2013

Edited by Y. Dwivedi, N. Koenig-Lewis, A. Pullen, E. Robbins and A. Simintiras

ii

First paperback edition printed 2013 in the United Kingdom

ISBN 978-0-9576423-0-0

Published by Business School, Swansea University

Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this publication, the publisher

and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions.

iii

Foreword

Dr Deborah Fitzsimmonds

Dean of Academic Board (Research)

Swansea University

Our postgraduate research community at Swansea University is vital to creating the next

generation of researchers and we are proud of the success and achievement of our students.

Your contribution is central to the University’s aspirations as a research intensive institution

delivering world-leading research. To help foster success, the Academic Board (Research) is

committed to supporting departments in delivering high quality supervision, training and

research environments for our research students. I am delighted to have the opportunity to

hear the exciting and ground breaking postgraduate research being undertaken within the

Business School. I look forward to sharing this day with you.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof Antonis Simintiras and the Business School for

financially supporting the first Postgraduate Research Conference, Nascent

Connections 2013.

The conference chairs are especially grateful to Liz Robbins, Postgraduate Research

Administrator for the College of Business, Economics and Law. Without her

tremendous effort, hard work and attention to detail, this first Business School

Postgraduate Research Conference 2013 would have not been possible.

All of the papers included in these proceedings have been through a double-blind

peer-review process, and we would like to thank the students who submitted their

work and the academics of the Swansea University Business School who kindly acted

as reviewers.

Our thanks also go to Mango Bikes and the Chartered Institute of Marketing for

sponsoring our prizes.

Dr Yogesh Dwivedi, Dr Nicole Koenig-Lewis, Prof Alison Pullen, Prof Antonis

Simintiras (Conference Chairs)

May 2013

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Nascent Connections 2013 – Introduction

Y. Dwivedi, N. Koenig Lewis, A. Pullen, E. Robbins and A. Simintiras

It gives us great pleasure to introduce the proceedings of Nascent Connections 2013,

the inaugural conference hosted by Swansea University Business School for

Postgraduate Research Students. As the name suggests, students participating in the

conference will be showcasing new research which they hope will stimulate dialogue

and networking with other members of their academic community. We hope the event

will set down roots in this founding year and act as a precedent for many more

successful events in the future.

This introductory article briefly outlines the importance and relevance of events such

as these to the doctoral researcher before going on to exploring the opportunities and

obstacles that students might discover as they make their way through their research.

The concluding section of the introduction provides a summary of the submissions

presented in the proceedings and an overview of their key messages.

Facilitating successful research for the doctoral student

One of the chief aims of a doctoral student is to find their place within their research

community and to understand the academic, social and political dimensions of a

world in which they will need to compete in order to further their careers. Whilst

studying for a research degree can be an isolating experience at times, it should also

represent the beginning of an exchange of knowledge, ideas and aspirations which

have the potential to contribute to world leading research.

Conference attendance and, specifically, presentation of research, introduces the

student to the community of learning of which they have chosen to be a part. It

provides a dynamic and specialist forum in which they can share their own research

whilst also absorbing the ideas and thoughts of others, making connections and

contrasts which lead to new or revised lines of thought. It is these nascent

connections, just emerging and beginning to develop which can enhance the

originality of the research and lead it in directions not initially anticipated.

Presenting at an academic conference not only gives students valuable experience of

speaking to an audience of experts in their field of research, it also allows them to

acquire a new level of self-confidence. Presenting with conviction and responding

thoughtfully to questioning requires a true commitment to the research, a true passion

for the direction it is taking and it is at these events that students come to realise their

dedication to their subject. This in turn encourages them to explore the thoughts of

others, to allow their research to be questioned by the community and to refine their

thinking without being afraid of the possible effect this might have on the outcome.

Conference attendance has another vital dimension for students. As well as exhibiting

their own individual research, they are also given the opportunity to develop as active

and thoughtful participants of an academic audience. Engaging with the work of

others, asking questions and delving into detail helps to facilitate the emergence of a

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dialogue which in itself is the essence of learning and discovery (Cryer 2006). It is

through this vocalisation and response that new ideas can be advanced and allowed to

flourish.

Whether the conference is international, national, regional or local, the results and

benefits are the same. Connections, established between people, groups, institutions

and, essentially, ideas, are the lifeblood of research with the potential to produce

world changing results.

Such results are not easily obtained. The path to obtaining a research degree is

notoriously beset with unexpected obstacles and tempting crossroads which offer both

useful and misleading directions to students. Reaching the end of this path, complete

with a degree requires tenacity, self-belief and above all the determination to make a

contribution to the chosen topic. The three years of study should develop the student’s

thinking, provide a rewarding experience and offer a starting point for the next stage

in their career. In order to reach this point, a sense of perspective must be retained; the

PhD is not self-defining, neither is it the means to an end, rather it is an opportunity to

discover an abundance of new beginnings.

Studying for a PhD tests both the intellectual and psychological strength of the

individual (Phillips and Pugh 2010). The nature of research coupled with the relative

inexperience of the postgraduate student can mean that feelings of isolation and a lack

of motivation can overcome the essence of the study itself. A vicious cycle can then

come into play, leading the student further into self-doubt and away from the true

purpose of the research – to explore, ask questions, make corrections and be inspired.

Students often assert great pressure on themselves, expecting too much and allowing

the PhD to take control of them. A pragmatic and practical approach to undertaking a

research degree can avoid this and allow the student to be in control, not of something

solid and unmoving, but of a fluid, ever-changing process leading to original and

exciting discoveries.

One of the most important pitfalls to overcome as a research student is the loss of

motivation. More than ever, students will find themselves working independently,

making choices and decisions about their research and not always having someone

else to help maintain their focus. Inevitably, the three years which initially seem like

an eternity, can slip away, prey to drifting thoughts and lack of any concrete goals

aside from the mammoth deadline looming at the end. Essential to avoiding this is the

production of a realistic time plan, developed at the start and kept to as much as

possible until the end. This plan must include long and short term goals which can be

agreed with supervisors and can also relate to University stipulated progression points

(Phillips and Pugh 2010). These will provide positive pressure which will help

students maintain an on-going focus even when motivation begins to wane.

Such goals are also important in order to maintain a grasp of reality during the PhD. It

is easy for students to allow the research project to grow too big and to start exploring

all of the inevitable offshoots that the results reveal. It is essential for students to

remember that whilst research in general does not necessarily have a definitive end,

this particular project has a time limit, an overall deadline which needs to be met.

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Although it is very tempting to be distracted by new directions, having a time plan

established from the start will allow the student to understand what is achievable in

the time available. The unexplored waters will still be there, ready to be chartered,

once the project is finished. Indeed the student will then be far better equipped with

knowledge and skills to do so.

Students can experience feelings of immense self-doubt whilst studying for their

research degrees and much of this comes from the isolation they can feel as they try to

make their way through a seemingly boundless topic (Phillips and Pugh 2010). Whilst

it is essential to have the time and space alone to delve into the detail of this topic, as

human beings students also need the opportunity to vocalise their thoughts, concerns

and questions to others. Whilst working as an individual, social and academic

stimulation from others is vital and students should aim to build and maintain their

own support network of friends and colleagues. Peer support is very powerful in its

mutuality and it is these connections which can help students get through the most

challenging times of their research degrees. Working alone can be tempting as the

removal of ‘distractions’ can make it seem as if there is more time to focus on the task

at hand. However, working in a busy research environment is far more conducive to

productive thinking. Sharing moments of despair and euphoria can help with

motivation and keep the size of the project in perspective. Although the PhD

‘belongs’ to one individual, it is always a part of something much bigger in the same

way that the individual is a part of their own research community.

As well as connecting with peers, the doctoral student must also develop a beneficial

relationship with their supervisor. There is a delicate balance between dependence

and independence and the student should naturally migrate from one to the other over

the three years (Delamont and Atkinson 2004). Students should make use of their

supervisor at the beginning of the period of research when the topic seems huge and

direction is difficult to glean. The supervisor should facilitate the immersion of the

student in the subject, assisting them with the development of a realistic work plan

and then allowing them to gain a steady control of the subject so that the dependence

will naturally diminish. A supervisor’s role as an expert in the field should be to

impart experience to the student but also to equip them with the tools of enquiry they

need to become successful as researchers in their own right.

Completing a PhD does not mean that a line of investigation is closed between the

covers of the thesis. It represents a genesis which allows the student, now a fully-

fledged researcher, to use the skills and knowledge acquired to take their ideas

forwards, or sideways or see them metamorphose into something altogether new and

unexplored. There is not one single outcome of a research degree; instead there is a

synthesis of results which have limitless possibilities for further enquiry. Moreover, a

researcher has been equipped with the analytic and inquiring mind needed for these

possibilities to be explored.

Overview of research

The conference proceedings include submissions from 17 PhD and MPhil students

within the Business School. They are made up of 8 conceptual papers and 4 full

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papers. 7 abstracts are also included which will be presented as posters during the

conference. Submissions reflect some of the research active areas within the School,

including Technology and Innovation Management, Marketing and People,

Organisations and Work. A synthesis of these submissions is presented here.

The proceedings are opened with a group of papers which explore the use of a range

of models to address consumer and public sector adoption of information technology

(IT). In the first paper Slade seeks to determine the most appropriate model to be

employed to undertake novel research into mobile payment adoption in the UK.

Babdullah builds on previous research to explore the application of UTAUT2

(Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) to identify factors

contributing to IT consumer acceptance in Saudi Arabia. Factors that influence Indian

citizens’ adoption of an online PAN card registration system are explored by Rana

with a focus on trust, risk and self-efficacy. Using a review of the literature as a basis,

Kapoor focuses on the attributes of four recent innovations in order to develop a

research model which explores factors affecting consumer adoption of such

innovations. Miller analyses the divide between business and IT communities and

present a theoretical basis for interrogation of the presence of social capital as a

potential means of aligning these communities. The paper introduces a qualitative

study which lays the ground for further empirical research. Alkhowaiter presents an

extensive literature review on the subject of HRIS (Human Resources Information

Systems) before introducing a study which combines the UTAUT and D&M IS

(DeLone and McLean IS Success) models in order to explore the adoption and

success of HRIS in Saudi Arabia. UTAUT2 is then explored further by Alawan in a

paper which looks at the adoption of self-service technology in Jordan and how

various factors affect this. The study proposes the use of quantitative field survey in

order to focus specifically on the Jordanian banking context. A collection of three

abstracts complete this group of submissions. The first two explore the acceptance

and adoption of e-government in different contexts. Aralyat attempts to gather

empirical data in order to investigate factors affecting e-government adoption in the

Jordanian context while Alhamzi focuses on the challenges that culture presents to the

adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia. On a similar theme, Alatawi examines the

importance and influence of environmental factors on the adoption of knowledge

management systems (KMS) in the Saudi Arabian public sector.

The following two papers present studies of various effects of marketing on consumer

behaviour. Based on a review of the literature on experiential marketing, Sibbald

introduces research into the experiential values of purchasing through online and

offline distribution channels. Using a form of qualitative webnography, Warr

examines the impact of social networking on music consumption and identity and

how they are inextricably linked. An abstract by Yang completes this section with a

focus on developing a new theoretical model which analyses how gamification can

act as a powerful influence on brand perceptions.

The penultimate section begins with an investigation into workforce development,

Wintersberger interrogates the sustainability of work within low fares airlines in India

and Brazil. The paper explores the attempt to achieve both cost and quality

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effectiveness and, therefore, the treatment of workers as both dependable and

disposable. Two abstracts follow this by exploring various factors affecting the

employment of female workers. Al-Suwaileh looks at the work-life balance for

Kuwaiti mothers and how gender affects both their family and working lives,

specifically those employed in management roles. Alkothami analyses the various

social and cultural factors that affect the nursing turnover in Saudi Arabia.

The proceedings are closed with a discussion of some of the characteristics of

different types of failure data. Tudor applies both a Weibull distribution and an

empirical distribution to the data considered in the paper.

Conclusion

This range of research showcased by doctoral students represents a part of the

dynamic and inquisitive community which has developed within the Business School.

The level of innovation, both in terms of subject area and approach, reflects the

development of analytic, investigative minds and the desire to create and share

something relevant, new and inspirational. We hope that this flagship event offers a

rich experience to its participants and audience alike and encourages future students

to contribute their own research to a similar forum.

References

Cryer, P. (2006) The Research Student’s Guide to Success. Buckingham: Open

University Press.

Delamont, S., Atkinson, P. and Parry, O. (2004) Supervising the Doctorate. A Guide

to Success (2nd Edition). Berkshire: McGraw Hill.

Phillips, E.M and Pugh, D.S (2010) How To Get A PhD: A Handbook for Students

and their Supervisors (5th Edition). Berkshire: McGraw Hill.

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Contents

Developing a theoretically grounded model to explore adoption of mobile

payments

Emma Slade

1

Evaluating the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

(UTAUT2) in the Saudi Arabian context

Abdullah Baabdullah

8

Examining Adoption of Online PAN Card Registration System: A Context

of Indian EGov System

Nripendra Rana

17

Innovation-attributes roles in the contemporary innovation adoption

research: An Investigation

Kawaljeet Kapoor

25

Searching for the engine of Business-IT alignment in social capital

Sian Miller

32

Examining the factors influencing the Adoption and Success of Human

Resource Information Systems in Saudi Public Sector Organization

Wassan Alkhowaiter

39

Adoption of Self-Service Technology by Jordanian Customers

Ali Alawan

47

Citizen Adoption of Electronic Government in Jordanian Context

Mohammad Alryalat

55

Evaluating the Cultural Impact on E-government Adoption: A Citizen

Centric View of Saudi Arabia

Khalid Alhamzi

57

Adoption of Knowledge Management Systems in Saudi Arabian Public

Sector Organisations: Role of Institutional Factors

Fatmah Alatawi

59

Will mobile payments prevail in the UK?

Emma Slade

61

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Developing a framework to compare the effect of distribution channels on

consumer behaviour

Francesca Sibbald

62

The Impact of Online Social Networking on Music Consumption and

Identity

Richard Warr

69

The Impact of Gamification on Brand Perception Enhancement

Yang Yang

71

HRM at Low Fares Airlines in BRICs: Commitment and Insecurity

Daniel Wintersberger

72

Barriers of culture, gender and family facing Kuwaiti mothers employed in

high and middle management in the education sector

Mai Al-Suwaileh

79

The Influence of Social and Cultural Factors on the Turnover Intentions of

Saudi Female Nurses

Matrah Alkothami

81

The analysis of failure data and warranty claims data: A comparison and

some lessons for automotive manufacturers

Patrick Tudor

83

1

Developing a theoretically grounded model to explore adoption of

mobile payments

Emma L Slade, Michael D Williams, Yogesh K Dwivedi

Abstract

So far mobile payment systems have not been widely adopted in Europe and North

America. Analysis of the existing literature revealed that no empirical mobile

payment adoption research has been conducted in the context of the UK to date;

therefore, the researchers seek to fill this current void. In order to achieve this, this

study sought to develop a theoretically grounded adoption model in order to examine

mobile payment adoption in the UK. Based on the current research findings a

theoretically grounded model has been developed by extending UTAUT2 with self-

efficacy, innovativeness, trialability, perceived risk and trust.

Keywords: Mobile payment (m-payment), Adoption, UK, UTAUT2, Extension

Introduction

Mobile payments (m-payments) combine payment systems with mobile devices and

services to provide users with the ability to initiate, authorize, and complete a

financial transaction in which money or funds are transferred over mobile network or

wireless communication technologies to the receiver through the use of a mobile

device (Chandra et al., 2010; Lu et al., 2011). The advantages of m-payment systems

are that they are not restricted to certain transaction situations, they have the benefit of

mobility, and are not restricted to the availability of ATMs (Gerpott & Kornmeier,

2009; Mallat, 2007). Forecasts by Gartner (2012) suggest that m-payment systems

will have 448 million users and $617 billion in transaction value worldwide by 2016.

Nevertheless, with the exception of a handful of countries, the application of various

m-payment solutions has not been as successful in Europe and North America in

comparison with Asian and developing countries, and despite their availability m-

payment systems are yet to reach critical mass in the UK. Therefore, consumer

adoption behaviour in relation to m-payments in the UK is a key issue in order to

provide important managerial information for the development and marketing of m-

payment systems according to consumers’ needs (Mallat, 2007; Schierz et al., 2010).

Despite this importance, no empirical mobile payment adoption research has been

conducted in the context of the UK to date, leaving an important void that needs to be

filled.

The remainder of this paper will be as follows. Firstly, from reviewing the existing

adoption research relating to mobile commerce (m-commerce), mobile banking (m-

banking), and m-payment, we will be able to highlight the most commonly used IS

adoption theories employed in this context to date. We will then explore which IS

adoption model would be appropriate to extend in order to examine UK consumer m-

payment adoption. From analysis of the relationships examined by the existing studies

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we will then propose the extensions to the selected theory. Finally the paper will be

concluded and potential avenues for future research discussed.

Literature review

A review of the extant literature via Google Scholar® and ISI Web of Knowledge®

revealed that 20 quantitative studies had been conducted relating to m-payment

adoption. Therefore as m-payments and m-banking are both a part of m-commerce, it

was decided to examine quantitative adoption research relating to all three

innovations for the development of the conceptual model. Combined, 56 studies were

found to be appropriate for inclusion. Analysis of the 56 quantitative studies revealed

that the models used by at least four or more of the m-commerce, m-banking, and m-

payment studies were the Diffusion of Innovation theory (DOI), the Technology

Acceptance Model (TAM), and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of

Technology (UTAUT).

Four of the 56 quantitative studies examining acceptance of m-commerce, m-banking,

and m-payments have applied DOI. Kapoor et al. (2013) employed DOI in order to

examine adoption of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s mobile

ticketing service, extending it with constructs focussed on cost and risk. Although the

model explained 58.4 per cent of variance in behavioural intention, it was less

successful in predicting actual use, explaining just 26.4 per cent.

TAM is the most widely used theory in adoption research within the m-commerce, m-

banking, and m-payment context, with 28 of the 56 quantitative studies utilising the

model. Chandra et al. (2010) extended TAM with trust to explore adoption of m-

payments in Singapore and found that trust was the most significant predictor of

behavioural intention. Shin (2010) explored adoption of m-payments in the US with

an extended model of TAM; again, trust was found to be the most significant

predictor of behavioural intention, although attitude and perceived risk were also

highly significant.

Six of the quantitative m-commerce, m-banking, and m-payment adoption studies

have employed UTAUT. Hongxia et al. (2011) extended UTAUT with perceived risk

and cost to examine adoption of m-payments in China. Wang & Yi (2012) also

applied an extended UTAUT to examine adoption of m-payments in China. Of the six

studies, only Yu (2012) has included examination of the moderating variables,

although even this study only examined the effect of two of UTAUT’s four

moderators, and only examined the effect of each of these singularly rather than

comparing their moderating effects alone and in tandem.

Selection of theoretical model

UTAUT has been the second most used model to examine m-commerce, m-banking,

and m-payment adoption. In a similar vein to other IS adoption models such as TAM,

UTAUT was originally developed to explain employee technology acceptance within

an organizational context. Based on a further review of the extant literature,

Venkatesh et al. (2012) have recently proposed the extension of UTAUT, to what they

3

termed UTAUT2, in order to tailor it to the consumer technology acceptance context.

In addition to UTAUT’s four original constructs, performance expectancy, effort

expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions, UTAUT2 incorporates

hedonic motivation, price value, and habit (Table 1). Moreover, voluntariness of use

has been removed as a moderating variable assuming that consumer behaviours are

completely voluntary, thus leaving the three original moderators, gender, age and

experience. Used to examine mobile internet, a technology used by some m-payment

systems, UTAUT2, compared with UTAUT, produced a substantial improvement in

the explained variance of behavioural intention, from 56 per cent to 74 per cent, and

also a significant improvement in the explained variance of usage, from 40 per cent to

52 per cent. Given the constraints of this paper, please refer to Venkatesh et al. (2012)

for further explanation of UTAUT2’s relationships.

Whilst some models within the IS context have reached a relative level of maturity,

the same cannot be said of UTAUT2 for which replication and generalizability

studies, as well as those examining the model’s predictive validity, are still much

more limited in number. Venkatesh et al. (2012) suggested that future research should

apply UTAUT2 in different countries, across different age groups, and on different

technologies. Based on these recommendations, and as UTAUT has already been

applied by existing m-payment adoption research, then the selection of UTAUT2 to

examine adoption of m-payments in the UK would provide a valuable contribution to

both theoretical and practical knowledge.

Table 1. Overview of UTAUT2’s hypotheses

Hypothesis Explanation

H1a Age, gender, and experience will moderate the effect of habit on behavioural

intention, such that the effect will be stronger for older men with high levels of

experience.

H1b Age, gender, and experience will moderate the effect of habit on technology

use, such that the effect will be stronger for older men with high levels of

experience.

H2a Age and gender will moderate the effect of facilitating conditions on

behavioural intention, such that the effect will be stronger for older women.

H2b Age and experience will moderate the effect of facilitating conditions on

technology use, such that the effect will be stronger for older consumers with

increasing experience.

H3 Age, gender, and experience will moderate the effect of hedonic motivation

on behavioural intention, such that the effect will be stronger among younger

men with limited experience.

H4 Age and gender will moderate the effect of performance expectancy on

behavioural intention, such that the effect will be stronger for younger men.

H5 Age, gender, and experience will moderate the effect of effort expectancy on

behavioural intention, such that the effect will be stronger for older women

with limited experience.

4

H6 Age, gender and experience will moderate the effect of social influence on

behavioural intention, such that the effect will be stronger for older women

with limited experience.

H7 Age and gender will moderate the effect of price value on behavioural

intention, such that the effect will be stronger for older women.

H8 Experience will moderate the effect of behavioural intention on technology

use, such that the effect will be stronger for consumers with limited

experience.

Proposed extension of UTAUT2

Almost all of the adoption studies found in the context of m-commerce, m-banking,

and m-payment have extended a core model such as DOI, TAM, and UTAUT with

relationships from other models or studies. When Aldás-Manzano et al. (2009)

compared TAM with their extended model the variance explained was shown to

increase as a result of the extension. Moreover, as a further recommendation,

Venkatesh et al. (2012) suggested that future research should attempt to identify other

key constructs salient to different research contexts in order to extend UTAUT2. For

these reasons, the extension of UTAUT2 to examine UK consumer adoption of m-

payments is justified.

A thorough review of the existing relationships tested between dependent and

independent variables of the 56 quantitative m-commerce, m-banking, and m-

payment studies was conducted. It was revealed that a total of 269 relationships had

been examined by the 56 studies, of which 63 relationships had been observed by two

or more different studies. Of these 63 relationships several constructs are not

represented in UTAUT2. Based on the suitability for the context of m-payments, self-

efficacy, innovativeness, trialability, perceived risk, and trust were selected from

these relationships and proposed as extensions to UTAUT2.

In the arena of IS, self-efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to use a technology to

accomplish a task (Compeau & Higgins, 1995). Four m-commerce, m-banking, and

m-payment adoption studies have found self-efficacy to significantly predict

behavioural intention. Although Venkatesh et al. (2003) did not find self-efficacy to

have a role in UTAUT, as a result of its effect being captured by effort expectancy,

Khalifa & Shen (2008) found that when self-efficacy was included as a direct

antecedent of intention and perceived ease of use, the direct effect of perceived ease

of use on intention was no longer significant. This suggests that in the context of m-

commerce, m-banking, and m-payment, self-efficacy may not be captured by effort

expectancy and should therefore be included as an extension of UTAUT2. Therefore,

it is proposed that:

H9: Self-efficacy positively affects behavioural intention to use m-payments

Innovativeness reflects the willingness of an individual to try a concept, product or

service that is new in the context of their experience (Rogers, 1995). Venkatesh et al.

(2012) did not incorporate innovativeness as a construct in its own right as it was

5

suggested that innovativeness is accounted for by the effect of hedonic motivation on

behavioural intention moderated by age, gender and experience. Although

innovativeness is related with hedonic motivation, it is different in that hedonic

motivation looks at the perceived enjoyment of the technology in question whereas

innovativeness looks at the individual’s predisposition to adopt technology in general

relative to others. In the context of m-commerce, m-banking, and m-payment,

innovativeness has been found to significantly predict behavioural intention (Aldás-

Manzano et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2012). Moreover, Aldás-Manzano et al. (2009)

found innovativeness to be the most significant predictor of behavioural intention.

Therefore, it is proposed that:

H10: Innovativeness positively affects behavioural intention to use m-payments

Trialability is derived from DOI. It is argued that perceptions of trialability facilitate

innovation adoption because it makes potential adopters more comfortable with the

technology if they think they can experiment with it for a limited time first (Rogers,

1995). In the m-commerce, m-banking, and m-payment context, three studies that

have examined the effect of trialability on behavioural intention have found it to have

a significant effect. Moreover, Kapoor et al. (2013) found that trialability had a

greater influence on behavioural intention than relative advantage, complexity and

compatibility, which had previously been identified by Tornatzky & Klein (1982) as

the three consistently significant constructs. Therefore, it is proposed that:

H11: Trialability positively affects behavioural intention to use m-payments

A consumers’ perception of risk is derived from feelings of uncertainty or anxiety

about the behaviour and the seriousness of the possible outcomes of the behaviour

(Shin, 2010). The effect of anxiety was found to be insignificant by Venkatesh et al.

(2003) when developing the original UTAUT. However, anxiety is different from

perceived risk as it focuses on emotional, rather than technological, concerns.

Moreover, UTAUT was tested in the organizational, rather than consumer, context.

Given the infancy of m-payment systems and the uncertainty of the environment then

it is likely that adoption of m-payments will be negatively affected by perceptions of

risk. Perceived risk has been treated as both a unitary and multidimensional concept.

The effect of perceived risk, as a singular construct, on behavioural intention has been

proven to be significant by 12 studies in the context of m-commerce, m-banking, and

m-payment. Given that the inclusion of perceived risk as a singular, rather than

multidimensional, construct has proven successful by a large number of studies then,

for the purpose of parsimony, we propose the extension of UTAUT2 with one

construct to measure perceived risk. Therefore, it is proposed that:

H12: Perceived risk negatively affects behavioural intention to use m-payments

Trust is a subjective belief that a party will fulfil their obligations and it plays an

important role in uncertain financial transactions where users of the system are

vulnerable to financial loss (Gefen et al., 2003; Lu et al., 2011). Similarly to perceived

risk, trust has also been treated as both a unitary and multidimensional concept. The

6

effect of trust, as a unitary construct, on behavioural intention has been found to be

significant by a total of fourteen studies in the m-commerce, m-banking, and m-

payment context. In light of this, we propose the extension of UTAUT2 with one

construct to measure trust. Therefore, it is proposed that:

H13a: Trust positively affects behavioural intention to use m-payments

Trust can also help to reduce high perceptions of risk as trust helps users to overcome

uncertainty or anxiety of the behaviour and its possible outcomes (McKnight et al.,

2002). Gefen et al. (2003) suggested that more research should examine the

relationship between trust and perceived risk. The effect of trust, as a unitary

construct, on perceived risk has been found to be significant by four studies in the m-

commerce, m-banking, and m-payment context. Therefore, it is proposed that:

H13b: Trust negatively affects perceived risk of m-payments

Conclusion

Despite the existence of m-payment adoption research in a variety of different

contexts, examination of m-payment adoption in the UK has not currently been

undertaken. This study sought to develop a theoretically grounded adoption model in

order to examine m-payment adoption in the UK. Based on the existing research in

this context, UTAUT2 has been utilised and extended with self-efficacy,

innovativeness, trialability, perceived risk, and trust. Future research should conduct

empirical research in this context using this theoretically grounded model in order to

make a contribution to knowledge. In line with UTAUT2 it may also be useful to

examine the effects of the moderating variables on the proposed extensions.

References

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Gerpott, T. & Kornmeier, K. (2009). Determinants of customer acceptance of mobile

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information technology: extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of

technology. MIS Quarterly, 36(1), 157-178.

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information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425-478.

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adoption across time: An empirical study of the effects of behavioural beliefs,

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8

Evaluating the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

(UTAUT2) in the Saudi Arabian context

Abdullah M Baabdullah, Yogesh K Dwivedi Michael D Williams

Abstract

Through the analysis of several previous studies, the purpose of this research is to

present an overview of the acceptance and use of technology in the Saudi Arabian

context. An extensive literature review has been outlined, grouped and represented by

Internet, M-Commerce, M-Banking, E-Government and M-Government Adoption,

Acceptance, Usage and Diffusion in order to investigate topical and theoretical gaps

that may require further research in the field (example references given at the end of

the paper). This study evaluates the acceptance and use of technology in the Saudi

Arabian context with the spotlight on various theories applied and extended.

Keywords: Acceptance and Use of Technology, Unified Theory of Acceptance and

Use of Technology, Internet, E-government, M-government, Saudi Arabia

1. Introduction

It is true to say that Western countries have contributed significantly towards the

development of emerging technologies and still continue to do so. The acceptance of

emerging technologies outside of the western countries, especially in the Middle

Eastern (ME) countries is not only challenging but also a risk to business and country

due to the strong influence of cultural, social and religious boundaries. Therefore,

end-users' behaviour, limitations, their intentions and related influencing factors

towards the adoption and use of technology are crucial and require extra analysis for

mature understanding, integration and sustainability. The decision makers,

management, developers and designers from governmental service to private

institutional services and from small to large scale enterprises demand a strong

acceptance validation model before business cost for technological deployment. In

this paper, several previous studies have been reviewed and represented by Internet,

M-Commerce, M-Banking, E-Government and M-Government Adoption, Acceptance,

Usage and Diffusion in the Saudi Arabian context in order to investigate topical and

theoretical gaps that can be researched in the future. It is due to the fact that the

adoption of emerging IT has a strong impact on business as well as social

development in the context of developing countries. Over the years, investigation

towards the adoption and use of IT has been conducted using different models such as

the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB),

the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use

of Technology (UTAUT). Based on the extensive literature review outlined in the

coming sections, it is observed that the majority of these studies with extension,

9

medication and testing have been found with significant limitation and future research

recommendations. Therefore, conducting research on new IT/Information System (IS)

will contribute to better understanding of the concept of acceptance and use of

technology not only for Saudi Arabia but also for the international context in order to

identify, modify or determine constructs, relationships or problems related to the

applicability of theories applied or extended to IT/IS like UTAUT2 that was just

generated in 2012. Venkatesh, Thong and Xu (2012) have recommended that future

research can be built on UTAUT2 and applied in different countries, age groups and

technologies by identifying other relevant factors that may develop the usability of

UTAUT. Goodhue (2007) claimed that UTAUT is a powerful model, especially when

it is extended with relevant constructs as it contributes to the understanding of

important phenomena of consumer use of technologies (Bagozzi, 2007). A future

research model can be redefined to conform with the acceptance and use of

technology in the ME and Saudi Arabian context.

2. Methodology

By using various online databases and professional MIS research sources such as Web

of Knowledge, Emerald, EEE Xplore, Business Source Complete (EBSCO), ProQuest

Business Collection, ScienceDirect (Elsevier), SCOPUS (Elsevier), SpringerLink ant

etc., reviewing the acceptance and use of technology in the Saudi Arabian context

will be presented in thematic tables to have a wide look at several previous studies in

order to find future research based on the previous research papers' limitations and

future recommendations. The gap that will be filled with this research lies in the

identification of the factors that affect consumer acceptance and use of IT in the Saudi

Arabian context, as well as the correlation that exists between them. Despite the fact

that past studies have indicated the correlations that exist between consumer

acceptance and use, and factors that include mobility, security, cost, experience of use

etc., a more comprehensive understanding of how these factors actually correlate with

consumer acceptance and use will help to effectively eliminate the gap that exists in

the IT consumer acceptance and use context. This will be done by advising new IT/IS

that can be adopted, and identifying additional constructs, factors, mediators and

relationships related to theories that can be applied or extended on IT/IS as a new

model.

3. Literature Review Analysis

The acceptance and use of technology in the Saudi Arabian context will be presented

in thematic tables and summarised texts; this directs future studies in conducting

further research investigating topical and theoretical gaps based on the previous

studies' limitations and future research recommendations.

10

Theme: Internet Usage/ Citation: (Adaileh, 2012); (Al Nashmi, Cleary, Molleda &

McAdams, 2010); (Al-Asmari, 2005); (Al-Ghaith, Sanzogni & Sandhu, 2010); (Al-

Hawari, Al–Yamani & Izwawa, 2008); (Al-Jetaily, Al-Megbel & Al-Mojaly, 2003);

(Al-Kahtani, Ryan & Jefferson, 2006); (Al-Zoman & Al-Zoman, 2002); (Al-Shohaib,

2005); (Alshankity & Alshawi, 2008); (Foster, Wynn, Rouhana, Polis & Trussell,

2005); (Hattingh, Matthee & Lotriet, 2011); (Hattingh, Matthee & Lotriet, 2012);

(Oshan, 2007); (Simsim, 2011); (Wyne & Hashim Nainar, 2002); (AlGhamdi &

Almohedib, 2011); (Almahroos, 2012); (Breslow & Allagui, 2011); (Ghashghai &

Lewis, 2003); (Sait, Al-Tawil, Ali, S. & Ali, H., 2003); (Sait & Al-Tawil, 2007); (Sait,

Al-Tawil, Khan & Faheemuddin, 2009); (Sait, Al-Tawil & Sanaullah, 2003)

Theme: Internet Adoption/ Citation: (Al-Ghaith, Sanzogni & Sandhu, 2010); (Al-

Shohaib, Al-Kandari & Abdulrahim, 2009); (Alrashid, 2012); (Shalhoub, 2006); (Al-

Shohaib, 2005); (Al-Shohaib, Frederick, Al-Kandari & Dorsher, 2010); (Alsalloum,

2005); (Almobarraz, 2007); (Al-Wehaibi, Al-Wabil, Alshawi & Alshankity, 2008)

Theme: Internet Diffusion / Citation: (Arnum & Conti, 1998); (Loch, Straub &

Kamel, 2003); (Al-Shohaib, 2005); (Beilock & Dimitrova, 2003); (Mathrani &

Alipour, 2010); (Fulih, 2002)

Theme: Internet Ownership/ Citation: (Oghia & Indelicato 2011)

Theme: Internet Effects / Citation: (Albirini, 2008); (Sait, Al-Tawil, Ali, S. & Ali,

H. 2003); (Sait, Al-Tawil, Khan & Faheemuddin, 2009); (Chaurasia, Asma & Ahmed,

2011)

Theme: Internet Pricing/ Citation: (Al-Heizan, 2002)

Theme: Broadband Adoption & Diffusion/ Citation: (Dwivedi, 2008); (Gerami,

2010); (Weerakkody, 2008); (Dwivedi & Weerakkody, 2007); (Dwivedi &

Weerakkody, 2006); (Yates, Gulati & Weiss, 2011); (Gulati & Yates, 2012); (Gulati,

& Yates, 2010); (Williams et al., 2007)

Theme : Other Groups/ Citation: (Al Lily, 2011); (Al-Saggaf & Begg, 2004);

(Hermida, 2002); (Elgohary, 2008); (Alterman, 2000); (Alqudsi-ghabra, Al-Bannai &

Al-Bahrani, 2011); (Anderson, 2007); (Zittrain & Edelman, 2002); (Ostrum, 2011)

Table1: Internet Adoption, Acceptance, Usage and Diffusion in the Saudi Arabia

Context

Through adopting quantitative research and model-based research; using Grounded

Theory Methodology (GTM); conducting interviews and web-based surveys;

designing self-administered questionnaires; following TRI scale; using Diffusion Of

Innovations (DOI) theory, Social Construct Theory and Negotiating adjustment to

KSA: Internet a lifeline to the Real World theory, Internet Technology in the Saudi

Arabian Context has been researched from several aspects as grouped above in

Table1. Internet usage has been widely covered compared to internet acceptance.

However, further research should compare SMEs and large-scale businesses to

determine where the difference in adoption and usage of the internet lies. There is a

need for more detailed discussion of challenges that small businesses face; revealing

some internet functions such as communication, information source and socialisation

will lead to better understanding of the internet usage. It is also important to

encourage stakeholders to develop cultural and practical approaches to enable the

public to take advantage of the benefits brought by technology. The adoption and

usage of the internet is influenced by factors such as education, age, occupation, the

11

changing of people’s perception, trust, security, the characteristics of the adoption of

new technology and privacy of information. Research that only included the online

population could not reflect the views of all people who were not online. Noticeably,

private organisations encourage adopting the current technological innovations to

improve the efficiency and innovation. The per capita income, the level of people’s

openness and liberty determine the diffusion and use of the internet. Developed

countries are adopting new technologies at a faster rate and continue in their states.

The access of websites is also restricted in areas related to religion, social networking,

politics, news channels and entertainment. While some of the sources are grouped

under ‘Internet Effect, Ownership, pricing and other groups’, they provide an

understanding on the various aspects of internet technology. Broadband is a new

technology that improves the speed and quality of internet; the broadband diffusion

significantly relates to the developed countries that have invested heavily in ICT,

implemented good governance, developed highly educated citizens and encouraged

urbanisation. Factors that hindered fast adoption of broadband are the regulation

placed on it, service quality, usage, age, connection type, accommodation type and

usefulness. It clearly seems that Mobile Internet technology has never been

researched in the Saudi Arabian context.

Theme: E-government Acceptance/ Citation: (Alshehri et al, 2012-a); (Alshehri et

al, 2012-c); (Alzahrani, 2011); (Alzahrani, Stahl & Prior, 2012); (Baakeel, 2012);

(Basri, 2012); (Alzahrani & Goodwin, 2012)

Theme: E-government Usage/ Citation: (Abanumy & Mayhew, 2005); (Basri,

2012); (Imran & Gregor, 2007)

Theme: E-government Adoption/ Citation: (Alshehri et al, 2012-a); (Alshehri et al,

2012-b); (Alshehri et al, 2012-c); (Al-Shehry, Fairweather, Prior & Rogerson, 2006);

(Al-Sobhi, 2011); (Al-Sobhi, Kamal & Weerakkody, 2009); (Al-Sobhi, Weerakkody &

Al-Busaidy, 2010); (Al-Sobhi, Weerakkody & El-Haddadeh, 2011); (Al-Sobhi,

Weerakkody & El-Haddadeh, 2012); (Al-Sobhi, Weerakkody & Kamal, 2010);

(Alanezi, Mahmood & Basri, 2011); (Alateyah, Crowder & Wills, 2012); (Alateyah,

Crowder & Wills, 2012); (Aldhabaan, 2012); (Alghamdi, Goodwin & Rampersad,

2011); (Al-Shehry, 2009); (Alshehri & Drew, 2010); (Alshehri, Drew & Alfarraj,

2012); (Alsowoyegh, 2012); (Altameem, 2007); (Rana, Dwivedi & Williams, 2012);

(Al-Shehry, Rogerson, Fairweather & Prior, 2009); (Sharief, & Yahya, 2012)

Theme: E-government Diffusion/ Citation: (Al-Sobhi & Weerakkody, 2010); (Al-

Sobhi, Kamal & Weerakkody, 2009); (Al-Sobhi, Weerakkody & Al-Busaidy, 2010);

(Rorissa, Potnis & Demissie, 2010); (AlGhamdi, Drew & Alkhalaf, 2011)

Theme: E-government Development/ Citation: (Al-Mushayt, Perwej & Haq,

2012); (Hamner, & Al-Qahtani, 2009); (Saghafi, Zarei, Abadi & Shahkooh, 2011)

Theme: E-government Security/ Citation: (Alfawaz, May & Mohannak, 2008);

(Alsaghier, Ford, Nguyen & Hexel, 2009)

Theme: E-government Challenges/ Citation: (Sahraoui, Gharaibeh & Al-Jboori,

2006)

Theme: E-government Implementation/ Citation: (Alharbi, 2006); (Drew, 2011);

(Gulati & Yates, 2011)

Theme: E-government Assimilation/ Citation: (Pudjianto & Hangjung, 2009)

12

Theme: Biotechnology Adoption & Acceptance in E-government/ Citation:

(Alhussain & Drew, 2009); (Alhussain & Drew, 2010)

Theme: Other Groups/ Citation: (Al-Fakhri, Cropf, Kelly & Higgs, 2008);

(Abanumy, Al-Badi & Mayhew, 2005); (Abdallah & Khalil, 2009); (Alanezi,

Mahmood & Basri, 2012); (Alfarraj, Drew & AlGhamdi, 2011); (Almalki, Duan &

Frommholz, 2012); (Alryalat, Dwivedi, Williams, Rana & Lal, 2012); (Alsaffar, Sun

& Kabeil, 2009); (Alshawi & Alalwany, 2009); (Bawazir, 2006); (Chanchary &

Islam, 2011); (Sahraoui, 2005); (Halpern, Rozaidi & Ki, 2012); (Katchanovski & La

Porte, 2009); (Pankowska, 2008); (Al-Khouri & Bal, 2006)

Table2: E-government Adoption, Acceptance, Usage and Diffusion in the Saudi

Arabia Context

Through conducting questionnaires, utilising Q-Methodology, performing a meta-

analysis and quantitative case study, carrying out telephone interviews and interviews

as a qualitative survey methodology, semi-structured interviews, observations, using

SPSS and Partial Least Square, AMOS tools and implementation of Structural

Equation Model, employing TAM, UTAUT, DOI, TPB and web trust models,

Technological-Organisation-Environment framework, generating new models, E-

Government in the Saudi Arabia Context has been researched from several aspects as

grouped above in Table2. Key limitations and findings of e-government acceptance

can be outlined as follows: the impact of website quality and the key factors

responsible for the adoption of e-government among citizens have been investigated;

society, trust and gender also influence the acceptance of e-government. In e-

government usage, few studies here develop a powerful instrument for measuring the

acceptance of e-public services to help stakeholders studying different strategies.

Finding factors that inhibit the adoption and use of ICT include political unrest, lack

of or poor ICT infrastructure, access to ICT infrastructure by users and leadership

unwillingness to accept technological change. It is assumed that lack of training,

resistance to change, trust, privacy, culture and language barriers influence users to

accept technologies. There has not been enough research in e-government diffusion

and few papers identify factors that influence the adoption and usage of e-commerce.

The support received from government has become the most influential factor;

studying the similarities among e-government websites in the ME and North Africa

has found that similarities existed in the stages of development of the services offered

by e-government websites. The Saudi government is motivated to incorporate e-

government in its operations to improve its economy, to attract more investors

including the best technicians all over the world and to deliver timely information and

services, to improve their cultural and religious practices by empowering women to

participate in public affairs, to encourage young people to adopt internet technology

and to improve its politics. Though adoption of e-government is influenced by digital

divide, trust and accessibility, the intermediaries are playing a major role. E-

government infrastructure, culture, ICT literacy, the usability and accessibility of

websites, gender and technical problems all affect the adoption of e-government.

Some sources also discuss other aspects such as the security issues in e-government,

13

implementation, challenges, assimilation, acceptance and adoption of biometric

technology in e-government, and development of secure and user friendly e-

government systems.

Theme: M-government Security/ Citation: (Alhussain & Drew, 2010)

Theme: M-government Development/ Citation: (Al-Khalifa, 2011)

Theme: M-government Challenges and Success Factors/ Citation: (Almutairi,

2011)

Theme: M-government Implementation/ Citation: (Abanumy & Mayhew, 2005);

(Alsenaidy & Ahmad, 2012)

Theme: Biometrics in M-government/ Citation: (Alhussain & Drew, 2012);

(Alhussain, Drew & Von Hellens, 2010)

Theme: Other Groups/ Citation: (Al-Solbi & Mayhew, 2005)

Table3: M-Government Adoption, Acceptance, Usage, and Diffusion in the Saudi

Arabia Context

Indicating to Table3, Abanumy and Mayhew (2005) conducted interviews on IT

professionals working in government institutions. They found that very few m-

government applications have been implemented thus far, being limited mostly to

SMS alerts. Al-Solbi and Mayhew (2005) used a quantitative approach based on

interviews to investigate the level of e-readiness. They found that the country is by no

means ready for the development of a complete ICT infrastructure. Alhussain and

Drew (2010) found that users do not fully trust the current authentication techniques

employed by m-government. They suggest that an advanced authentication technique

like biometric technology should be implemented. Drew & Von Hellens (2010) used

GTM (questionnaires and semi-structured interviews) to find that successful

implementation of biometric technology in m-government is influenced by user

acceptance. Alhussain & Drew (2012) and Alsenaidy & Ahmad (2012) focus on m-

government security, and m-government implementation, respectively. The first

builds on grounded theory to conclude that PINs do not provide high security; the

study goes on to propose the use of a biometric authentication method to provide high

security. The second found that m-government is used to provide G2G, G2C and G2B

services. Also, such m-government applications are underdeveloped, and

improvements are in order. For the m-government websites, a designed approach has

been applied based on their desired functionalities (Al-Khalifa, 2011). Almutairi

(2011) reviewed challenges m-government face, and key success factors e-

government follow to strengthen their services. Clearly, m-government in Saudi

Arabia requires further research.

Conducting additional research will reach reliable information on the factors affecting

the evolution of m-commerce. Al Hosni, Ali & Ashrafi (2010) found that the success

of m-commerce is conditioned by mobility of mobile technology devices, security of

information, location based services, time of information delivery, costs of devices,

customised technology and culture. However, it still is a review of past studies, and

14

this implies a limitation. The study’s results are limited because they do not focus

exclusively on Saudi Arabia, but on the ME as a whole. The second study conducted

by Alotaibi (2010) builds on the premise that a quantitative research methodology

may be used to build the foundations of a TAM that will allow for the existing

(literature) gap between engagement and empowerment of customers in using mobile

devices. Finally, Al-Muhtib (2011) focused on the identification of factors responsible

to stimulus m-commerce acceptance and adoption. TAM was extended by integrating

bandwidth, quality, social influences, security and privacy factors with reference to

usefulness and perceived ease of use. A web survey was analysed using a structure

model and the measurement model using StatPlus. This area requires a more in-depth

analysis by adopting more variables in to consideration. Future work may consider the

influence of m-commerce adoption on e-commerce.

It becomes clear that m-banking in Saudi Arabia requires further investigation. The

first of the four studies reviewed was founded on data gathering and on the DOI

theory as a baseline for investigating the factors that influence the adoption of m-

banking. Al-Jabri & Sohail (2012) found that the observability of the systems by

users, the compatibility of the systems with other technologies and the advantages that

the systems offer significantly influence their adoption by users; there was no

significant correlation found between system complexity and trialability, and user

adoption. Alber (2011) investigated the effects bank expansions had on profit

efficiency; the surveys demonstrated that profit efficiency is affected by mobile

banking availability, ATM availability and number of bank branches. This study was

significantly limited by the lengthy time it took to complete as technology changes

very fast. Abdullah (2009) modified TAM to suit bank customers and found that

though improving SMS services, banks can reduce costs and improve efficiency. The

results contribute to SMS banking as they enable the development of m-banking

systems that are easy to use, credible and compatible. Al-Ashban and Burney (2001)

found that the experience of using tele-banking is correlated with user adoption.

Significant (positive) correlations were also found between education and income

level, and user adoption.

4. Discussion

The exploration of technologies tested before, theories, methodologies, findings,

obstacles, challenges, success factors, limitations and recommendations provides a

basis for valuable future research in the acceptance and use of technology. Based on

the extensive literature, only a limited number of papers researched e-government

acceptance and usage in Saudi Arabia as the government has recently established e-

services; therefore, they may require further research to find whether citizens are

aware of these services. Although there is no research which specifically concentrates

on internet acceptance, internet and e-government subjects have been widely covered.

With the increase in the number of mobile internet users in the ME, especially in

Saudi Arabia as subscriptions to mobile broadband reached 11.5 million at the end of

15

2011 representing 40.5% of the population (Ethos Interactive, 2012), conducting

further research in Mobile Technologies will lead to better understanding of these

technologies as they have not yet been well investigated. It also seems that m-internet

technology has never been studied. According to the previous studies, UTAUT2 has

not yet been tested in The ME or extended in the field. Therefore, the implementation

of UTAUT2 on the acceptance and use of technology in the Saudi Arabian context

will be a new experience not only for the Saudi studies but also for the worldwide

context. The future research model can be redefined to conform with the acceptance

and use of technology in the ME and Saudi Arabian context.

5. Conclusion

This paper reviewed several previous studies conducted in the acceptance and use of

technology in the Saudi Arabian context. It will strongly contribute to the field and aid

future research by finding what has been topically and theoretically studied before

investigating new technologies and conducting further research based on previous

limitations and recommendations. In addition, this study will help in eliminating gaps

that exist in the IT consumer acceptance and use context by recommending new IT/IS

that can be adopted, and identifying additional constructs, factors, mediators and

relationships related to theories that can be applied or extended on IT/IS as a new

model.

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17

Examining Adoption of Online PAN Card Registration System: A

Context of Indian EGov System

Nripendra P. Rana, Yogesh K Dwivedi, Michael D Williams

Abstract

The study aimed to develop and test the effect of trust, risk, and self-efficacy on an

individual’s attitude, and the effect of trust and attitude on intention to adopt online

PAN card registration system (OPCRS). To empirically test the model, survey

questionnaire was used to collect usable data from 377 potential adopters of the

OPCRS system in India. The results were analysed using structural equation

modelling (SEM) and indicated that all six hypotheses were found significant.

Moreover, all model-fit indices exceeded their respective common acceptance levels,

thus demonstrating that structural model exhibited a fairly good-fit with the collected

data.

Keywords: Online PAN Card Registration System, OPCRS, Trust, Risk, Adoption,

India

Introduction

Electronic government (eGov) is understood as the use of information technology (IT)

to enable and advance the effectiveness by which government services are rendered to

citizens, professionals, businesses, and agencies (Carter & Belanger, 2005; McClure,

2001). It allows users to explore and acquire intended information at their own

convenience beyond geographical and time restrictions. The interactive nature of e-

government provides benefits for both citizens and bureaucrats alike (West, 2008).

The key to a successful e-government is the implementation of systems that are

utilized and meet users’ needs (Economist, 2008) and expectations. One such e-

government system from India that is currently receiving growing attention is the

OPCRS system.

OPCRS is an e-government system for obtaining PAN cards. PAN (Permanent

Account Number) is essentially a ten-digit alphanumeric number, issued in the form

of a laminated card by an investigating officer of the income tax department in India.

It is mandatory to quote PAN on the return of income in all correspondence with the

income tax authority and on any payments to the income tax department. Every

taxpayer who is required to furnish a return of income, even on behalf of others, must

obtain a PAN. Although possessing PAN is mandatory for all individuals who file

income tax return, OPCRS is a voluntary e-government system for obtaining a PAN

card. This system has been implemented with a goal of easing the individual’s burden

of going through the cumbersome processes of obtaining a PAN card through the

offline process. As per the recent statistics, more than 35 million people in India pay

direct tax on their incomes and many more are to be added in the future. In such a

scenario, introducing an online process of obtaining PAN card is an initiative

18

welcomed by the government of India. However, the benefits for such e-government

application are limited due to low adoption rate. Therefore, the research is needed to

examine the role of certain factors that might be critical for measuring adoption of

such a system in the Indian context.

Hence, this study aims to explore factors that influence Indian citizens’ intention to

adopt the OPCRS system. Based on previous technology acceptance and e-

government research, we develop a model aimed at understanding Indian citizens’

intention to use an OPCRS system.

Theoretical Basis and Research Model

The majority of studies (e.g., Lin et al., 2011; Wang and Shih, 2009; Yeow and Loo,

2009) on eGov adoption have only used the IS/IT adoption models to explore the

intention and use of such systems. However, relatively fewer studies (e.g., Belanger &

Carter, 2008; Hung et al., 2009; Schaupp et al., 2010) have analysed trust and risk

based models in this research. The literature (e.g., Colesca, 2009; Hung et al., 2006;

Karavasilis et al., 2010; Schaupp & Carter, 2010) also identified trust and risk as

important predictors of intention and use for an eGov system. It is believed that eGov

can only be adopted when the citizens find it trustworthy (Belanger and Carter, 2008)

and less risk averse (Schaupp & Carter, 2010). In light of the importance of trust and

risk and relatively less knowledge available in this area of research, this study

proposes a parsimonious yet explanatory model of trust and risk for e-government

adoption.

The proposed model combines adoption factors (i.e., self-efficacy and attitude),

perceived trust, and perceived risk to explain citizens’ intention to adopt OPCRS

system in India. Our research model postulates that an individual’s IS/IT acceptance

(i.e., intention) can be explained by attitude which in turn is influenced by trust, risk,

and self-efficacy. Table 1 presents the associated hypotheses for the proposed model

significantly supported by the corresponding studies of e-government adoption.

Table 1: Constructs’ relationships with existing sources and proposed relationships

IC DC Example studies with significant

effects

Proposed hypotheses for this

research

PT AT Gefen et al. (2003), Ha and Stoel

(2008), Hung et al. (2006)

H1: Perceived trust will have a

significant influence on

attitude.

SE AT Fotland (2012), Gangadharbatla

(2008)

H2: Self-efficacy will have a

significant influence on

behavioral intention to adopt

OPCRS system.

PR AT Chiu et al. (2012), Hung et al. (2009)

H3: Perceived risk will have a

significant influence on

behavioural intention to adopt

OPCRS system.

19

SE PT Kim and Kim (2005), Parent et al.

(2005)

H4: Self-efficacy will have a

significant influence on

perceived trust.

PT BI

Lean et al. (2009), Lee and Lei

(2007), Schaupp and Carter (2010),

Teo et al. (2008)

H5: Perceived trust will have a

significant influence on

behavioral intention to adopt

OPCRS system.

AT BI Karavasilis et al. (2010), Li et al.

(2008), Lin et al. (2011)

H6: Attitude will have a

significant influence on

behavioral intention to adopt

OPCRS system.

[Legend: DC: Dependent Construct, IC: Independent Construct, AT: Attitude, BI:

Behavioral Intention, PR: Perceived Risk, PT: Perceived Trust, SE: Self-Efficacy]

Research Methodology

There are various ways to capture the data, however, a self-administered

questionnaire was found suitable as a primary survey instrument of data collection in

this research. Collecting data from the majority of respondents within a short and

specific period of time was critical to this research. Given the nature of constructs and

the unit of analysis used, getting responses through closed-ended and multiple choice

questions would be deemed appropriate. The final questionnaire consisted of total 30

questions including 10 questions from respondent’s demographic characteristics and

20 questions on the five different constructs of the proposed research model. All these

questions were multiple-type, closed-ended and seven-point Likert scale type

questions. Likert scales (1-7) with anchors ranging from “strongly disagree” to

“strongly agree” were used for all constructs’ measures.

The sample of this research consists of a wide array of respondents from different

cities of India including New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Patna, Siliguri, and

Gangtok. Out of 1000 questionnaires distributed, a total of 474 survey questionnaires

were returned. After discarding the incomplete responses, a usable sample of 377 was

used for further empirical analysis. The overall response rate was found to be 47.4%

with 37.7% valid questionnaires.

Data Analysis

The data were analysed using SEM of AMOS (version 21.0) software package. This

technique is particularly appropriate for examining a series of relationships or an

entire theory. This study is appropriate for confirmatory testing of the fit of the

proposed research model to empirical data using SEM.

Respondents’ Profile of OPCRS System

The results indicated that users were predominantly male (66.3%). Respondents’ age

fell primarily between 20 and 39 (≈75%) and their minimal educational levels were

largely bachelor’s degree or higher (88%). A majority of respondents (≈97%) had the

computer and Internet experience of a year or more. Also, the mainstream (≈98%) of

respondents had access to a computer and the Internet.

20

Reliability Analysis, Descriptive Statistics, and Factor Loading

The findings indicated that the Cronbach’s alpha (α) value of all items exceeded the

recommended minimum acceptable level of 0.70 (Nunnally, 1978). The high scores

of the means (>5.2) for most of variables except perceived risk indicates that users

responded favourably to the system adoption measures. Standardized factor loadings

are indicative of level of association between scale items and a single latent variable

(Belanger & Carter, 2008). Standardized factor loadings for all items greater than 0.50

are indicative of the strong degree of association between scale items and single latent

variable (Belanger & Carter, 2008).

Structural Model Results

The first step in model estimation involved examining the model fit results of the

hypothesized model. The analysis indicates that all the model fit indices (e.g., Chi-

square(χ2)/degree of freedom (DF) (≤3.000) =2.590, comparative fit index (≥0.900)

=0.947, goodness of fit index (≥0.900) =0.868, adjusted goodness of fit index

(≥0.800) =0.870, normative fit index (≥0.900)=0.917, and root mean square error of

approximation (≤0.08)=0.065) exceeded their respective acceptance levels (presented

above in the parentheses) suggested by prior research (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Hair et

al., 1998) and hence demonstrates that the structural model exhibits a fairly good fit

with the data provided.

The second step in model estimation was to examine the significance of each

hypothesized path in the research model and the variance explained by each path.

Figure 1 illustrates all structural relationships among the studied constructs. The

results indicated that the model explained overall 74% variance on behavioural

intention. This shows the importance of explained factors (i.e., trust, risk, self-

efficacy, and attitude) in predicting individual’s intention toward accepting the

projected eGov system. Properties of causal paths, including standardized path

coefficients, p-values, and variance explained are discussed below.

As per hypotheses, all path coefficients including perceived trust (γ=0.37, p<0.001),

perceived risk (γ=-0.14, p=0.002), and self-efficacy (γ=0.40, p<0.001) on attitude,

self-efficacy on perceived trust (γ=0.66, p<0.001), and perceived trust (γ=0.21,

p<0.001) and attitude (γ=0.71, p<0.001) on behavioural intention were found

significant at the 0.001 and 0.01 levels. Therefore, all hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4,

H5, and H6 were found significant.

21

Figure 1: Results of the model for OPCRS system

It is evident from the above analysis that perceived trust and self-efficacy have a

strong positive relationship with user’s attitude whereas perceived risk shows a

negative significant relationship with attitude. Moreover, these three constructs also

exert a strong, significant, and indirect relationship on behavioral intention through

attitude. Moreover, perceived trust was found to be a direct determinant of behavioral

intention.

Discussion

The research empirically examined the influence of factors such as perceived trust,

perceived risk, and self-efficacy on attitude and intention to use OPCRS system by

citizens of India. The findings demonstrated that both increased trust and reduced risk

significantly influenced citizens’ attitude that in turn impacted intention of using the

e-government system. Such relationships have been supported by some prior studies

(e.g., Hung et al., 2006; Susanto and Goodwin, 2011) on e-government adoption. One

possible explanation for this support is that the users are relatively new to the system

and need high trust and low risk in order to develop a positive attitude and intention to

use the system. The findings of higher self-efficacy leads to higher trust (Kim and

Kim, 2005; Parent et al., 2005) and enhanced positive attitude (Fotland, 2012;

Gangadharbatla, 2008) toward the concerned eGov system is supported by prior

research. The probable reasons for this is an individual’s higher beliefs on his

capability (i.e., self-efficacy) (Bandura, 1986) can lead him to higher perceived trust

and a positive attitude toward using an eGov system whereas low self-efficacy might

limit his perceived trust and affirmative attitude toward the system.

22

Implications for Theory and Practice

This research proposed a parsimonious collection of constructs that may explain the

eGov adoption. The theoretical model presented here will enrich the existing literature

of eGov adoption and will help researchers in acknowledging the importance of trust,

risk, and self-efficacy in eGov research. It is evident from the empirical justification

that the government needs to play a significant role in enhancing citizens’ trust to

maximize eGov systems adoption. The findings of the research suggest that

government should take initiatives to make its citizens more competent to interact

with such systems, as competent users will more likely to use the eGov system even if

a reasonable amount of risk is involved with it. The designers of the system are

recommended to add sufficient security and privacy measures in the application to

ensure the minimal risk that could lead to higher user’s attitude and intention to use

the system.

Conclusion

The purpose of this research is to explore the influence of eGov oriented factors

including trust, risk, and self-efficacy toward individual’s attitude to adopt OPCRS

and also examining how an individual’s attitude leads to intention to adopt the

system. It was revealed that users responded quite positively towards the adoption of

the OPCRS system despite it being a relatively new system. The model suggested that

users showed a positive sign toward acceptance of the system due to their trust and

self-efficacy on the government systems. Perceived risk was found as a factor which

deters an individual’s likings to use the system.

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25

Innovation-attributes roles in the contemporary innovation adoption

research: An Investigation

Kawaljeet Kapoor, Yogesh K Dwivedi, Michael D Williams

Abstract

Consumers possess different degrees of willingness of adoption towards different

innovations. A good understanding of the attributes that influence this varying

willingness of the consumers is thus critical. This study aims to develop a research

model for exploring the contributory roles of different innovation-attributes in

influencing an innovation-diffusion and its final adoption. This research focuses on

four innovations recently launched in the Indian market. The study begins with a

systematic review of the literature, followed by meta-analysis of the shortlisted

innovation-attributes. A quantitative approach is adopted for gathering empirical data,

which is then statistically analysed using the SPSS AMOS technique.

Keywords: Adoption, AMOS, Attributes, Diffusion, Innovation, Meta-analysis

Introduction

The concept of innovation is gaining increased visibility with the increasing intensity

of competition in the world today. According to Ridderstrale and Nordstrom (2002),

most of what one business offers can be bought from other similar type of businesses,

but to attract a buyer towards a business, the offered products and services need to be

something that the world has not witnessed/experienced before. The only solution in

such a scenario is – to innovate, to make businesses unique by their products and

services, and consequently uniquely competitive. Innovations have become vital to

the success of any business today.

Innovation is a continuous process. The success of an innovation can be evaluated by

measuring the positives and negatives of that innovation. In doing so, gaining an

understanding of the behaviour of different factors/attributes that influence the use

intention and adoption of an innovation becomes essential. The field of innovations is

rich with models that are used for evaluating the adoption/diffusion of different

innovations. To name a few – theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behaviour,

unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, technology acceptance model and

many others exist. Broadly, the types of attributes used in these above listed models

were found to be more or less of the same kind. Another model, which is well

established and very frequently used theory in this field, is the Diffusion of

Innovations (DOI) theory introduced by Everett M. Rogers in 1962. Rogers’ listed

relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability as the five

innovation attributes. It is to be noted here that there are other attributes, apart from

Rogers’ five attributes that have been identified as the significant influencers of an

innovation-adoption. These other attributes thus need to be studied in detail to account

for their impacts on an innovation’s diffusion and adoption. Rogers regularly

reviewed innovation-attributes every ten years, until his last publication in 2003. After

26

Rogers’ last book, the literature on innovations did not receive any such systematic

review of innovation-attributes. No studies aimed at identifying new innovation-

attributes either, which indicates, research in the field of innovations lacks recent

evaluation.

This research thus aims at evaluating the roles of different innovation attributes in

measuring the adoption of different innovations. In accomplishing the proposed aim,

the objectives that were identified are– to carry out a systematic review of relevant

literature for gaining an insight into the recent theoretical advances in the DOI theory;

undertake a meta-analysis of innovation attributes to evaluate the performance of

these attributes across different studies/innovations; identifying the innovation

attributes for pursuing an empirical investigation; and lastly, analyzing the empirical

data using the IBM SPSS AMOS tool for arriving at the statistical deductions to be

interpreted for the key research conclusions. The remaining paper will flow as follows

– the next section will familiarize readers with the existing literature on innovation-

diffusion, which will be followed by a briefing into the proposed research design; the

immediate next section explains data collection and data analysis procedures, leading

into - an identification of the four different innovations, discussion of the proposed

conceptual model and hypotheses, and finally extending the contributions from this

study.

Literature Review

Rogers (2003) defined diffusion as a process in which an innovation is communicated

through different channels over time among the members of a social system. His

book, Diffusion of Innovations (1962) dealt with both organization and individual-

oriented innovations. Rogers had five editions of this book published (1962, 1971,

1983, 1995 and 2003). Being almost a decade apart, these books contributed greatly

to the field of innovations. Another significant contribution in this field was a meta-

analysis by Tornatzky and Klein (1982) which reviewed all of the then published

innovation studies for attributes that impacted the adoption and implementation of

innovations. Using statistical techniques, they analysed the consistency of empirical

findings from different studies and extended seven features of an ideal innovation-

study. In doing so, they listed 30 innovation attributes, five of them being Rogers’

attributes. Yet another noteworthy contribution was a study by Moore and Benbasat

(1991) which focussed more on designing an instrument to measure the roles of

innovation attributes for evaluating the users’ perceptions towards the adoption of an

IT innovation. They reviewed eight innovation attributes, five of which were again

Rogers’ attributes. Overall, these three aforementioned studies extended meaningful

conclusions towards the literature on the diffusion of different innovations.

Combining attributes from these three studies, a total of 33 innovation-attributes were

shortlisted to be systematically reviewed and statistically analysed under this study.

[Five from Rogers (2003), 25 from Torantzky and Klein (1982), and three from

Moore and Benbasat, (1991)].

27

In reviewing the literature on innovations diffusion, it was found that most of the

publications focussed on reviewing the literature specific to a particular

technology/innovation. For instance – Lee et al. (2003) reviewed the usage of

Technology Acceptance Model over a span of 18 years; Greenhalgh et al. (2004)

systematically reviewed the diffusion of service innovations in the health service

industry; Dahlberg (2007) reviewed literature on the mobile payment services; Reed

(2007) reviewed literature on extending agroforestry. Legare et al. (2008)

systematically reviewed literature on clinical practice, and so on. All these instances

show that none after Rogers’ book in 2003 attempted to undertake an overall review

of studies on innovation-attributes across different technology/innovation types.

Research Design

Figure 1 is illustrative of the research design for this work. Rogers’s DOI theory

(2003) is the basis of this research. The systematic review began with extracting all

studies citing this theory. One critical observation made was that most recent studies

preferred citing Rogers’ fourth edition (1995), even after the release of the fifth, and

more often, both editions were simultaneously cited. Therefore, using ISI Web of

Knowledge and Google Scholar, all studies from 1996 until mid-2011 (this study

began in mid-2011) were extracted. The search engines retrieved 2073 publications.

These publications were screened to confirm if the 33 attributes were studied as

innovation attributes, or were merely mentioned in the 2073 extracted papers.

Eventually, only 241 publications were declared relevant and only 15 of these 33

attributes were found to be in active use as the innovation-attributes.

Research Method

A multi-method approach is employed, which starts with a meta-analysis of the 15

shortlisted innovation-attributes (relative advantage, complexity, compatibility,

observability, trialability, cost, riskiness, image, result demonstrability,

communicability, visibility, behavioural intention, voluntariness, social approval,

ease of operation). Meta-analysis is a statistical procedure permitting integration of

results from various independent studies that are deemed combinable (Egger, 1997).

In conducting the meta-analysis, we adopted the method followed by Tornatzky and

Klein (1982), wherein, the ten most used attributes were chosen for meta-analysis, the

findings from which were then compared with the findings from Tornatzky and

Klein’s meta-analysis. The comparison was undertaken to identify any deviations in

the behaviour of these attributes over time. The binomial probabilities of the 10

shortlisted attributes were calculated to measure the significance of the collated

findings, which revealed that six of these attributes exerted a significant impact

(p<0.05) on an innovation-adoption decisions.

For undertaking an empirical investigation, the quantitative data will be collected

using the survey method. A questionnaire based approach will be followed for

acquiring the relevant data. This research aims at targeting four different innovations

of the voluntary kind. Since the study involves examining the diffusion of innovations

in the Indian context, the data was collected from four different cities across India -

28

Delhi city (north), Kolkata city (east), Mumbai city (west) and Bangalore city (south).

The target was set at 80 respondents, per city, per innovation. Questionnaires were

distributed as physical copies and online to gather the intended data to develop an

understanding of the consumers’ perceptions of the positives and negatives of

adopting the innovations under consideration. The analysis of this data is expected to

yield insights into the adoption rate, adoption barriers, potential users, and the non-

adopters of these four innovations. A total of 1300+ valid responses have been

received. The four innovations have been summarized in the following paragraph.

Innovation 1: Household Solar - solar energy, an environment-friendly sustainable

form of energy is being made available mostly as solar lighting, solar water heaters,

and the solar cooking systems for everyday use. (Solar, 2012). Innovation 2: Sky TV

- a direct to home television service has been launched for Indian households, which

redefines everyday entertainment with enhanced picture quality, sound, and new age

interactive services that can be tailored to suit the needs of individual users (Sky,

2012). Innovation 3: Interbank Mobile Payment Service – is a recent mobile wallet

initiative by the National Payments Corporation of India. It is an electronic fund

transfer service available 24/7, enabling customers to access their bank accounts with

their mobile phones to make person-to-person or person-to-merchant type payments

(NPCI, 2012). Innovation 4: IRCTC Mobile Ticketing Application – is a secure

mobile ticketing solution recently introduced by the Indian Railway Catering and

Tourism Corporation, available 24/7, allowing users to make railway bookings on a

mobile phone application (IRCTC, 2012).

29

Figure 1: The Research Design

30

Data Analysis

The conceptual model for this empirical investigation initially proposes studying the

influences of these 15 innovation-attributes on both, behavioural intention and

adoption. Depending upon the support from literature, the segregation of the attributes

to be studied against intention, and of those to be studied against adoption will be

made. Based on the segregation, hypotheses for all of these 15 attributes will be then

proposed. The empirical data will be subjected to structural equation modelling

(SEM) using the IBM SPSS AMOS technique to test and validate all of the proposed

hypotheses and the conceptual model. According to (Gefen et al., 2000), these SEM

techniques allow researchers to address the interrelated questions in one methodical,

complete analysis by simultaneous modeling the relationships amongst the predictor

and dependent variables. This research, alongside exploring the impact of innovation-

attributes on both behavioural intention and adoption, will also explore the

relationship amongst the different shortlisted innovation attributes. Thus, SEM is

chosen over regression analysis for this research.

Conclusion and Implications for Theory and Practice

Potentially, the findings from this research should succeed in extending a predictive

estimate of the behavioural pattern of different innovation attributes – their behaviour

in the past, their present effect on an innovation-adoption, and their probable

behaviour in the near future. Aggregating the studies analysing these innovation-

attributes over a span of 15 years (1996-2011) will help in establishing definite

patterns of the influence these shortlisted attributes on an innovation-adoption

decision. In comparing the our meta-analysis results with the meta-analysis results by

Tornatzky and Klein (1982), a longitudinal view of the behaviour of ten most used

innovation-attributes over a span of almost 30 years will be achieved. In addition, the

empirical examination of the recent innovations should allow for evaluating the

consistency of the results deduced from the meta-analysis undertaken by this research.

The literature review revealed that the studies explored and proposed innovation-

attributes in a very generic manner. More particularly, none of the studies attempted

to list innovation-attributes more or most suitable for studying a particular type of

technology/innovation, for instance, innovation attributes most appropriate for

studying the IS innovations, or mobile related innovations, or e-government

innovations, and so on. With this research, such explained type of classification and

taxonomy of different innovation-attributes, for different innovation-types will be

arrived at. Two of the four empirically examined innovations, the IRCTC mobile

ticketing application and the Interbank mobile payment service have no evidenc

es of studies available until date, on their adoption/diffusion in the Indian context. The

results from our research will thus be significant in providing the researchers and the

managers of these applications with the first insights into the effect of different factors

that impede and accelerate the adoption/diffusion of these innovations. With our

research, the existing literature on attributes from DOI theory, Moore and Benbasat’s

perceived characteristics of innovating theory and Tornatzky and Klein’s meta-

31

analysis will be extended in four new different contexts of mobile ticketing, mobile

wallet, direct to home entertainment service, and household solar, all in an Indian

context.

References

Egger. M. (1997). Meta analysis: Principles and Procedures. British Medical Journal,

315(7121), 1533.

Dahlberg, T., Mallat, N., Ondrus, J. and Zmijewska, A. (2007). Past, present and

future of mobile payments research: A literature review. Electronic Commerce

Research and Applications, 7(2), 165-181.

Gefen, D., Straub, D. W., and Boudreau, M. (2000). Structural Equation Modeling

And Regression: Guidelines For Research Practice, Communications of AIS, 4(7),

1-79.

Greenhalgh, T., Robert, G., MacFarlane, F., Bate, P. and Kyriakidou, O. (2004).

Diffusion of Innovations in Service Organizations: Systematic Review and

Recommendations, The Milbank Quarterly, 82(4), 581-629.

IRCTC (2012). Available at: < https://www.irctc.co.in/> [Accessed: 22 May 2012]

Lee, Y., Kozar, K. A., and Larsen, K.R.T. (2003). The Technology Acceptance

Model: Past, Present, and Future, Communications of the Association for

Information Systems, 12(50). 752-780.

Legare, F., Ratte´,S., Gravel, K. and Graham, I. D. (2008). Barriers and facilitators to

implementing shared decision-making in clinical practice: Update of a systematic

review of health professionals’ perceptions, Patient Education and Counseling,

73, 526–535.

Moore, G.C., and Benbasat, I. (1991). Development of an Instrument to Measure the

Perceptions of Adopting an Information Technology Innovation. Information

Systems Research, 2(3), 192-222.

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May 2012]

Reed, M.S. (2007). Participatory technology development for agroforestry extension:

an innovation-decision approach. African Journal of Agricultural Research, 2(8),

334-341.

Ridderstrale, J. and Nordstrom, K. (2002). Funky Business: Talent makes capital

dance. England: Pearson Education. 2nd

Edition.

Rogers, E.M. (2003). Diffusion Of Innovations. New York: The Free Press. 5th

edition.

Rogers, E.M. (1995). Diffusion Of Innovations. New York: The Free Press. 4th

edition.

Sky (2012). Available at: < http://www.tatasky.com/ > [Accessed from: 22 May

2012]

Solar (2012). Available at: <http://www.solarpanelsindia.com/> [Accessed: 20 May

2012]

Tornatzky, L.G. and Klein, K.J. (1982). Innovation Characteristics and Innovation

Adoption-Implementation: A Meta-Analysis of Findings. IEEE Transactions on

Engineering Management, 29(1), 28-43.

32

Searching for the engine of Business-Information Technology

alignment in social capital

Siân Miller, Yogesh K Dwivedi

Abstract

This paper examines the role that social capital plays in organisations in order to

create alignment between the Information Technology (IT) and business

communities. These communities often experience difficulties sharing objectives,

deliverables and even communicating with each other. Beginning with the premise

that the absence of social capital is destroyer of alignment, the paper suggests that

where social capital bridges the boundaries between the business and IT

organisations, this leads to superior performance. A multi-dimensional framework

explores the attributes of social capital and points to the direction for an empirical

study.

Keywords: business-IT alignment, social capital, trust, obligations.

Introduction

Creating alignment between the business and Information Technology (IT)

departments has been of academic interest for over 25 years (MacFarlan, 1984) but

the role of social capital in creating that alignment has not received a great deal of

focus. The lack of a common ground has been noted and the business and IT

communities often seem to share little and experience difficulties sharing objectives,

deliverables and even communicating with each other (Khandelwal, 2001; van den

Hoof and de Winter; 2011 and Willcoxson and Chatham, 2004). By 2003, Gartner

noted that alignment had become the top concern for Chief Information Officers

(CIOs) and it remains problematical with Luftman and Zadeh’s broad study (2011)

finding that it was still in the top five issues for CIOs.

This paper forms the conceptual basis for empirical research to discover if firms

which overcome the natural barriers between the two groups create alignment and are

consequently better able to withstand environmental turbulence.

The outcome of an extensive review of the business-IT alignment literature and the

use of social capital theory will be explored in this paper. It will also describe the next

steps to be taken in an in-depth empirical study.

The problem of alignment

Business and IT organisations frequently see themselves divided, “the IT department

is often seen by the Business as having a focus on technology rather than the interests

of the organisation as a whole, IT professionals often regard Business employees as

technologically inept and insufficiently aware of the importance and complexity of

IT.” (van den Hooff and de Winter, 2011, p.255). Shared domain knowledge and

understanding (Reich and Benbasat, 2000) coupled with frequent communication

(Johnson and Lederer, 2005) tends to engender a shared view and the converse is

often observed. The absence of a business perspective by IT managers or a mismatch

33

in perception creates business dissatisfaction (Khandelwal, 2001 and Willcoxson and

Chatham, 2004).

While the existence of alignment continues to be problematical, most writers agree

that significant performance benefits accrue when alignment is observed (Croteau and

Raymond, 2004). Looking at poor performance, low performing firms exhibit a

misalignment between business and IT compared with their more successful

competitors (Bergeron, et al., 2004 and Tallon, 2007).

Theoretical choice

There is no clear, commonly-held view of the nature of alignment. The debate on

strategic alignment is predicated on the existence of a boundary between the business

and IT organisations (van den Hooff and de Winter, 2011). Writers have sought

indicators, signs and symbols, that can be traced across firms, sectors and geographies

identifying relationships and communications (Johnson and Lederer, 2005;

Khandewal, 2001 and Reich and Benbasat, 2000), configuration and boundaries

(Cumps, et al., 2009 and Valorinta, 2011) and process (Willcoxson and Chatham,

2004) This paper seeks to understand the fundamentals of alignment through a

holistic framework bringing together these disparate components.

Social capital

Social capital is “embedded in social networks accessed and used by actors for

actions” (Lin, 2001, p 25). A consensus exists in the literature that social capital

comprises five dimensions:

• networks: lateral associations (Coleman, 1988);

• social norms: the tacit and informal values governing behaviour (Coleman,

1988) ;

• trust: willingness to take initiatives or risk (Coleman 1988;) ;

• reciprocity-expectation: a mutual exchange of benefit and services (Bourdieu,

1986; Burt, 1992 and Lin, 2001) ;

• personal and collective efficacy: the participation to create active engagement

and commitment in a group (Collier, 1998).

To access the “competencies and resources at the nodes of the network” opportunity,

motivation and ability need to be present (Adler and Kwon, 2002, p.26). Dense,

closed networks provide ready access to people within a group whereas sparse

networks bridge boundaries and are characterised by “structural holes” (Burt, 1992).

These ties are necessarily the product of daily, structural interaction and may be

flexed less frequently but, nonetheless, they generate trust and the expectation of

mutual obligations. Social capital resides in constantly reinvigorated relationships

(Bourdieu, 1986) characterised by trust and co-operation (Tyler and Kramer, 1996).

Conceptual Framework

Three tiers of social capital are proposed. Tier 1 contains the building blocks of

network and social norms. With these components in place, trust and mutual

expectations of delivery can develop. The growth of trust and fulfilment of

expectations will enable the organisation to achieve at a collective level: the third tier.

34

This three tier representation has been chosen to reflect the need to see social capital

as a whole and, for the benefit of social capital to be realised, all three tiers need to be

present. It is not suggested that there is no evidence of social capital if only the

elements of the lowest tier existed but rather, the presence of network associations

and the sharing of some social norms will tend to enable trust and the expectation of

mutual benefit even if this is only transitory.

Moreover, collective efficacy may not always be the natural outcome of trust and

mutual obligations but, with the establishment of the pre-conditions for its creation. it

may be present some of the time.The building blocks of social capital can all be seen

in terms of alignment. Table 1 maps the dimensions and attributes of social capital to

those of alignment.

Social capital

dimension Strategic alignment attribute

Networks

(Burt, 1992;

Coleman, 1988)

Network connections (Banker et al. 2011)

Regular formal and informal communication (Johnson and

Lederer, 2005)

Access to decision-makers and decision-making process

(Banker et al. 2011)

Boundary spanning (Valorinta, 2011)

Social norms

(Coleman, 1988)

Shared perspective, language, experience (Preston and

Karahanna, 2009)

Shared domain knowledge (Reich and Benbasat, 2000)

Common processes (Johnson and Lederer, 2005)

Figure 1- Three Tiers of Social Capital

35

Social capital

dimension Strategic alignment attribute

Reciprocity-

expectation

(Bourdieu, 1986;

Burt, 1992, Lin,

2001)

Business- IT mutual understanding of each party's value to the

organisation (Kearns and Sabherwal, 2006)

Convergent interests (Cumps, et al., 2009)

Shared participation in business-IT planning (Banker et al. 2011)

Trust

(Coleman,

1988;Tyler and

Kramer, 1996)

Belief in the other party's value and integrity (Khandelwal,

2001)

Engagement of the other party in planning processes (Cumps, et

al, 2009)

Personal and

collective efficacy

(Adler and Kwon,

2002; Collier, 1998;

Lin, 2001)

Integrated processes (Cumps, et al, 2009)

Business-IT partnering for major investment decisions

(Willcoxson and Chatham, 2004)

Functionally and geographically mirrored network associations

Common understanding of both cost and value of IT (Cumps, et

al, 2009)

Access to governance and financial decision-making (Banker et

al. 2011)

Superior performance (Bergeron et al., 2004; Tallon, 2007)

Table 1 – Dimensions of Social Capital and Strategic Alignment

Discussion

Examining alignment between the business and IT, collective efficacy is the very goal

sought from alignment allowing the two communities to engage in both operational

problem-solving and large, long-term strategic initiatives with mutual trust, accepting

shared processes and valuing the skills and norms of the other. If the IT department

perceives itself as separate with different professional norms, methods and processes,

it may not share behaviours and beliefs with its business. Norms which are valuable

in-group may reinforce the otherness of those outside the group even driving them

apart. External delivery organisations may have norms which are not convergent with

the host organisation leading to failures of trust across the boundaries (Valorinta,

2011). The IT department may be disadvantaged in its conversations with the business

where it ranks lower in the organisation’s social hierarchy.

Where social capital is built between the IT department and the business, it is

proposed that this will translate into alignment between the two departments. This

needs to be seen through the input tier as structural and boundary spanning network

relations and sufficient shared norms demonstrated through processes, beliefs and

narratives. The transformational tier builds trust and shared expectation of mutual

benefit. Finally, the output tier will be evidenced by the ability to work together

achieving the aims of the organisation.

Expanding on the three tiers of social capital shown in Figure 1 and Table 1, it is now

possible to show this in terms of alignment:

36

Figure 2 - Social capital as a transformational engine

Continuing with an empirical study

Studies of alignment (Bergeron, et al., 2004; Croteau and Raymond, 2004 and Tallon,

2007) have tended to use wholly quantitative methods with only a small number

selecting a mixed method, for example, van den Hooff and de Winter (2011)

combined survey material and interviews. The selection framework suggested by

Cresswell (2003) has been used to determine that this approach is suitable. A mixed-

method approach will be taken with a quantitative study of the relationships expressed

in the model and with in-depth, qualitative focus on the transformational tier to

attempt to understand the richness of that layer.

The study will examine a small number of cases in the asset management segment of

the financial services sector. Four firms have been selected since they are all subject

to common operating and regulatory environments but may have chosen very

different ways to deliver services, for example, outsourcing versus a shared services

model.

The study will seek participants in those firms who can be partnered, that is, the IT

respondent will have a corresponding partner in the business to enable the same

problem to be seen from both sides. Thus far, trial interviews indicate that this is a

suitable format since it gives the participants the opportunity to be open and

expansive in their views which would be unlikely to be captured in surveys and

questionnaires. Participants were interested and engaged in the topic and prepared to

give time to a subject which they considered a relevant problem for their businesses.

Conclusion

"[T]he existence of connections … is the product of an endless effort at institution"

(Bourdieu, 1986, p. 249).

It is proposed that social capital is achieved through this endless effort, building trust

and creating and fulfilling mutual obligations. Trust is earned and given, reliability

delivers and generate the expectation that mutual obligations will be met whether in

37

the short or long term.. Alignment between a business and IT department only creates

value when it is an enabler of superior performance, otherwise it is simply a way of

generating organisational comfort. Alignment and social capital may be seen as

proxies for each other. The enablers of input tier need to go through a transformation

to deliver effectiveness as the output.

Contribution to research and practice

This paper contributes to the theory of business-IT alignment proposing the presence

of social capital as a critical underpinning for the creation of alignment and, hence,

superior performance. It further suggests that trust and mutual obligations are built

enabling alignment by creating feedback into networks and norms and that superior

performance is unlikely to be created without this transformational engine of

alignment.

This paper also contributes to the understanding of alignment for in-organisation

practitioners and consultants providing a brief summary of the current literature with

insights into the impact of social capital. Additionally, it will give scholars insights

into studies for which further in-depth reading may be beneficial.

Limitations

This paper proposes a theoretical framework only and is not yet supported by

empirical research. Therefore, this provides an insight into directions for field-work

using the framework to inform and guide that research.

References

Adler, P. & Kwon, S.W. (2002). Social Capital: Prospects for a new concept.

Academy of Management Review, 27(1), 17-40.

Banker, R. D., Hu, N., Luftman, J. & Pavlou, P.A. (2011). CIO reporting structure,

strategic positioning and firm performance. MIS Quarterly, 35 (2), 487-504.

Bergeron, F., Raymond, L. & Rivard, S. (2004). Ideal patterns of strategic alignment

and business performance. Information and Management, 41 (8), 1003-1020.

Bourdieu, P. (1986). The Forms of Capital. in: J.G Richardson, J.G.(Ed.), Handbook

of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). New York :

Greenwood.

Burt, R.S. (1992). Structural holes: the social structure of competition, Cambridge,

MA : Harvard University Press.

Coleman, J.S. (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American

Journal of Sociology, 94 (Supplement), S95-S120.

Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method

approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Croteau, A.M. & Raymond, L. (2004). Performance outcomes of strategic and IT

competencies alignment. Journal of Information Technology, 19 (3), 178-190.

Cumps, B., Martens, D. & De Backer, M. (2009). Inferring comprehensible

business/ICT alignment rules. Information and Management, 46(2), 116-124.

Gartner Group Executive Research Program Survey, Gartner Inc, (2003).

http://www.gartner.com/press_releases/pr17mar2003b.html Stamford, CT.

38

Johnson, A. M. & Lederer, A.L. (2005). The effect of communication frequency and

channel richness on the convergence between chief executive and chief

information officers. Journal of Management Information Systems, 22(2), 227-

252.

Kearns, G. S. & Sabherwal, R. (2006). Strategic alignment between business and

information technology: A knowledge-based view of behaviors, outcome, and

consequences. Journal of Management Information Systems, 23 (3), 129-162.

Khandelwal, V. K. (2001). An empirical study of misalignment between Australian

CEOs and IT managers. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 10(1), 15-28.

Lin, N. (2001). Building a Network Theory of Social Capital. in: N. Lin, K. Cook &

R.S. Burt, (Eds.), Social Capital: Theory and Research (pp. 3 – 29). New York:

Aldine de Gruyter.

Luftman, J. & Zadeh, H. S. (2011). Key information technology and management

issues 2010-11: an international study. Journal of Information Technology, 26(3),

193-204.

McFarlan, W. (1984). Technology changes the way you compete. Harvard Business

Review, 68 (3), 98-104.

Preston, D. S. & Karahanna, E. (2009). How to develop a shared vision : the key to IS

strategic alignment. MIS Quarterly Executive, 8(1), 1-8.

Reich, B. H. & Benbasat I. (2000). Factors that influence the social dimension of

alignment between business and information technology objectives. MIS

Quarterly, 24(1), 81-113.

Tallon, P. P. (2007). A process-oriented perspective on the alignment of information

technology and business strategy. Journal of Management Information Systems,

24(3), 227-268.

Tyler, T. R., & Kramer, R. M. (1996). Whither trust? in: R.M. Kramer & T.R. Tyler,

(Eds.), Trust in organizations: Frontiers of theory and research (pp.1-15).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Valorinta, M. (2011). IT alignment and the boundaries of the IT function. Journal of

Information Technology, 26(1), 46-59.

Van den Hooff, B. & de Winter, M. (2011). Us and them: a social capital perspective

on the relationship between the business and IT departments. European Journal of

Information Systems, 20(3), 255-266.

Willcoxson, L. & Chatham, R. (2004). Progress in the IT/business relationship: a

longitudinal assessment. Journal of Information Technology, 19(1), 71-80.

39

Examining the factors influencing the Adoption and Success of Human

Resource Information Systems in Saudi Public Sector Organization

Wassan Alkhowaiter, Yogesh K Dwivedi, Michael D Williams

Abstract

This study aims to present an investigation of the factors affecting the adoption and

success of Human Resource Information system (HRIS) in public organizations. A

model developed for this aim, which is based on the unified theory of acceptance and

use of technology (UTAUT) and DeLone and McLean IS success model. Users of the

system in the public organizations are target to attain the suitable data to empirically

test the proposed model for this study. As far, no study conducted in Saudi Arabia,

this study attempt to full this gap empirically.

Key words: Human Resource Information system HRIS, Adoption, Success, Public

organization.

1.0 Introduction

In today’s knowledge economy, the value of the organization depends on its

employees’ knowledge and this presents a challenge to the HR departments in many

companies. Management of HR is important so that expertise and ideas are greatly

valued, and an innovative workforce is essential to meet the challenges of this

economy. Thus, having a highly skilled human capital it is necessary for

organizations to obtain a competitive edge.

With large amounts of information to process accurately and many functions to

track, HR managers have turned to information technology (IT) to assist them in

meeting their organization’s information needs. This has led to the development

of HRIS in organizations. In fact, using HRIS provides value to the organization and

improve HR professionals’ positions in the organization. Still, there is a wide

agreement that HRIS adoption and success research is still in need (Hendrickson

2003; Blount and Castleman, 2009).

Thus, it is timely to understand the factors that contribute to the adoption and success

of HRIS (Hussain et al., 2007) and so the objective of this study is to examine these

factors in public organizations in Saudi Arabia. This will be achieved by developing a

model and testing it empirically.

This paper is structured as follows: the next section reviews the extant literature

related to HRIS and its adoption and success. The third section then identifies the

research gap. This is then followed by a presentation of the research’s conceptual

model and the research methodology. Finally, the paper highlights key conclusions.

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Concept, Benefits and Challenges of HRIS

In understanding more about human resource information systems (HRIS), it is

essential to define the term and identify its attributes in the context of organizational

services. A HRIS is defined as one of the modern systems used for obtaining,

analysing, manipulating, storing and distributing a firm’s human resource data; in

40

other words, it acts as an information services provider to the organization

(Tannenbaum, 1990). Such a system provides many benefits for the organization,

Beckers and Bsat (2002) have summarized four reasons that justify why organizations

should use HRIS. First, it helps to shift the role of HRM from transactions to strategic

human resource management. Second, it helps to increase competitiveness by

developing and enhancing human resource activities and procedures. Third, to re-

engineer the whole HRM department and finally, it helps to create a greater range of

HRM reports.

Notwithstanding the benefits that organizations can obtain through the adoption of

HRIS, they may also face difficulties in implementing any such new technological

systems. Kovach and Cathcart (1999) argue that barriers to HRIS are not limited to

cost, but extend to shortage of skills, maintaining capital, shortage of support and

commitment from higher management, the difficulty in finding system designers with

knowledge of human resource activities and a lack of cooperation with other

departments.

2.2 HRIS Adoption

Modern organizations are attempting to benefit from the positive attributes of HRIS

by applying it in their human resource departments. Still, the adoption of this

technology is considered a challenging issue, as it can be costly and can take a long

time. Furthermore, the advantages identified before its adoption may not be realised

until much later, when HRIS has been assimilated (Ashbaugh and Miranda, 2002).

HRIS adoption by public bodies seems to be more challenging than it is in the private

sector. This is because public sector organizations have various objectives which do

not apply to the private sector. They are involved with multiple intangibles such as

education and health, while private sector firms are mainly profit-oriented and driven

by economic factors (Kamal, 2006). Unlike private firms, which take a proactive

approach to innovation, the public sector innovates reactively; that is, evidence is

required of likely success before the decision is taken to adopt a certain system.

In ensuring its adoption, scholars focus on investigating the influential factors that are

expected to assist its implementation such as human resource capabilities,

management commitment and regulatory issues in the public sector (Troshani, et al.,

2010). Yang, et al. (2007) also added management style, organizational resource,

impact of type of technology used, quick response and data accessibility. Other

variables identified include employees sharing acceptance regarding the system’s

implementation, firm’s commitment and climate (support, warmth and rewarding);

i.e. job satisfaction, work environment, freedom of implementation, higher

management involvement and consistency, and supervisory support (Mat-Zin, 2009).

Teo et al (2007) also have examined the adoption of HRIS and found that top

management support, organization size and perceived benefits can reflect positively

on the adoption process.

2.3 HRIS Success

In terms of HRIS success, a few research studies have aimed to examine the success

of HRIS. Al-Shaliby (2011) defined the success of the system as an achievement of

41

both the firm’s objectives and achievement of the end-user’s related objectives from

using the HRIS. DeLone and McLean (2003) and Ngai and Wat (2006) state that few

companies have attempted to closely investigate the success of such systems or to

measure their effectiveness. Therefore, there is pressure on HR managers to

understand the variables that might contribute to their success (Hussain et al., 2007;

Ngai and Wat, 2006). The success has become essential to firms that are attempting to

plan their investments or to recover the expenses of these investments (Hagood and

Friedman, 2002).

User satisfaction and system use are considered the two common measures of system

success (Haines et al., 1997); including these two measures together give a complete

picture of system (e.g. HRIS) success. In ensuring HRIS success, scholars focus on

investigating the influential factors that are expected to assist its success. Alshaliby

(2011) conducted a study that looked on the assessment of HRIS success. The study

found that information quality, system quality and usefulness are the most important

factors that led to HRIS success. Ramezan (2010) and Bal et al. (2012) support his

finding and they add ease of use as a factor that effects on the system success.

Rai et al. (2002) describe these systems as satisfactory in terms of information

quality; i.e., they are capable of helping their users with decision-making, data

accuracy and correctness, as well as meeting the standard of information which users

need. The results of the study highlight the usefulness of such a system in contributing

to improved performance and ease of work.

3.0 Gap Identification and Research Direction

Although the literature on HRIS has been growing, little attention has been paid to its

adoption and success. As a matter of fact, there is wide agreement that HRIS adoption

and success remains under researched (Blount and Castleman, 2009).

Whilst there are some studies (Alshaliby, 2011; Bal et al., 2012; Ramezan, 2010) that

have examined the success of the HRIS in Middle Eastern countries, still, there is no

study that has studied the success of the systems in the context of Saudi Arabia.

Before the success of these systems is examined, their adoption should be explored

first. The literature review revealed that no study has attempted to empirically

examine the users’ perspective of HRIS adoption in general and Saudi public

organizations in particular. Also, the context of Saudi Arabia is different to that of

other countries. Whilst The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has the largest economy

in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), it has experienced strong demographic

changes which have affected not only its political stability but also its economy. In

GCC countries including Saudi Arabia, the flow of foreign labour is seen to have a

negative impact on the region’s economy. Thus, developments are required in the

Saudi human resource (HR) capability so that HR departments can perform their

functions rapidly and with great accuracy, which could be achieved by adopting HRIS

in the Kingdom’s local organizations. Therefore, factors examined in existing studies

may or may not be relevant to the Saudi context.

Based on the above discussion, it could be said that there is a lack of specific

empirical research to measure the user adoption and success of HRIS. Therefore, this

study will attempt to fill the specified gap by undertaking research in this direction.

42

4.0 Theoretical Background and Conceptual Model

A number of alternative theories and models (for example, Technology Acceptance

Model (TAM), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT),

Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the DeLone

and McLean IS Success Model, etc) have been utilised to examine the individual

adoption and success of IS/IT (including HRIS) in various contexts (Hisao and Yang,

2011). Given the mandatory use of HRIS in Saudi public organizations, where users

are required to use these systems in order to perform their essential work duties, most

of these theories have limited application to mandatory-use contexts (Rawstrone et al.,

2000).

UTAUT is a unified framework based on the mapping of eight theories, including

TAM, TRA and TPB, which fulfils the requirement of all the theoretical constructs

that are useful and suitable for the present research purpose and that, takes into

account the mandatory nature of systems like HRIS. Whereas, the D&M IS Success

Model is considered to be one of the most established and frequently utilized theories

that facilitates the examination of success and user satisfaction.

4.1 Overview of the Research Conceptual Model

For the purpose of the present study, which aims to measure the adoption and success

of HRIS, UTAUT and D&M IS success models have been integrated in order to

identify the factors that influence these outcomes. Combining these two models

produces a more comprehensive means of doing so. The proposed conceptual model

is therefore based on constructs derived from combining both models.

The UTAUT model (Venkatesh et al., 2003) has four core constructs describing

adoption beliefs: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and

facilitating condition, which are moderated by age, gender and experience. The IS

success (DeLone and McLean, 2003) model has six elements which are directly

connected to each other to measure the success of IS. These dimensions are:

information quality, system quality, service quality, system use, user satisfaction and

net benefit. Owing to the mandatory use of the system in question, other relation was

found to be appropriate for representation within the model. In the context of

mandatory technology adoption, performance expectancy and effort expectancy have

significant effects on user satisfaction. Also, users of a mandatory system cannot

avoid paying attention to their managers’ and peers’ opinions about using the system.

Therefore, use of the system now takes on an additional social meaning, namely,

earning the user credibility in the eyes of the referents. This will lead the users to

perceive the system as more useful. Under the proposed research model, 17

hypotheses have been formulated. Table 1 presented a list of constructs and a

summary of hypotheses.

43

Hn Independent variable Dependent Variable

H1 Performance expectancy Intention to use

H2 Performance expectancy User satisfaction

H3 Effort expectancy Intention to use

H4 Effort expectancy User satisfaction

H5 Social influence Intention to use

H6 Social influence Performance expectancy

H7 Facilitating condition use

H8 Information quality Intention to use/use

H9 Information quality User satisfaction

H10 System quality Intention to use/use

H11 System quality User satisfaction

H12 Service quality Intention to use/use

H13 Service quality User satisfaction

H14 User satisfaction Intention to use

H15 User satisfaction HRIS success

H16 Use User satisfaction

H17 Intention to use /use HRIS success

Table 1 Summary of research hypotheses

5.0 Research Method

Since this research involves formulating and testing hypotheses, a survey is the most

appropriate research approach that can be employed to conduct such research (i.e. that

which requires testing hypotheses and validation of the conceptual model) (Galliers,

1992). Furthermore, by reviewing the previous studies in HRIS comprehensively, the

survey was found to be the most appropriate tool to obtain the data for this research.

Thus, this research considered the survey method to be the most suitable research

method.

This study’s population involves employees of the human resource departments at the

Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, which implemented HRIS in March 2011 at a

cost of 120 million Saudi riyals. The aim of this system is to facilitate the tracking of

the data of the Kingdom’s 550,000 employees.

The Ministry of Education has 1400 employees in its administration departments. The

staff are considered to be the most appropriate sample to test the hypotheses that are

associated with this research regarding the adoption and success of HRIS. Having

determined the research sample, the next step will be to distribute an online survey to

the entire HR employee department who will use the system in mid July 2013. This

study is aiming to collect around (700) completed questionnaires.

After collecting the data the next step is to analyse the collected data in order to test

the proposed hypotheses. This research will adopt the structural equation modelling

(SEM) framework and use AMOS 19 for data analysis. The use of SEM is appropriate

because it allows the examination of more than one regression relationship at a time

(Ullman & Benter, 2003).

44

6.0 Conclusion and Contribution to Theory and Practice

HRIS has become the backbone of the modern organization. It helps organizations

generally in terms of managing all HR information. It also helps in recoding and

analyzing employees and organizational information; however implementing such a

system has many challenges and one of the major drawbacks is the cost of the system.

Organizations still adopt such a system to obtain their advantages. Although different

studies have looked at its adoption and success, there is still a need for more studies to

look at the facts influencing the HRIS’s adoption and success. This study aimed to do

this through developing a conceptual model by combining the UTAUT model with

the D&M IS success model. Such a theoretical integration provides new material. In

order to validate the proposed model, an online survey will be distributed to the users

of the system in the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia.

As this study is one of the first studies to explore the adoption and success of HRIS in

Saudi Arabia it will contribute to emerging literature on HRIS adoption and success in

Saudi Arabia in particular, and more generally to the field of HR management and

information systems. Also, the completion of this study is expected to contribute to

the Kingdom’s initiatives in improving the Kingdom’s human resource capability and

expertise in the newly developed information technology systems such as HRIS.

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seven questions and answers, Public Personnel Management, 31(1), 7-20

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47

Adoption of Self-Service Technology by Jordanian Customers

Ali Al Alawan,, Yogesh K Dwivedi, Michael D Williams

Abstract

This study aims to examine the factors affecting consumer adoption of self-service

technology (Internet banking, mobile banking and telebanking) in the context of

Jordanian banking. The conceptual model is proposed by extending the Unified

Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) and includes other external

factors: trust, perceived risk, and self-efficacy. A quantitative field survey study will

be conducted to obtain the data from a convenience sample of Jordanian banking

customers via a self-administrated questionnaire. The findings of this study will be

useful for learning how the Jordanian customers’ adoption of SST can be improved.

Keywords: SSTs, Banking, Jordan, customer, UTAUT2, Adoption.

1. Introduction

Self-service technology (SST) has received considerable attention from both scholars

and service providers (Meuter et al., 2005). As an alternative to human interaction,

SST represents a ground breaking system that provides customers with a wide range

of high-quality services, at a time and place suitable to them, without any assistance

from the service provider (Meuter et al., 2005; Dabholkar et al., 2003). Noticeably,

SST applications are observed at different contexts from banking context, such as

Internet banking (Curran et al., 2003), grocery stores’ setting, for example, self-

scanning checkouts (Dabholkar et al., 2003) to airlines context such as check-in

kiosks (Gelderman et al., 2011).

In the context of Jordanian banking, where there are 26 banks, implementing SST

will play a crucial role in not only saving on labour costs and enhancing profitability

and competitive advantages, but also in increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty

(Azzam and Alramahi, 2010; Curran et al., 2003). Therefore, approximately the

amount of $182 million is projected to update the Internet banking services

(Association Banks in Jordan, 2010). However, implementing SST will not be

feasible unless customers accept this technology (Meuter et al., 2005). Along the

same lines, the adoption of SST by Jordanian customers is low; less than 3.5% of

Jordanian bank customers adopted internet banking services in 2010 (Department of

Statistics, 2010). In spite of this, quite a few studies have examined the adoption of

SST in Jordan. In addition to this, there are other critical factors that have not been

examined by these studies, such as habit, cost, perceived enjoyment, etc. Accordingly,

this study aims to identify and examine the factors influencing consumer adoption of

SSTs in the context of Jordanian banking. It is important to note that the body of SST

literature is large, and numerous factors have been examined and many theories

developed (Meuter et al., 2005). Therefore, there is a necessity for a systematic

review of the relevant literature so as to identify the most important and frequently

found factors influencing the adoption of SST, as well as choosing the appropriate

theory to propose conceptual which can provide a full picture about the adoption of

SST from the perspective of Jordanian customers.

48

The next sections of the paper will present the relevant literature and a selection of the

appropriate theories. This is followed by an overview of the proposed conceptual

model and the research methodology. The last section will outline the research

conclusions, its contribution, and limitations.

2. Literature Review

By closely reviewing the relevant literature of SST, SST literature can be categorized

in three main themes as follows:

2.1 Implementing SST and its Benefits from Organisation Perspectives

Increasingly, SST has been viewed critically in the service context, due to its

considerable impact on organisations’ strategies and activities (Curran et al., 2003).

Indeed, service organisations worldwide have engaged SST applications in an attempt

to meet growing customer demand, as well as to confront intense competition

(Dabholkar et al., 2003; Curran et al., 2003). The considerable role of SST in

enhancing a firm’s performance in areas such as profitability, productivity, and

cutting labour costs, has been broadly highlighted in prior studies (Bitner, 2002).

SSTs have been used as an efficient mechanism for maintaining and enlarging market

share and marketing relationship management (Azzam and Alramahi, 2010).

Essentially, this is due to higher service quality and convenience, which the SST is

better at, relative to human encounter. This significantly contributes to customer

satisfaction and loyalty (Al-Hawari et al., 2009). Thus, the important role of SST for

organisations can be seen. As customer adoption of SST represents the most

important challenge to successfully implementing SST (Meuter et al., 2005), there is a

need to learn more about the factors influencing the adoption of SST by customers.

Hence, the next section will discuss the adoption of SST from the customers’

perspective.

2.2 Adoption of SST from the Customer Perspective

Several studies have examined the adoption of SST from customers’ perspectives.

Factors that predict the adoption of SST are more likely to vary, so the literature here

has been categorised as follows: (1) Factors related to SST characteristics; for

instance, relative advantages, complexity, customisation, design, usefulness, and

convenience (e.g. Gerrad and Cunningham, 2003). (2) Factors associated with

individual’s characteristics, such as customer readiness, demographic variables, habit,

perceived enjoyment and perceived risk (e.g. Meuter et al., 2005). (3) Situational

factors such as waiting time, context, and perceived crowdedness (e.g. Gelderman et

al., 2011). (4) Factors concerned with organisational characteristics, for example,

price value, role of human encounter and facilitating conditions (e.g. Dabholkar et al.

2003). (5) Aspects related to trust, privacy and security, and credibility (Rexha et al.,

2003, etc.). (6) Factors related to the social environment, such as subjective norms,

reference groups, and word of mouth (e.g. Dabholkar et al., 2003). In summary, there

are a large number of factors influencing the adoption of SST and these factors vary

with context and cultural differences. Therefore, this study realises the need to

identify the most significant factors that explain the adoption of SST in Jordan. The

next section reviews studies conducted in the Jordanian context.

49

2.3 Adoption of SST by the Jordanian Customers

Although there are numerous studies that have examined the adoption of SST

worldwide, quite a few studies have examined the adoption of SST in Jordan. Abu-

Shanab et al. (2010) in their study to examine the adoption of Internet banking, found

that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influences respectively

determine the behavioural intention to adopt internet banking. They even confirmed

the considerable role of perceived trust, self-efficacy, and locus of control on the

customer’s tendency to adopt Internet banking. However, they did not confirm the

influencing role of facilitating conditions, anxiety, perceived risk, and innovativeness

on the behavioural intention. In the same context, Al-Majali, (2011) highlighted that

perceived risk, awareness of Internet banking, and trust all have a significant impact

on the customer’s attitudes and beliefs, which in turn significantly predict the

customer’s willingness to adopt internet banking. Regarding mobile banking, Khraim

et al. (2011) acknowledged that the adoption of mobile banking by Jordanian

customers is considerably predicted by self-efficacy, compatibility, relative

advantage, complexity and perceived risk.

On the whole, although these studies enhance understanding regarding important

factors affecting the adoption of SST in Jordan, there are other pivotal factors, such as

habit, perceived enjoyment, readiness, need for interaction, and price value that are

excluded by these studies. Furthermore, these studies have proposed their models

based on UTAUT (Abu-Shanab et al., 2010) and the theory of reasoned action (Al-

Majali, 2011). They also examine only Internet banking while Khraim et al. (2011)

randomly selected factors in their conceptual model to test the adoption of mobile

banking. Thus, this study aims to identify a suitable theoretical foundation that will

illuminate the most important factors, as well as being able to explain Jordanian

customers’ adoption of three kinds of SST (Internet banking, mobile banking, and

telebanking). Due to the considerable differences between these channels in terms of

their novelty, facilities required, how to use them, related costs, barriers, and

characteristics, comparative analyses will be conducted. This is in order to learn if

there are differences between the factors influencing the adoption of SSTs from one

type to another. Another rationale behind studying three kinds of SSTs concurrently is

in discovering if there are differences between the adopters of each type of SST in

order to manage the factors contributing to the adoption rate of each type,

commensurate with the nature and characteristics of their users.

3. Selection of Appropriate Theory to Propose Conceptual Model

In order to successfully explain the adoption of SST from the Jordanian customer

perspective, the conceptual model should provide a clear picture of the aspects of

SST, including individuals’ characteristics, environmental factors, and safety and trust

aspects. From analysis of the common models and theories in the field of technology

acceptance, the model proposed by Venkatesh et al. (2012) UTAUT2, is deemed to be

the appropriate theory for forming the conceptual model. This is because UTAUT2 is

particularly proposed for explaining technology acceptance from customers’

perspectives (Venkatesh et al., 2012). Furthermore, UTAUT2 was proposed based on

50

UTAUT, which has been attributed as the most parsimonious, inclusive, and

predictive model (Venkatesh et al., 2003, 2012). Furthermore, upon a closer reading

of the relevant research into SST, it was recognised that the main constructs in

UTAUT and UTAUT2, such as performance expectance, and social influences (Abu-

Shanab et al., 2010, etc.) or related constructs such as usefulness, relative advantages,

perceived enjoyment, cost (Gerrad and Cunningham, 2003, Curran et al., 2003, etc.)

are identified as significant determinants of customer intention and adoption of SST.

Meanwhile, Venkatesh et al. (2012) suggested that the applicability of UTAUT2

could be increased through investigating UTAUT2 by including new constructs, over

new cultures, for diverse customer segments, and various types of systems. Therefore,

UTAUT2 has been selected as the theoretical foundation of the conceptual framework

in order to explain banking customers’ reaction to new technologies (SST: internet

banking, mobile banking, and telebanking) in a new cultural context (Jordan). As well

as, in the line with Venkatesh’s et al. (2012) recommendations, other external factors

(trust, self-efficacy, and perceived risk), which are identified as the most important

and frequently used factors in the SST literature, will be considered along with

UTAUT2 constructs in the same conceptual model.

4. Overview of Proposed Conceptual Model

Based on UTAUT2 and other factors extracted from prior SST studies, the current

study proposes a conceptual model. Accordingly, UTAUT2 constructs of performance

expectancy, effort expectancy, price value, hedonic motivation, social influences,

habit and facilitating conditions are all proposed as having a direct influence on

behavioural intention. In addition, three factors from UTAUT2 habit, facilitating

conditions, and behavioural intention are formulated as direct determinants of

adoption behaviour. This study also postulates that trust, self-efficacy and perceived

risk, as external factors, have a direct relationship with behavioural intention.

Notably, either the UTAUT2 constructs or the extracted factors from SST literature

have been recognised as significant determinants of customer intention and adoption

of SST (e.g. Abu-Shanab et al., 2010). In line with Venkatesh et al. (2003; 2012), this

study supposes that the relationship between UTAUT2 constructs with behavioural

intention and adoption could significantly be moderated by age, gender, income, and

experience.

51

Table 1: Constructs definition and research hypotheses

Independent

construct

Definition Dependent

construct 1

H#

Dependent

construct 2

H#

Performance

expectancy

“The degree to which, an

individual believes that

applying the technology will

help him or her to gain in

job performance”

(Venkatesh et al., 2003, p.

447).

Behavioural

intention

H1

Effort

expectancy

“Extent of ease connected

with the use of system”

Venkatesh et al., (2003, p.

450).

Behavioural

intention

H2

Social

influences

“The extent to which, an

individual perceives that

important others believe he

or she should apply the new

system” (Venkatesh et al.,

2003, p. 450).

Behavioural

intention

H3

Facilitating

conditions

“The degree to which, an

individual believes that an

organisation and technical

infrastructure exists to

support the system”

(Venkatesh et al., 2003, p.

453).

Behavioural

intention

H4a Adoption H4b

Hedonic

motivation

The feeling of cheerfulness,

joy, and enjoyment, which

is stimulated by applying

technology (Venkatesh et

al., 2012).

Behavioural

intention

H5

Price value “Consumer’s cognitive

trade-off between the

perceived benefits of the

application and the

monetary cost for using it”

(Venkatesh et al., 2012,

p.161).

Behavioural

intention

H6

Habit “The extent to which,

people tend to perform

behaviours automatically

because of learning”

Behavioural

intention

H7a Adoption H7b

52

5. Research Methodology

Given the nature of this study, a positivist paradigm (quantitative approach) is the

appropriate philosophical foundation for helping to explain the adoption of SSTs by

Jordanian customers. This is due to the fact that technology acceptance is a mature

research area, with well-established knowledge and many theories, which can be used

to understand the interested problem (Bhattacherjee, 2012). In addition to this, the

study aims objectively to examine the causal relationships between the independent

and dependent constructs based on the UTAUT2 model (Bhattacherjee, 2012).

Therefore, a field survey questionnaire, a cost-effective and objective method, will be

conducted to obtain data from a convenience sample of 400 Jordanian banking

customers for each type of SSTs (Bhattacherjee, 2012). In order to validate the good

fit of the conceptual model and test the underlying hypotheses, the structural equation

model (SEM) would appear to be the suitable statistical technique (Kline, 2004).

6. Conclusion

This study aims to identify important factors influencing the adoption of SSTs by

Jordanian customers. UTAUT2 has been identified as the appropriate theoretical

foundation for proposing a conceptual model. Other important and frequently used

factors (trust, self-efficacy and perceived risk) are formulated along with UTAUT2

constructs in the same model. The conceptual model considers the moderating impact

of age, gender, income, and experience on the relationships among the conceptual

model. In order to achieve the study aims, a quantitative field survey study will be

(Venkatesh et al., 2012,

p.161).

Trust “Individual willingness to

depend based on the beliefs

in ability, benevolence, and

integrity” (Gefen et al.,

2003, p.161).

Behavioural

intention

H8

Perceived

risk

“The consumer’s subjective

expectation of suffering a

loss in pursuit of a desired

outcome” (Pavlou, 2001, p.

109).

Behavioural

intention

H9

Self-efficacy People’s judgments of their

capabilities to organise and

execute courses of action

required to attain designated

types of performances

(Venkatesh et al., 2003).

Behavioural

intention

H10

Behavioural

intention

The extent to which, an

individual intents to adopt

the technology in the future

(Venkatesh et al., 2003).

Adoption H11

53

conducted to obtain data from a convenience sample of Jordanian banking customers;

the data will be collected from a self-administered questionnaire. The gathered data

will be analysed by SEM.

6.1 Research Contribution

The current study makes an important contribution by proposing UTAUT2 for

examining the adoption of three kinds of SSTs (Internet banking, mobile banking, and

telebanking). The study also extends the applicability of UTAUT2 by focusing on

Jordanian banking. By including other external factors from the SST literature, this

study is able to expand the theoretical horizon of UTAUT2. Another contribution is

associated with examining the adoption of mobile banking, which is considered a

novel, modern technology in Jordan.

6.2 Limitations and Future Research Directions

The current study is restricted by number of limitations. Firstly, the current study

only theoretically identifies the main factors that could influence the adoption of SST,

but it has not yet empirically examined these factors. Therefore, an empirical study

should be conducted to validate the proposed model. Secondly, other factors, such as

technology readiness, the need for interaction and technology anxiety are excluded

from the current study. These are worthy directions for future studies to take. Thirdly,

the postulated hypotheses are not fully discussed and justified. This calls for further

explanation and justification of these hypotheses.

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55

Citizen Adoption of Electronic Government in Jordanian Context

Mohammad Alryalat, Yogesh K Dwivedi, Michael D Williams

The application of the Internet for enabling the operation of the government and for

the delivery of public services to citizens and businesses has been termed as electronic

government (eGov). Although eGov offers several benefits (such as offering always

on (24/7) services, reducing corruption and bureaucracy), citizens of many countries

are slow in adopting eGov systems. In order to understand reasons for such sluggish

adoption, a number of studies have attempted to explore factors influencing citizens’

adoption of eGov in a number of different countries both from developed and

developing world. The Jordanian government has also recently implemented a

number of citizen centric eGov services but the adoption rate has been slow here too.

Therefore, undertaking such research would be useful for accelerating the adoption

rate. However, no research, except for a few theoretical studies (Abu-Shanab et al.,

2010; Al Nagi and Hamdan, 2009), has been conducted in the Jordanian context. This

research is aimed at examining factors influencing citizens’ intention to adopt

available e-government services in the Jordanian context.

This research has employed the UTAUT (Venkatesh et al., 2003) as a guiding theory

to explain the citizens’ intention to adopt eGov services. The theory comprises four

independent constructs (i.e. performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE),

social influence (SI) and facilitating conditions (FC)) that affect behavioural

intentions and use of technology. This research has also adopted some additional

constructs such as perceived trust (PT), perceived risk (PR), and perceived security

(PS) along with the UTAUT to best explain the model. A field survey was considered

as a suitable research approach and a paper-based questionnaire was considered as the

preferred data collection method. Respondents were chosen from four different

locations (i.e., Salt, Irbid, Zarqa, and Aqaba) of a Jordanian university. Out of 1,200

questionnaires distributed during June-July 2012, a total of 538 valid responses were

received. The study selected a structural equation modelling technique using AMOS

for estimating the model. The fit indices provided evidence of a reasonably good

model fit (Chi-Square (χ2)/degree of freedom (DF) = 921.964/359 = 2.568, GFI =

0.893, AGFI = 0.871, NFI = 0.839, CFI = 0.894, RMSEA = 0.054). The analysis of

the model indicates that PE (γ=0.72, p<0.001) and EE (γ=0.28, p<0.001) were found

significant whereas SI (γ=0.07, p=0.135), FC (γ=0.08, p=0.097) and PT (γ=0.06,

p=0.205) were found non-significant on behavioural intention to use the eGov system.

Moreover, PS (γ=0.66, p<0.001) was found positively significant and PR (γ=-0.37,

p<0.001) negatively significant on PT. This research contributes to an overall

theoretical understanding of factors influencing eGov adoption.

References

Abu-Shanab, E., Al-Rub, S. A. & Nor, K. M. (2010). Obstacles Facing the Adoption

of E-Government Services in Jordan. Journal of E-Governance, 33(1), 35-47.

56

Al Nagi, E. A. & Hamdan, M. (2009). Computerization and e-Government

implementation in Jordan: Challenges, obstacles and successes. Government

Information Quarterly, 26(4), 577-583.

Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B. & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of

information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425-478.

57

Evaluating the Cultural Impact on E-government Adoption: A

Citizen Centric View of Saudi Arabia

Khalid Alhamzi, Michael D Williams, Yogesh K Dwivedi

Abstract

Many governments across the world are developing and utilizing ICT technologies as

a medium to propagate information and services to their citizens. Even in Saudi

Arabia (KSA) e-government projects have been identified as one of the key

government priority areas. However, the adoption of e-government by Saudi Arabian

citizens has seen many challenges and barriers (Alshehri et al., 2009), significant

among which are the social issues which need to be considered and treated carefully

by the Saudi government in order to utilize the full potential that e-government carries

(Alshehri & Drew, 2010).

One of the critical components of the social barrier is culture, which plays a vital role

in the lives of Saudi Arabian citizens and their intention to use any new technology

such as that of e-government (Alshehri & Drew, 2010). Overcoming this important

and complex cultural inertia has become the main challenge for both the

implementation and adoption of e-government in Saudi Arabia (Ndou, 2004).

There have been researchers in the past (Al-Kinani & Al-Besher, 2008 and

(Aldraehim et al., 2012) who have studied the impact of culture on e-services

available in Saudi Arabia and e-readiness of Saudi Arabian citizens at large. But there

haven’t been many articles which have specifically looked at evaluating the impact

that Saudi Arabian culture has on its citizens in adopting e-government in particular.

Since culture plays such a vital role in influencing the adoption and use of e-

government (Aldraehim et al., 2012), it becomes imperative to empirically evaluate

and understand the factual impact that culture has on the adoption of e-government

from the perspective of Saudi Arabian citizens.

Research Aim: The main aim of this research is to understand and empirically

evaluate the impact that culture has on Saudi Arabian Citizens in adoption of e-

government.

Research Objectives:

Undertake an extensive review of literature to analyse the current level of research

corresponding to the impact of culture on the adoption of e-government by Saudi

Arabian citizens in specific.

Structure a conceptual model and undertake a substantive quantitative survey in

order to identify the current level of impact of Saudi culture on the adoption and

use of e-government in Saudi Arabia.

Empirically validate and refine the proposed conceptual model by firstly testing

the reliability of the constructs adopted and then identifying the conversions and

diversions of the research result.

58

Provide detailed inferences on the implications for policies and practices that could

be rendered imperative, which may negate or minimize the impact of culture on the

adoption of e-government by Saudi Citizens.

A sheer lack in the scale of past research dealing with this particular topic and context

to date, and the impact of cultural influence, emphasize the scope and significance of

this research (Aldraehim et al., 2012).

References

Aldraehim, M.; Edwards, S., L. & Watson, J. (2012). Cultural impact on e-service use

in Saudi Arabia: Results from Focus Groups. Ninth International Conference on

Information Technology- New Generations, pp: 744-750.

Al-Kinani, A., N. & Al-Besher, B., M., N. (2008). “Analysis Study of Culture’s

Impact on E-Readiness Assessments in developing countries”. Communications of

the IBIMA, Vol. 6, No. 24, pp: 154-164.

Alshehri, M. & Drew, S. (2010). Challenges of e-Government Services Adoption in

Saudi Arabia from an e-ready citizen Perspective. World Academy of Science,

Engineering and Technology, Vol. 66, pp: 1053-1059.

Alshehri, M.; Drew, S. & Alfarraj, O. (2009). A Comprehensive Analysis of E-

government services adoption in Saudi Arabia: Obstacles and Challenges.

International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, Vol. 3,

No.2, pp:1-6.

Ndou, V. (2004). E-government for developing countries: opportunities and

challenges. The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing

Countries, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp: 1-24.

59

Adoption of Knowledge Management Systems in Saudi Arabian

Public Sector Organisations: Role of Institutional Factors

Fatmah M. H. Alatawi, Yogesh K Dwivedi, Michael D Williams

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the importance and influence of environmental

factors on adoption of knowledge management systems (KMS) in the context of the

Saudi Arabian public sector. In order to analyse the external environmental pressures

felt by organisations, the Institutional Theory was deemed relevant as a guiding

theory and source of factors tested in this research. The conceptual model proposed to

guide this research postulates that coercive pressure along with normative pressure

and external IS support determines the mimetic pressure element. Mimetic along with

coercive pressure influences the intention and behaviour to adopt KMS. Thus, in the

proposed model, coercive pressure will exert both direct and indirect (via mimetic

pressure) effect on intention and behaviour. Data collected from a survey of 352

employees from organisations within the Saudi Arabian public sector organisations

was utilised to perform a number of analyses. Findings obtained from regression

analysis suggest that the coercive pressure not only affects behavioural intention

directly but also exerts an indirect effect on it via mimetic pressure construct.

Coercive pressure along with normative pressure and external IS support determined

the strength of mimetic pressure. Findings also indicate that mimetic pressure along

with coercive pressure significantly influenced behavioural intention to adopt KMS in

Saudi Arabian public sector organisations.

The research contributes to the existing knowledge on the topic investigated by this

submission as this is one of the first initiatives to investigate the role and importance

of environmental/institutional factors for determining KMS adoption in Saudi Arabian

context. Thus, findings of this research would contribute to the institutional theory on

IS/IT management in particular and technology-organisation-environment (TOE)

framework in general as it provides tested elements for integration in the

‘Environment’ category of the framework. This research clearly indicates that

coercive and mimetic pressure can be utilised to promote widespread adoption of

KMS in public sector organisations in Saudi Arabia. Also, normative pressure and

external IS support can be utilised to strengthen the mimetic pressure which appeared

to act as a major factor that determines intention to adopt the KMS system. Also,

managers of the Saudi public sector organisations should carefully analyse and exert

an appropriate level of pressure on their subordinates in such a way that may lead to

the stronger intentions of employees to adopt KMS systems. The research reported in

this submission was focused on examining the role and importance of environmental

factors in determining KMS adoption in Saudi Arabian context. So the main

limitation of this submission is that it excluded other types of factors (i.e.,

organisational and technological factors) which would have provided further

understanding of KMS adoption in the Saudi Arabian context. Remaining analysis

from this research would focus on undertaking analysis on organisational and

60

technological factors (by employing the TOE framework) when approaching such

problems.

Keywords: Knowledge Management System, Coercive Pressure, Mimetic Pressure,

Normative Pressure, External IS Support

61

Will mobile payments prevail in the UK?

Emma L Slade, Michael D Williams, Yogesh K Dwivedi

Extended abstract

Mobile payments (m-payments) represent a culmination of innovations, combining

payment systems with mobile devices and services, to enable users to initiate,

authorise, and complete a financial transaction over a mobile network or wireless

communication technology. They offer users the first ubiquitous payment solution

and thus a distinctive value over other payment systems. However, there is a general

reluctance to adopt new payment systems as a result of consumers’ entrenched

behaviour and stakeholders’ vested interest in existing payment systems. Although m-

payment initiatives such as mPesa have experienced success in developing countries

where banking infrastructure is more limited, m-payment systems have gained little

ground in the UK to date. However, there are now a variety of different proximity and

remote m-payment systems available in the UK, such as Barclays’ Pingit and

Orange’s QuickTap, and m-payments have become a specifically denoted project of

the UK Payments Council.

A review of the extant literature via Google Scholar® and ISI Web of Knowledge®

revealed that 35 studies have been conducted relating to m-payment adoption.

However, 15 of these studies have not been quantitatively validated. 70 per cent of the

remaining 20 quantitative studies have been published since 2010; therefore, m-

payment adoption research is still in its infancy. Quantitative m-payment adoption

research has been conducted in a variety of countries, including China, Germany,

Finland, India, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and the US. To date China has

been the most researched context, accounting for 7 of the 20 empirical studies relating

to m-payment adoption. However, currently no m-payment adoption research has

been conducted in the UK context.

The lack of m-payment adoption research in the context of the UK leaves an

important void that needs to be filled for several reasons. Firstly, as the survival and

growth of mobile commerce by both consumers and merchants is largely dependent

on a secure and reliable payment system, then examination of m-payment adoption is

important to those stakeholders with an interest in the success of mobile commerce

both in the UK and internationally. Secondly, as the success of m-payments will pose

a threat to existing payment systems, then adoption research is imperative for

stakeholders who have a vested interest in existing UK payment systems. Finally,

adoption research conducted in different contexts is not wholly generalizable due to

different payment cultures; therefore, adoption research in the UK context will be of

use to stakeholders with a specific interest in the UK m-payment environment.

Therefore, examining the adoption of m-payments in the UK will generate knowledge

that is useful both theoretically and practically.

62

Developing a framework to compare the effect of distribution

channels on consumer behaviour

Francesca Sibbald, Adrian Palmer, Nicole Koenig-Lewis

Abstract: My research focuses on the comparison of the experiential values of

purchasing through an online distribution channel with an offline distribution channel.

Two models will be created with the distribution channel being the variable to

compare differential effects of the customer experience on behavioural intention.

Research will consist of both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Keywords: consumer behaviour, distribution channels, customer experience

Introduction

Service dominant logic is the crossover between goods and services and states that

intangible resources, the co-creation of value, and relationships are more important

than the good itself (Vargo and Lusch 2004). In contrast, value in use is associated

with the experiential elements of consumption. Previous research on value in use has

focused heavily on the utilitarian and hedonic benefits, which arise after the purchase

experience. However, experiential benefits can take place before a purchase (the

build-up to purchasing a product), during the transaction and subsequently during

consumption. Research into the experiential values arising from the transaction

process itself is very limited. Thus, this research tries to close this gap by establishing

the experiential benefits and values associated with the acquisition and transaction

process of obtaining a good. The focus will be on the comparison of the experiential

values of purchasing through an online channel and via a traditional store with face to

face contact. This is important to research as the industry changes so do the needs of

consumers, competition is increased and the price offers of a product is not enough

anymore. By comparing the two purchasing channels, the industry is able to move

further forward to meet and deliver the needs of customer, providing very useful

research.

Customer experience has been defined as “an interaction between an organisation and

a customer. It is a blend of an organisation’s physical performance, the senses

stimulated and emotions evoked, each intuitively measured against customer

experience across all moments of contact” (Shaw and Ives 2002, p.6). Thus

experiences are sensations, cognitions, behavioural responses and feelings provoked

by brand related stimuli. Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) identified fantasies,

feelings and fun as the experiential aspects of consumption.

63

However, since the introduction of the Internet, brands have had to examine the way

in which they provide an experience. Brands try to create an experience for the

consumer from the minute they enter the store by creating emotional cues such as

lighting and smell. But online this is more of a challenge for brands who are trying to

achieve a luxurious webmosphere (Okonkwo 2009). Ismail et al (2011, p.5) state that

“enabling the customer to live outstanding moments of the relationships with the

company is more valuable for the customer rather than selling a memorable

experience”. Brand and their branding should be continued throughout their websites.

Research has focused mainly on web site design and have tend to ignore website

aesthetics, empirical studies have found consumers perceptions of a website quality

are affected by aesthetics (Heijden 2003). Originally aesthetics were considered

important to attract the attention of potential users and to provide an enjoyable

experience (Hallnas et al 2002) however findings by Cai and Xu (2011) found

consumer shopping value to have a direct link with website aesthetics. Jennings

(2006) stated an e-business will not thrive unless it provides an “experience”.

However, emphasis has been based too much on the performance issues of a web site

and not on the emotional aspects, it is considered essential for a website to be fun,

pleasurable, and exciting which are all influenced by the aesthetics (Hassanein and

Head 2005, Tractinsky 2004). Extensive research has been carried out into the effect

of atmospherics on customer behaviour in an online store environment (Eroglu 2001,

2003). Atmospherics has been defined as the effect of the immediate physical

environment on the consumer and “the conscious designing of space to create certain

effects in buyers that enhance their purchase probabilities” (Kotler 1973 p 50).

Expressive aesthetics can affect the shopping process value for two reasons. The halo

effect means that the first impression of the shopping environment could have an

influence on the evaluation of other attributes within the environment (Tractinsky

2007). Secondly, by inducing an effective response, expressive aesthetics affect

process perceptions which in turn influence cognitive evaluations (Vilnai-Yavetz et al

2006). Aesthetic websites are likely to lead a flow experience, resulting in increased

learning, perceived shorter shopping time, positive subjective experience and

increased shopping productivity (Hoffman and Novak 1996). Rintamaki et al (2006)

argues the importance of social shopping value and its recognition by conceptualising

shopping value into three dimensions, social value, utilitarian value and hedonic

value. By including social value Rintamaki et al (2006) is connecting the value of

fulfilment to consumer shopping motivations. In this conceptualisation, social value is

gained from enhanced self-esteem and status, utilitarian value stems from saving

money and convenience and hedonic value stems from entertainment and exploration.

Online consumers’ perceptions may be affected by aesthetics by inducing affective

response (Tractinsky and Lowengart 2007) “Affect is pre-attentively ‘extracted’ and

influences subsequent perception” (Fazio et al 1994 p 212). The attractiveness of a

64

website can be judged very quickly as it is the first attribute of an object (Lingaard et

al 2006). Kim et al (2004) found that it is possible to induce a target emotion by

manipulating design factors of an interface. Vilnai-Yavetz and Rafaeli (2006) found

aesthetics of a virtual landscape to be positively associated with satisfaction and

attitude. Consumer value perception is a key element of traditional consumer

behaviour. Obtaining value is considered a fundamental purchase goal for consumers

and is essential to all successful transactions (Holbrook 1999). Shopping value has

been decomposed into ‘shopping process value’ and ‘shopping enjoyment’, with

shopping process value representing the utilitarian aspect of consumer shopping value

and shopping enjoyment captures the hedonic aspect of consumer shopping value

“with a focus on affective consumer behaviour elicited by emotive and multisensory

elements” (Cai and Xu 2011 p 164). This explains the reasoning behind value

dimensions being critical antecedents of consumer satisfaction, commitments, loyalty

and trust (Sirdeshmukh et al 2002). Therefore, this will be included as an influence

on customer experience in this research. Trust can be influenced by website

aesthetics.

Website aesthetics provide an enjoyable experience and can improve the consumer’s

perception of the usability of a site. Sautter et al (2004) found that e-atmospherics are

important cues for consumers to evaluate the quality of a web site. This is supported

by Van Der Haijden (2003) who suggested perceived attractiveness of a website is

influenced by the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived

enjoyment. These are considered motivations for consumption. Research has found

there are two different types of benefits, hedonic benefits and utilitarian benefits. It is

found that utilitarian motives can be dominated by emotional desires, “the intensity of

emotive arousal largely depends on the capacity and desire for spending emotional

resources on the part of the buyer, and this capacity and desire carry within one

consumer over time” (Sarkar 2011 p59). Forsythe et al (2006) carried out research

into the perceived benefits and risks associated with online shopping. Their study

found that individuals with higher utilitarian shopping motives and likely to gain

greater benefits through online shopping than those with lower utilitarian shopping

motives. This is because of the convenience of shopping online, the wide product

range, the how it is easier and quicker through the use of longer opening hours (24/7)

and customer reviews resulting in a more positive customer experience. However it

was also found that due to the financial risk, product risk and convenience risk

associated with shopping online, those with higher utilitarian shopping motives are

also more likely to perceived and overall greater risk in online shopping than those

with lower utilitarian motives. To relieve the worry of failing in an online

environment and to overcome the lack of face-to-face contact, e-tailers have adapted

by creating features such as real-time chats, search engines, bulletin boards. This

increased interaction with the consumer can provide benefits such as customised

information, entertainment and image manipulation (Fiore et al 2005). “the purpose of

65

facilitating interactive features on the e-commerce website is to increase consumers’

perceived consumption value and, in turn, to satisfy and retain them” (Yoo et al 2010

p 89) by providing a more positive and enjoyable customer experience. Providing

more value to customers is critical to ensure purchases and repurchases from the

perspective of the online store (Childers et al 2001).

Methodology

It is essential to understand the different emotions and reasons for purchasing between

an online and offline situation, therefore two models will be incorporated to compare

the two situations within a similar product area. Brands will be chosen which are

available online and offline across a range of the brand classes.

Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to enhance reliability of the

study. Initially some qualitative research will be undertaken in the form of

Webnography to research blogs, social networks, websites etc. to try and establish the

types of emotions and different types of languages induced by consumers who are

reporting on a branded type of purchase through different distribution channels. Focus

groups may also be carried out if required. A pilot questionnaire will then be designed

to support this and to find brands which are popular and readily available within the

luxury industry and to understand to what extent emotions are most regularly

experienced. The research study will use a quantitative survey employing likert type

scales to find out to what extent these emotions can affect the outcome.

Contribution to knowledge

This research has the aim of research value in use and experiential value of

distribution channels to find the effects these can have on behavioral intention of the

consumer. The following questions will be raised:

What emotions are provoked during the transaction process and how do they

differ according to distribution channel

Does experiential value differ with distribution channel

What experience benefits are created and how do they motivate the consumer

The effect of customer experience on behavioral intention

Do the same emotions occur online to offline

Can the same model be used for an online scenario and an offline scenario

Does value in use have a direct effect on customer experience

How service dominant logic transgresses into experience

The conceptual framework, links individual concepts which have an influence on

consumer behaviour, these will then be applied to both purchasing channels. This

insight into consumer behaviour is essential to businesses to provide what the

consumer needs to boost sales. A major challenge of this research is to define when

an experience begins and when it finishes. This refers back to service dominant logic

where the relationship becomes more important than the goods consumed.

66

Emphasis will be placed on the comparison of the distribution channels and their

effect on behavioral intention.

References

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just for pleasure: Effects of web site aesthetics on consumer shopping value.

International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 15(4), 159-188.

Childers, T.L., Carr, C.L., Peck, J., Carson, S., 2001. Hedonic and utilitarian

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511–535.

Eroglu, S.A.; Machleit, K.A.; and Davis, L.M. Atmospheric qualities of online

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(2003), 139–150.

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S. Attitudes, perception, and attention. In P.M. Niedenthal and S. Kitayama

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York: Academic Press, 1994, pp. 197–216

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Forsythe, S. , Liu, C. , Shannon, D. , & Gardner, L. (2006). Development of a scale to

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Interactive Marketing (John Wiley & Sons), 20(2), 55-75

Hallnas, L., and Redstrom, J. From use to presence: On the expressions and aesthetics

of everyday computational things. ACM Transactions on Computer–Human

Interaction, 9, 2 (2002), 106–124.

Hassanein, K., and Head, M. The impact of infusing social presence in the Web

interface: An investigation across product types. International Journal of

Electronic Commerce, 10, 2 (2005–6), 31–55.

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69

The Impact of Online Social Networking on Music Consumption and

Identity

Richard Warr, Adrian Palmer, Antje Cockrill

This study explored potential links between online social networking, music consumption,

and identity formation. Existing theories suggest that an inherently social element is present

in identity construction which can be influenced by how a person perceives themselves and

how they are seen, or would like to be seen, by others. Music consumption choices can also

be used to express aspects of one’s self. The rise of online virtual communities has provided

further platforms for social aspects of identity formation, including engaging with other

community members and the sharing of music consumption choices. Whilst previous studies

have dealt with engagements in both offline and online social environments (Livingstone,

2008), there is currently no research which explores this topic in relation to music

consumption and identity.

Seraj (2012) noted how consumers now use online communities to engage with others around

brands, with certain characteristics of communities delivering value to consumers and

instigating such engagements. This includes interactive environments which enable

relationship building and therefore provide social value. It is suggested that online music

social groups may constitute elements of brand communities, which have also recently been

the focus of netnographic research methodology by Seraj (2012), as well as the

multidimensional aspects and dynamism of consumer engagement in such environments

which may be governed by users’ interactive experiences and reflected in value co-creation

with other participants (Brodie et al., 2013). As such, this paper used an observatory

webnographic data collection to investigate the impact of online social networking on

individuals’ music choices and identity formation. This involved a qualitative methodology

that captures data from Internet-based platforms such as forums, chat rooms, and news

boards. The study focused on virtual communities dealing with a wide variety of musical

genres. This data was collated, categorised, and then analysed.

It was found that four key areas emerged from the data that was collected. Firstly,

interactions though online communities were extensively used to expand consumers’

experience of music consumption. Secondly, this form of social networking is used by

consumers who perceive their own musical tastes, and with that their identity, to be different

from that of their offline social peer groups, suggesting that they wish to share their

experiences with like-minded individuals in the online environment. Thirdly, online

communities may also be used considerably in the promotion of live music shows and

festivals. Finally, the data suggests that music consumption is heavily-incorporated by

people into their identity, lifestyle, and everyday routines.

This exploratory research established a number of themes which could be explored much

further in quantitative research, especially the link between online social networking and

identity formation. Webnographic research has some inherent limitations which could be

addressed by adding additional research elements. For example, the results could be

supported by a quantitative study that looks at the issues raised across a larger sample.

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References

Brodie, R. J., Ilic, A., Juric, B., & Hollebeek, L. (2013). Consumer Engagement in a Virtual

Brand Community: An Exploratory Analysis. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), 105-114.

Livingstone, S. (2008). Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers'

Use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy, Privacy and Self-expression. New Media &

Society, 10(3), 393-411.

Seraj, M. (2012). We Create, We Connect, We Respect, Therefore We Are: Intellectual,

Social, and Cultural Value in Online Communities. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26,

209-222.

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The Impact of Gamification on Brand Perception Enhancement

Yang Yang, Antonis Simitiras, Antje Cockrill

The aim of this study is to assess the effect of gamification on brand perceptions. Developing

a conceptual model termed ‘gamification branding’, the purpose is to examine the

gamification determinants using social media (i.e., the engagement in game-playing, the level

of involvement, the enjoyment with the game(s), social communication and gamified design)

as brand perception enhancers. This area is neglected in the literature despite the proliferation

of games and efforts to use them in branding strategies (i.e., see Coca Cola, Nike, IBM etc.).

The importance of gamification and social media in branding has recently recognized in the

relevant literature. Gamification can be considered as a powerful branding strategy for

influencing and motivating consumers. Game-playing branding can also be regarded as an

efficient way of influencing consumers. It has the power to improve customers’ engagement

and enhance brand perception through engagement and involvement, flow experience,

gamified mechanics and content, and personal and social influence. Besides, gamification’s

own distinct characteristics (e.g. fun, multi-media combination, mutual interaction) are

considered advantageous for branding as they attract customers’ attention and appeal to

fundamental human desires such as recognition, rewards, status, achievement, competition,

collaboration, self-expression and altruism. Besides, brand perception (i.e., customer’s ability

to identify a specific brand under different conditions including brand image and brand

associations) has always been considered of great importance for both companies and

customers. Meanwhile, social media today connecst people through sharing of contents,

entertainment and interaction, and offers opportunities for using gamification as a brand

enhancing platform.

This research aims to fulfil the research gap in the ‘gamification branding’, by identifying

gamification factors on brand perception dimensions and deciphering the relationship

between gamification-related factors and brand perceptions. By providing a new theoretical

model and insights of how companies can practically develop specific gamification processes

to enhance their brands, this study aims to make its theoretical and managerial contributions.

72

HRM at Low Fares Airlines in BRICs: Commitment and Insecurity

Daniel Wintersberger, Alison Pullen, Helen Williams

Abstract

This research seeks to contribute to a better understanding of individual (employee) level

experiences of high performance work systems. By examining these in a ‘BRICs’ context, it

responds to calls in the HRM and comparative industrial relations literature for an increased

focus of attention on the emerging economies. Moreover, by drawing primarily on qualitative

data derived from interviews and focus groups with aviation workers, it makes a

methodological contribution by providing the direly-needed rich data which the ubiquitous

existing large-scale quantitative studies are found to be lacking. Respondents in both

countries link low fares airlines to work intensification, job insecurity, and union decline.

However, in attempts to safeguard employee commitment and discretionary effort, these

airlines are also found to be implementing some elements of high performance work systems.

Labour within such airlines therefore appears to be treated both as dependable and

disposable. Worker experiences of such strategies are discussed with reference to an

alternative, neo-Fordist labour process conceptualisation of high performance work systems.

The sustainability of this approach is questioned from a labour and corporate perspective.

Key words: High performance work systems; neo-Fordism, low cost airlines; HRM; BRICs

Introduction

In an industry where labour still comprises around one third of total operating costs (Doganis

2006: 119), and all other major operating costs (fuel, taxes, airport landing charges) are out of

the direct influence of airline management (Doganis 2006: 125), it is not surprising that low

fares airlines (LFAs) primarily turn to labour in attempts to compete on costs. Due to the pro-

cyclical nature of civil aviation, it is also clear that labour cost-reduction attempts on the side

of airlines primarily aim at making labour as variable a cost as possible, by increasing its

temporal, numerical, financial, and geographical flexibility (Harvey and Turnbull 2012), via

temporary contracts, outsourcing, and performance-based elements of variable pay (Harvey

and Turnbull 2012: 6). As a result of this emphasis on labour flexibility, LFAs are widely

associated with contractual and financial insecurity (Harvey and Turnbull 2012: 27;

Wintersberger et al. 2013).

The low cost airline industry is however also becoming increasingly heterogeneous with

regards to competitive strategy, as some LFAs, given a proliferation of competitors, are

increasingly attempting to pursue a dual source of competitive advantage based on cost

leadership, as well as service quality. Similarly to other service sectors, deregulation of

national civil aviation industries has facilitated a ‘customer victory’ (DuPuy 1999;

Korczysnki 2002: 12), insofar as what is increasingly scarce is the customer, rather than the

product. A common response of European LFAs to increased competition in the low cost

segment has been diversification, with many seeking a dual competitive advantage on cost

and service quality. The result is an increasingly heterogeneous low cost segment, where

some discern as many as four distinctive approaches, ranging from the 'short-haul

73

fundamentalism' of Ryanair, to the 'hybrid' approach of Air Berlin, which offer most of the

'frills' associated with FSCs, albeit at a lower cost (Harvey and Turnbull 2012: 12). The

theoretical implications of these strategies are subsequently discussed.

Theoretical Background

Given that 'matching models' of HRM predict congruency between a firm’s competitive

strategy and its HRM practices (Beer et al. 1984; Devanna et al. 1984), the low-road labour

utilisation strategies of LFAs, as detailed earlier are not surprising. More specifically, firms

pursuing a ‘cost leadership’ strategy (Porter 1980) are said to be subservient to the product

market logic insofar as their market positioning necessitates rigorous labour cost

minimisation as the primary labour utilisation objective. In a civil aviation context therefore,

matching models of HRM would predict that LFAs first and foremost would adopt ‘hard’

HRM practices, which emphasise direct (Friedman 1977), and process-based managerial

control (Bamberger and Meshoulam 2000), rather than an approach aimed at fostering

employee commitment. The employment contract thus would be expected to be rather

transactional, akin to the ‘market model’ of HRM, outlined by Beer et al. (1984).

Matters arguably become more complex where LFAs concomitantly draw on a cost-

leadership and quality enhancement strategy. Once again, stressing the congruency which

matching models of HRM attribute to the link between competitive strategy and HRM

practices, LFAs, pursuing for example a ‘hybrid’ strategy would be expected to deploy HRM

practices akin to the soft, developmental humanist, rather than hard, utilitarian instrumentalist

model (Storey 1987; Legge 1995), and a workforce that is committed to, rather than just

compliant with organisational goals (Walton 1985).

Southwest Airlines (SWA) is one widely-cited example of an LFA successfully straddling a

concomitant focus on cost-leadership and quality enhancement via high commitment

management (HCM) practices (Gittell and Bamber 2010; Gittell 2003). For example, by

empowering front-line (passenger-facing) employees the airline appears to emphasise

responsible autonomy, rather than direct control (Friedman 1977). Moreover, an emphasis on

outcome, rather than process-based control (Bamberger and Meshoulam 2000) is reflected in

attempts on the side of the airline to 'manage performance broadly', rather than to closely

monitor individual performance (Gittell 2003: 149). The practices deployed by SWA reflect

those advocated in 'best practice' frameworks of HRM (see for example Pfeffer 1998). The

airline has however not only implemented those practices (employee empowerment, high

proportions of performance-based pay) which are potentially conducive to maintaining a

flexible workforce, but also those that would at first glance seem counter-intuitive in an

industry as pro-cyclical and volatile as civil aviation. For example, contrary to the prevailing

labour utilisation trends, particularly in the US market, SWA have also chosen to partner with

trade unions, and to make explicit commitments to employee job security through a strict ‘no

layoff’ (Gittell 2003: 242) policy, which so far has withstood 9/11 and a triple-dip recession.

SWA thus are evidently subscribing to a key notion in the high performance work systems

(HPWS) literature, namely that HRM best practices work better in bundles rather than when

they are individually implemented (MacDuffie 1995).

74

LFAs in India and Brazil

Contrary to their ailing full service carrier (FSC) counterparts, the recent performance of low

fares airlines (LFAs) in emerging economies has been stellar. In Brazil and India, two BRIC

hotspots of air traffic growth, LFAs now hold a domestic market share of over fifty and

seventy per cent respectively (Wintersberger et al. 2013). In these countries, as was the case a

decade or two earlier in Europe and North America, LFAs have transformed air travel by

allowing an ever-increasing number of travellers access to what was once an unaffordable

luxury for them. Beyond transforming air travel for the wider public, these LFAs arguably

have also introduced changes to working arrangements and terms and conditions with

profound impacts on labour, as later sections will show.

Both in India (IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir), and Brazil (Gol, Azul, Webjet, Trip), newly-

emerged LFAs are increasingly engaging in fierce competition with each other, in what, less

so due to market saturation, but more due to infrastructural constraints1 for further flight

capacity expansion (Herszenhaut 2011), is becoming a market with limited short- to mid-term

growth prospects. Therefore, similarly to LFAs in 'mature' aviation markets, Indian and

Brazilian LFAs respond to heightened competition by seeking a dual source of competitive

advantage on cost and service quality. For example, all of the examined LFAs operate with a

generous checked baggage allowance, pre-assigned seating, and provide at least rudimentary

complementary snacks and refreshments on board. Moreover, some Indian LFAs such as

‘IndiGo’ are increasingly encroaching into the mid to long-haul sectors which call for a high

level of service quality.

The focus on the side of Indian and Brazilian LFAs on service quality, according to

respondents is also underpinned by what have been claimed to be somewhat excessive

expectations on the side of their passengers, due to the novelty of air travel as a mass-form of

transportation. While in Europe, some argue that LFA passenger are prepared to 'crawl naked

over broken glass to get low fares'2, In India and Brazil it appears that LFAs (somewhat

cynically it may be argued) have deliberately failed to downwardly-manage passenger service

quality expectations to more closely match the realities of low cost flying. In other words,

LFAs appear to be perpetuating the enchanting myth of customer sovereignty (Korczynski

2002), despite the inherent cost-cutting pressures associated with LFA modes of operation.

This has the consequence that, despite the proliferation of LFAs, 'rudimentary' service

demands on the side of passengers in these countries entail more than just a flight from A to

B:“Crush them on top of each other into a plane with no food? Not with us! (…) Even only

for a few hours. For most of our passengers, flying is a special experience, and they want to

be treated that way” (Cabin crew representative, India).

HRM at LFAs in India and Brazil

As a result of the aforementioned service quality demands, it perhaps comes as expected that

LFAs in both countries appear to be transcending the 'command and control' strategies which

matching models would attribute to firms pursuing a pure cost-leadership strategy. This is

1 India and Brazil lack 'LFA friendly' infrastructure such as secondary airports, and existing airports

are already operating at peak capacity. 2 Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary in the Telegraph, 2012

75

reflected for example in work organisation and supervisory styles, where Indian and Brazilian

LFAs appear to be actively pursuing practices that are conducive to eliciting employee

commitment and discretionary effort. These take the form of flat hierarchies, ad-hoc work

organisation, and the facilitation of extensive cross-functional as well as bottom-up

communication and coordination, similar to the 'relational coordination' (Gittell 2003: 25)

found at SWA. More specifically, Brazilian LFAs Azul and Webjet have various informal

‘suggestion schemes’ in place, and operate a management ‘open-door’ policy. As an

alternative to ‘micro-managing’ (interview notes) employees, both LFAs offer substantial

performance-based elements of variable pay. At LFAs in India, sales commission is an

integral component of earnings, while kilometre-based pay for cabin and flight crew

incentivises a maximisation of aircraft utilisation at Brazilian LFAs. Therefore, as 'matching'

models of HRM would predict, Indian and Brazilian LFAs emphasise outcome, rather than

process-based control, and responsible autonomy, rather than direct control.

Employee attitudes towards these practices, superficially at least appear to be positive.

Particularly the ad-hoc work organisation, and substantial degrees of empowerment are found

to be appreciated by the predominantly young employees who view these LFAs as helpful

work experience, and as a favourable alternative to the rigid, bureaucratically-run FSCs (such

as the state-owned Air India) where promotion has been argued by respondents to be slow

and tenure- rather than merit-based. One respondent at Webjet for example proudly

proclaimed that, despite her youth, she was promoted to the role of duty supervisor at check-

in after only one year of job tenure (interview notes). These, at first glance positive employee

attitudes appear to be further nurtured by the airlines in an array of paternalistic practices to

foster employee affective commitment to the firm. Both Azul and rival Brazilian LFA Webjet

for example periodically organise sporting and social events for their employees, breeding an

organisational culture of fun and camaraderie.

However, different employee attitudes are found when scraping beneath the veneer of high

commitment rhetoric. For example, the performance-based elements of variable have been

found to be a mixed blessing, particularly for cabin and flight crew. In this case the

kilometre-based pay is reported to have significantly intensified work pressure, and

reportedly led to an increase in the mutual monitoring of individual performance. A large

proportion of airborne workers, driven by the desire to maximise their contingent pay, report

that they often find themselves “pushing colleagues on the ground to work faster” (interview

notes). Moreover, this policy has created a deep rift between airborne workers and their

colleagues on the ground insofar as the former feel that the latter, due to lack of effort are

depriving them of their variable pay. It strongly appears that this practice, in addition to

leading employees to voluntarily participate in an intensification of their labour process, is

also eroding cross-functional solidarity of labour in a perfect 'divide and rule' (Edwards 1979)

manner.

LFAs also appear to be giving away to cost-cutting pressures by turning to some short-

sighted HRM practices more closely reflecting the hard, utilitarian instrumentalist model

outlined earlier. For example, an emphasis on labour flexibility is reflected in a rise in

temporary employment and high levels of job insecurity. This is where Indian and Brazilian

76

LFAs appear to depart from the successful trajectory of SWA, an integral component of

which is an explicit commitment to employee job security (Gittell 2003: 242). In both

countries, workers of essentially all functions are recruited only on temporary (usually three-

year) contracts, often with a first year on probation which often is terminated on relatively

minor grounds (interview notes). The emergence of LFAs has also been paralleled by an

increase in agency labour provided by domestic as well as multinational ground-handling

service providers such as Swissport and Servisair. Where FSCs have established low cost

subsidiaries (Air India Express for example), these are usually staffed through a recruitment

agency established by the parent airline through which they can employ staff under inferior

terms and conditions compared to their permanent counterparts. Given such developments, it

is not surprising that in interviews, job insecurity was expressed as a major topic of concern

by respondents. This is similarly reflected in survey responses, where a combined 86.5% of

respondents reported that it is ‘possible’ or ‘very likely’ that they will lose their job over the

next two years (Wintersberger et al. 2013: 28). Both the performance-based elements of

variable pay and the increase in temporary employment therefore arguably constitute an

increase in employee insecurity via a transfer of economic risk from capital to labour (Heery

and Salmon 2000).

Beyond insecurity, a second major topic of concern was the work intensity, where a large

proportion of respondents from LFAs have complained about ‘unbearable workloads’

(Wintersberger et al. 2013: pnr.). In Brazil for example, over 90% of employees at Webjet

reported that their job entails an excessive amount of work, while just over 50% of their

counterparts at full service carrier ‘TAM’ report this (Wintersberger et al. 2013: 10). Both a

quantitative and qualitative dimension can be discerned from respondent complaints about

the issue of work intensity. While the quantitative dimension governs a general acceleration

of the pace of work, the qualitative dimension is closely associated with the substantial

degrees of responsibility vested on labour as a result of the ‘empowerment’ and ad-hoc work

organisation, as well as normative control present within these LFAs. This culminated in one

young duty supervisor at Webjet, who earlier praised the empowerment and promotion

prospects at her airline, breaking out in tears when prompted in an interview to speak about

the issue of work pressure and responsibility.

By offering ‘empowerment’ without commitments to employee job security, the LFAs in

India and Brazil appear to be engaging in a ‘cherry-picking’ of HRM practices to suit their

needs, rather than those of labour. This runs contrary to the aforementioned notion in the

HPWS literature that ‘best practices’ are better implemented in bundles, rather than in an ad-

hoc manner. Perhaps as a result of their ad-hoc implementation, employee level experiences

of such practices appear to be more in line with the neo-Fordist (Palloix 1976) labour process

conceptualisation of the causal link between HPWS practices and firm performance (Ramsay

et al. 2000), which holds that organisational gains from such practices occur not through an

increasingly satisfied workforce, but at the expense of work intensification, job insecurity,

and stress (Harley 1995). The findings therefore lend support to a conflicting outcomes'

model’ (Wood et al. 2012) of high performance work systems which holds that increased

employee stress accounts for positive organisational outcomes.

77

Conclusions and Implications for Theory and Practice

By concomitantly casualising labour (through short-term contracts and outsourcing), and

eliciting its commitment, it appears that the airlines are attempting to build a workforce

which is as dependable as it is disposable (Hyman 1987). From a managerial vantage point,

the short-run outcomes of this strategy appear to be positive, as exemplified in the operational

and financial success of LFAs detailed earlier. From a labour perspective this practice is

problematic and has only led to rather univocal gains for the airlines, at the expense of

employee wellbeing. Beyond the obvious ethical implications, one must also question the

sustainability of such a strategy with regards to airline operational efficiency as well as flight

safety, given the adverse impacts of employee fatigue, burnout and subsequent concentration

lapses. The well-trodden path of SWA makes for compelling evidence that the low cost

model is not incompatible with ‘mutual gains’, partnership with trade unions, and

commitments to employee job security. LFAs in BRICs are urged to follow this trajectory,

rather than attempting to ‘cherry-pick’ HRM practices for univocal gains.

References

Bamberger, P. and Meshoulam, I. (2000) Human Resource Strategy: Formulation,

Implementation and Impact. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Beer, M., Spector, B., Lawrence, P.R., Quin Mills, D. and Walton, R.E. (1984) Managing

Human Assets. New York: Free Press.

Devanna, M.A., Fombrun, C.J. and Tichy, N.M. (1984) A framework for strategic human

resource management. In Fombrun, C.J., Tichy, N.M. and Devanna, M.A. (eds)

Strategic Human Resource Management (pp.3-18), New York: Wiley and Sons.

Doganis, R. (2006) The Airline Business – 2nd

Ed. Oxon: Routledge

Edwards, R. (1979) Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the

Twentieth Century. London: Heinemann.

Friedman, A. (1977) Industry and Labour: Class Struggle at Work and Monopoly Capitalism.

London: MacMillan.

Gittell, J. H. (2003). The Southwest Airlines way: using the power of relationships to achieve

high performance. New York, McGraw-Hill.

Gittell, J.H. and Bamber, G.J. (2010) High- and low-road strategies for competing on costs

and their implications for employment relations. International Journal of Human

Resource Management, 21(2), pp. 165-179.

Harvey, G. and Turnbull, P. (2012) Development of the Low Cost Model in Europe. Report

for the European Transport Workers Federation, Brussels.

Harvey, G., Turnbull, P., and Wintersberger, D. (forthcoming) ‘Outsourcing the Low Cost

Model.’ Paper to be presented at the Global Value Chains Conference, Birmingham

University, UK.

Heery, E. and Salmon, J. (2000) The Insecure Workforce. London: Routledge.

Herszenhaut, M. (2011) Strategies of Low Cost Airlines in Emerging Countries. London:

Lambert Academic Publishing.

Hyman, R. (1987) “Strategy or structure? Capital, labour and control” Work, Employment &

Society March 1987 1: pp.25-55.

78

Korczynski, M (2002) Human Resource Management in Service Work. Basingstoke:

Palgrave.

Legge, K. (2005) Human Resource Management: Rhetorics and Realities - Anniversary ed.

Basingstoke, Palgrave.

MacDuffie, J. P. (1995) Human resource bundles and manufacturing performance:

Organizational logic and flexible production systems in the world auto industry.

Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 48(2), pp.197-221.

Palloix, C. (1976) ‘The Labour Process: from Fordism to neo-Fordism’, in: The Labour

Process and Class Strategies, Sage, London.

Pfeffer, J. (1998) The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First. Harvard

Business School Press.

Porter, M. (1980) Competitive Strategy. New York: Free Press

Ramsay, H., Scholarios, D. and Harley, B. (2000) Employees and high-performance work

systems: Testing inside the black box. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38(4)

pp501-31

Walton, R. (1985) From control to commitment in the workplace. Harvard Business Review,

63(2), pp.77-84.

Wintersberger, D.; Harvey, G.; Turnbull, P. (2013) ‘Development of the Low Cost Model in

India and Brazil’ - Report for the International Transport Workers Federation,

London.

Wood, S., Van Veldhoven, M.,Croon, M. and de Menezes, L.M. (2012) Enriched job design,

high involvement management and organizational performance: The mediating roles

of job satisfaction and well-being. Human Relations, 65(4) pp.419-445.

79

Barriers of culture, gender and family facing Kuwaiti mothers employed in

high and middle management in the education sector

Al-Suwaileh Mai, Alison Pullen, Sheena Vachhani

Abstract

Since the Second World War, Kuwait has undergone significant changes and made

remarkable economic and political advances due to the discovery of oil and to globalization.

The economic and political changes have enabled Kuwait to become a modern, developed

country. However, despite this modernization and wealth of the country, Kuwaiti society

continues to differ from those of Western countries in terms of the position and status of

women. Many studies have evaluated this contrast between men and women exclusively in

terms of religious injunctions and traditional norms, which are seen as governing conditions

for women. The principal purpose of the present research is to undertake an in-depth

qualitative analysis of the barriers facing employed Kuwaiti mothers, given the complexity of

the interrelations between culture, gender and management in modern Kuwaiti society. It also

seeks to explore work-life balance and the tensions between work and family roles.

Specifically this project has three objectives:

• To examine how Kuwaiti cultural values influence women’s attitudes to work.

• To investigate the challenges facing mothers employed as middle to higher-level managers

because of their gender and to determine how these affect their working lives and the ways in

which they raise their families.

• To explore work-life balance in the Kuwaiti context by focusing on mothers employed as

middle to higher-level managers in the education sector.

The study uses specific concepts to classify the main cultural and gender-related issues

affecting employed Kuwaiti mothers’ working and family lives. It addresses the problem of

work-life balance among mothers employed as managers in the Kuwaiti context in order to

help such employed mothers to succeed in both spheres. A review of literature—on topics

including aspects of employment, women in modern Kuwaiti society, cultural and religious

perspectives, effects on women’s working lives, state incentives for employed Kuwaiti

females, work-family balance, work-family conflict and its negative outcomes—facilitates a

clear and rich understanding of Kuwaiti women’s circumstances and the contradictory roles

that they face when combining work and the care of a large family, following the

modernisation and increased wealth of the country. To assess the relative impacts of the

various elements, a qualitative research methodology will be adopted.

The contribution of this thesis will be to provide new theoretical, empirical and

methodological knowledge surrounding Kuwaiti mothers employed in management roles.

Indeed it is the first thesis to critique Western literature on female managers, motherhood,

work-life balance from a cultural perspective in a Kuwaiti context. Importantly the

80

interactions between relatively distinct literature will be brought together to investigate the

everyday life experiences of working women from a qualitative perspective.

Keywords: culture, gender, management, mothers, Kuwait

81

The Influence of Social and Cultural Factors on the Turnover Intentions of

Saudi Female Nurses

Matrah Alkothami, Alison Pullen, Helen Williams

Abstract

The primary purpose of the proposed research project is to review the influence of social

attitudes, sociodemographic, and work-related factors on the turnover intentions of Saudi

female nurses. Special attention will be given to geographical differences (urban vs. rural

hospitals) and how location can influence the turnover intentions of female nurses.

Keywords: nursing turnover intention, Saudi female nurses

Introduction

The nursing profession in Saudi Arabia is experiencing a severe shortage of female nurses,

and healthcare organisations have been attempting to cope with the situation by utilising

foreign nurses (Tumulty, 2001). According to Dr. Sabah Abu Zinadah, Chairperson of the

Scientific Board of Nursing in Saudi Arabia, the turnover among Saudi female nurses has

increased to 50%, which may place the profession in a serious crisis (Zinadah, 2010). Due to

the adoption of sex segregation and the conservative nature of Saudi society, which perceives

the nursing profession as inappropriate for women because it requires them to engage with

men at work,

Saudi Arabian society has a negative attitude toward Saudi female nurses. There are

additional factors that may influence female Saudi nurses, such as sociodemographic and

work-related factors. However, different social and cultural beliefs exist across regions

(Pharaon, 2004), and considering urban and rural areas will provide more useful data and

enhance our understanding of the problem.

Electronic databases were used to conduct keyword searches of the following terms: nursing

turnover, turnover intention, anticipated turnover, intent to resign/leave/quit, and

Saudi nurses. Recent Western and Saudi researches related to the topic were reviewed. The

findings reveal a lack of Saudi studies on nursing turnover. Additionally, the key factors that

influence nursing turnover can be categorised into organizational, work, individual, and

external factors (Takase, 2010). The literature results will be investigated further to reveal

their relationship to the study context and to recommend future studies on nursing turnover.

References

Zinadah, S. (2010). Saudi Female Nurses Turnover reached 50%. Al Riyadh Newspaper.

Retrieved November 20, 2012, from

http://www.alriyadh.com/2010/04/10/article515049.html

Pharaon, N. (2004). Saudi women and the Muslim state in the twenty-first century. Sex roles,

51(5), 349–366.

82

Takase, M. (2010). A concept analysis of turnover intention : Implications for nursing

management. Collegian, 17(1), 3–12.

Tumulty, G. (2001). Educational needs of nurse administrators in the Middle East. The

Journal of nursing administration, 31(7-8), 386–90.

83

The analysis of failure data and warranty claims data: A comparison and

some lessons for automotive manufacturers

Patrick Tudor, We Predict, Alan J. Watkins

This paper considers why manufacturers collect and analyse different types of failure data

and the methods used to carry out such analysis. Different types of failure data have unique

characteristics and these are analysed. In particular the paper considers failure data from a

testing environment, and warranty claims data for automotive manufacturers and identify

particular traits of both. Automotive warranty claims data is provided courtesy of We Predict

to help illustrate real examples of warranty analysis.

Keywords: failure data, claims data, claims behaviour, Weibull distribution, non-parametric

distribution

Introduction

In automotive quality analysis, the terms ‘failure’ and ‘claim’ are often used interchangeably

and, for the most part, are assumed to mean the same. This is, to an extent, understandable

because for the majority of the time, it is a vehicle component failure that leads to a claim

being made, and hence the two processes go hand in hand. For example, a headlight bulb in a

six month old vehicle blows, the customer realises the light is no longer working and returns

the vehicle to the dealer to have the bulb replaced at the expense of the manufacturer. In this

case, the bulb blowing is the failure and the customer returning the vehicle to their chosen

dealership to have the bulb replaced is the claim. It could be reasonable therefore to assume

that a claim refers to a component failure and a component failure will lead to a claim, and

therefore the two should be treated in the same way with regards to analysis. However it is

naive to assume this. Failures and claims have individual behavioural traits that make the two

processes very different on certain levels. A distinction between the two becomes very

important when there is a need to analyse the behaviour of a component for quality or cost

issues. An engineer may wish to consider the lifetime of the component to identify areas of

excessive load or fatigue in order to improve quality for future versions, whereas a manager

may want to know about the cost of the component, i.e. the claims pattern, during the lifetime

of the host vehicle for budgeting purposes. This is an important point to make, because

current industrial analysis doesn't always distinguish differences between the two processes

when attempting to model component behaviour.

In this paper we hope to describe some of these characteristics of failures and claims, and

demonstrate two comparative ways to model data.

Why Do We Consider Failures?

Testing and subsequent failure analysis are important to manufacturers for a number of

reasons. Testing programs are established for individual components, component sub-systems

and even full vehicles to provide accelerated testing and hence test and failure data,

simulating the conditions experienced during a 10-15 year vehicle lifespan. Failure analysis

84

of failed components provides understanding of the failure modes involved. Detailed

understanding of the product lifetime and failure modes allows components that are under or

over engineered to be identified, i.e. insufficient lifetime, or excessive lifetime respectively.

Table 1 gives improvement examples to under and over designed components.

Level of Engineering Design Improvement Examples

Under Design Selection of improved materials to increase life

Increase in component dimensions to reduce stress

Change in component shape or function to cope with stress and

environment for under designed components

Over Design Selection of cheaper materials for cost saving

Reduction in component dimensions to reduce weight

Reduce functionality of the component to simplify production and

reduce cost

Table 1: Examples of design improvements for different levels of engineering

Failure Data and Its Analysis

A failure occurs when a component can no longer perform a task to a required standard. This

results when challenges to the component outweigh the capacity of the product (Modarres,

Kaminskiy & Krivstov, 2010). Conditions exposed to the product can both increase or

decrease the challenges to the component and the capacity of the product. Table 2 gives

examples of challenges, capacity and conditions.

Factor

Capacity (Internal Factors):

Design and material selection

Challenges (External Factors):

Operational conditions

Local environment

External environment

Examples

Tolerance, yield point and UTS, toughness,

fatigue strength, corrosion resistance.

Static loading and fatigue loading, User

miss-use and road damage.

Operating and ambient temperature,

humidity and corrosive environment.

Table 2: Factors influencing failures of components

Component test data is recorded during a component testing program where parts are tested

to a set number of cycles or time or are tested to failure. Where failure occurs the age at

failure (e.g. hours, days, months, years) or usage at failure (e.g. mileage, cycles, revolutions)

is recorded, as are the test conditions i.e. static or dynamic loading applied, loading rate,

temperature and humidity cycles and any corrosive environments the component was

exposed to up to and at the point of failure.

Collecting failure data in this way is vital for correct component design but is expensive and

time consuming. To allow component development and hence vehicle launch in the required

time frames specified by the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (OEM) test programs have

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to be carefully designed and controlled to get the maximum amount of information from a

relatively limited number of tests.

There are many different parametric distributions used to model data in reliability analysis.

Some have very specific applications, whereas others are used to model a variety of data for a

range of problems. In this paper we concentrate on one of the most popular parametric

distributions; the Weibull distribution, which is widely used in industry for modelling

lifetimes of units and components. This is due to its flexibility and ability to generalise

certain distributions (Exponential) and resemble others (Log Normal) with appropriate

parameters values. The Weibull cumulative distribution (cdf) function is given as

( ) [ (

)

]

where , is the time or usage at failure and β and α are shape and scale parameters

respectively; see, for instance, Modarres, Kaminskiy & Krivtsov, (2010). The choice of shape

and scale parameter values changes the shape and location of the distribution and estimates of

these parameters will depend on data values. We use maximum likelihood estimation (MLE)

to estimate parameters for each set of data.

Example 1

Table 3 contains a well-known failure dataset detailing the millions of revolutions to failure

of a sample of 23 ball bearings. It provides a suitable simple example for fitting the Weibull

distribution. Using MLE, we find that the shape and scale parameter estimates are

and respectively. Figure 1 shows the resulting plotted Weibull distribution

compared to the empirical ball bearing data. The Weibull distribution seems to be a

reasonable fit to the data, and can be used to make inferences on the parent population.

17.88 28.92 33.00 41.52 42.12 45.60

48.48 51.84 51.96 54.12 55.56 67.80

68.64 68.64 68.88 84.12 93.12 98.64

105.12 105.84 127.92 128.04 173.40

Table 3: The millions of revolutions to failure of 23 ball bearings (Caroni, 2002)

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Figure 1: The Weibull distribution (line) modelling 23 ball bearing lifetime values (dots).

Censored Data

It is often not realistic to wait for all units to fail during testing. The testing may only last for

a pre-specified amount of time, which some units may surpass prior to failure, and hence the

time at failure can only be estimated for these units. For example, if we consider the ages of

vehicles at failure during the three year (1095 days) warranty coverage period. A vehicle in

this set may be yet to fail when it reaches an age of 1095 days, but we know that it has an age

of at least 1095 days when it does eventually fail. This is an example of censoring. We can

adapt our parameter estimation methods to allow Weibull to take censoring into account.

Limitation of Failure Data and the Use for Claims Data

Ideally, failure data would be used to determine component quality, but, as noted, it is

expensive and difficult to collect in order to offer any real quality insight. Field failure data,

often collected through warranty claims, provides an alternative and readily accessible source

of component reliability information. Component failures in the field need to be repaired in

order for the product to perform satisfactorily. Most products come with a warranty coverage

period and in the event of a repair the costs are charged back to the OEM as a warranty claim.

Repairs made outside the warranty coverage period are normally charged to the customer.

Warranty claims data typically contains information on the product under repair, the type of

repair and the parts used, the cost of the repair, and who performed the repair and hence

submitted the claim (i.e. a dealership). Included in the product information are both age and

usage values, which provide insight into the age and usage of the product at failure and can

hence be used in a similar way to the failure values recorded in component testing.

Example 2

Figure 2 shows the cumulative population claims percentage of 14 parking brake cable claims

from a population of 30,056 of a particular make and model of vehicle at 24 months after the

vehicle was released. A Weibull distribution has been fitted to the 14 claims and the vehicle

population by incorporating censoring. This allows us to extrapolate to a chosen point in time

to determine a projected claims rate. In this example, the projected claims rate at three years

is 0.08%. The shape parameter also indicates a decreasing ( ) or increasing ( )

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failure rate. Here, and so claims are assumed to be decreasing. Although this

example uses 24 months’ worth of data, projections are often made even earlier.

Figure 2: A Weibull distribution (line) fitted to 14 parking brake cable claims (dots) for

30,056 vehicles at 24 months after the vehicle is released. Maximum likelihood estimates of

β and α are and 14,704,850.68 (days) respectively.

Modelling With Empirical Data

An alternative method of modelling data is to use the empirical data as the model, and

building these models is trivial. This method is referred to as ‘non-parametric’ since it

doesn’t require fitting a parametric distribution to the data.

Example 2 (Continued)

Figure 3 shows the cumulative claims distribution of Parking Brake Cable claims made for a

particular make and model of small family cars (this dataset is the completed claims dataset

for the claims used earlier in this example). The warranty coverage period of these vehicles is

three years (1095 days). In total, there are 150 claims in this dataset. The distribution has

some interesting features. Over 80% of all claims are made during the final 9 months of

warranty coverage. This is almost certainly the result of vehicle dealerships discovering and

proactively repairing any failing parking brake cables during the vehicle’s final service before

warranty expires. The customers are not aware of any such problem and, as a result, have not

reported an issue beforehand, indeed, the brake cable may still be working, but a claim has

been made anyway. After the three year warranty coverage, there are only a few further

claims made, and this is due to dealer goodwill. The claims after three years are no longer

representative of the population.

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Figure 3: The complete non-parametric cumulative population claims percentage for 150

parking brake cable claims made on a group of cars with three years warranty coverage.

Figure 3 shows that the pattern of disclosed claims is not consistent with actual failure

disclosure. The customer and dealer behaviour towards the end of warranty coverage

disguises true failure behaviour, and the few claims experienced after warranty coverage are

not representative of the population, since many equivalent claims will now be charged to the

customer instead.

From further study with We Predict’s automotive data, some general remarks about claims

data can be made:

OEMs are at the mercy of their customers and dealers for disclosing component

failures. This often results in delayed failure disclosure.

Claims cluster around service intervals and end of warranty services. The process of

reporting claims is therefore predictable for different types of repairs.

The local environment affects claims behaviour. Weather conditions can determine

when a claim is reported and different demographics have different attitudes towards

warranty.

Results and Discussion

Figure 4 compares the reported claims and projected claims rate from Example 2 with what

actually happened in terms of claims rate once all the claims had been reported.

The estimated claims rate after 24 months was 0.08%, but turned out to be 0.44%. This small

difference in probabilities equates, in a large population of vehicles, to a substantial

difference in the number of claims experienced: in this case, there is an under-allowance of

108 claims. If an average Parking Brake Cable claims costs $120, the OEM is under-

budgeting by $12,960 for just one component. As there are hundreds of possible component

repairs on a vehicle, it is easy to see that inaccurate claims rate projections can seriously

impact warranty budgeting.

Clearly the claims behaviour seen in Figure 3 has a substantial impact on the eventual claims

rate at the end of the three year warranty coverage period, and since there is no warning

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during the first two years of coverage about this late claims behaviour, Weibull has no way of

making allowances for this in its projections.

Figure 4: A comparison of a Weibull distribution claims rate projection (0.08%) after 24

months in service (line and dots) and the eventual claims rate once warranty coverage had

finished (0.44%) (triangles).

Study of automotive claims data shows a clear customer effect on the disclosure of failures,

with claims behaviour for components often consistent from model year to model year.

Therefore, creating non-parametric distributions of historic claims behaviour can give

valuable insight into current component claims and can help make more accurate claims rate

projections for current model years. This inevitably has a significant effect on a

manufacturer’s ability to budget accurately for warranty spend and the benefits that go with

this.

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank We Predict for allowing the use of warranty claims data and for reviewing

initial drafts of this paper. We also wish to thank two anonymous referees from Swansea

University for their generous comments and feedback.

References

Caroni, C. (2002) The Correct “Ball Bearings” Data. Lifetime Data Analysis, 8, 395-399.

Modarres, M., Kaminskiy, M. & Krivtsov, V. (2010). Reliability Engineering and Risk

Analysis, Second Edition. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

We Predict. www.wepredict.co.uk

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Ali Alawan

Mohammad Alryalat

Kawaljeet Kapoor

Sian Miller

Nripendra Rana

Francesca Sibbald

Emma Slade

Richard Warr

Daniel Wintersberger

Other contributors: Fatmah Alatawi, Khalid Alhamzi, Wassan Alkhowaiter, Matrah

Alkothami, Mai Alsuwaileh, Abdullah Baabdullah, Patrick Tudor, Yang Yang.

Contributors