A Grounded Theory Approach to Adoption of E-Government Services
in Developing Countries: The Case of Jordan
Abstract
The area of electronic government (e-government) has received increased prominence and
attention over the last few years, but many areas remain unexplored. Very little theory-guided
research has been conducted to improve understanding of e-government adoption in developing
countries. This paper considers how Grounded Theory (GT) can be used, as an alternative
research methodology, for the construction of a substantive theory for the phenomenon of egovernment adoption in developing countries. While previous research on e-government adoption,
employs established theories and models grounded in behavioural science such as, Innovations
Diffusion Theory (IDT), Technology Acceptance Model and its variations, the complexity of
defining grounded and suitable multi-perspective models has largely been overlooked. The
originality of this paper comes from applying GT to move beyond these established theories and
models. Applying Grounded Theory provides a unique perspective for exploring additional
insight into the reasons for high failure rates associated with under-utilised e-government systems
in developing countries. It also highlights the need to move beyond or synthesising the current
dominant theories and models that might overlook multiple perspectives, and guide IT
implementation plans that aim to address factors associated with IT acceptance and subsequent
positive use behaviour, in less established and more challenging environments.
Keywords
Grounded Theory, e-government adoption, e-service implementation, developing countries,
Jordan
1
Introduction
As information and communication technologies (ICT) evolve, governments around the world are
continuing to invest in e-government as the annual United Nations study in E-government
readiness demonstrates. The benefits of convenience, availability and accessibility for citizens are
well documented and the incentives for government are improved operational efficiencies,
increased transparency, productivity and accountability. The more citizens use e-government, the
more operations and management costs are reduced (Warkentin et al., 2002; Wangpipatwong et
al., 2005).
As a consequence, the importance of implementing e-government and the number of egovernment initiatives has increased across many countries (Carter and Belanger, 2004). Despite
this however, it is not clear that the potential benefits of these initiatives will be embraced within
the context of developing countries and the available evidence is limited (Norris and Moon, 2003;
Gil-Garcia et al., 2005; Kapurubandara and Lawson, 2006; Conklin, 2007; Bjorn & Fathul, 2008).
"Successful examples of computerisation can be found, but frustrating stories of systems which
failed to fulfil their initial promise are more frequent" (Avgerou and Walsham, (2000:1). The
progress of some e-government projects in developing countries is worrying, with Heeks (2003)
reporting 35% total failures, 50% partial failures and only 15% successful projects. Reasons for
failure include unrealistic expectations in developing countries (Nodou, 2004; Dada et al, 2006);
non-technical and country-specific factors such as infrastructure problems - Internet penetration,
the digital divide, limited IT skills and training, an inadequate legal frameworks (Zulfiqar and Pan
2001; Heeks, 2005; Chowdhury et al., 2006); lack of resources and
no citizen awareness
(Gahtani and King, 1999; Zakareya et al., 2004; Chowdhury et al., 2006). Ultimately, the value
and success of e-government initiatives are heavily reliant on citizens’ willingness to adopt them
(Carter & Belanger, 2005; Zakareya et al., 2004 ; Bakry, 2004), but little emphasis is paid to the
potential factors that facilitate and encourage citizen adoption of e-government services and use
of this new mode of delivering public services, especially in developing countries (Welch and
2
Hinnant, 2002; Ebrahim et al., 2004; Horan, 2006; Chan et al., 2007; Nour et al., 2007; Tan et al.,
2008).
To this end, exploring citizens' demands of e-government initiatives is critical for success if these
countries are to consider bridging the gap between the design and reality of their e-government
systems (Choudrie and Divendi, 2005; Huang et al., 2005). The major aim of this research is to
better understand the factors that may potentially influence the adoption of e-government services
from a developing country perspective, with the theory and knowledge emerging from the data
and research process representing fit, understanding, generalisability and control (Strauss &
Corbin, 1990).
It is our contention that the established models and theories have limited applicability in the
context of developing countries and thus Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) is eminently
suited to our research problem, as the research will be interpretive, involve complex social
processes between people, and that virtually no existing theories about the phenomena or existing
theories are demonstrably inadequate (Carson et al., 2001).
The remainder of this paper will present the case for grounded theory and its application in the
field of information systems. The application of Grounded Theory approach to our research will
include an explication of the data collected and the simultaneous data analysis process and finally
the theory generation in the context of our study understanding e-government adoption in Jordan.
An Overview of Grounded Theory
Grounded Theory (GT) initially presented by Glaser and Strauss (1967) is a research
methodology that prescribes systematic guidelines for data collection and analysis with the
purpose of inductively building a framework explaining the collected data (Charmaz, 2000). GT
requires an understanding of related theory and empirical work in order to enhance theoretical
sensitivity (Glaser,1978). Later, Strauss and Corbin defined GT methodology as “one that is
inductively derived from the study of the phenomenon it represents. That is, it is discovered,
3
developed, and provisionally verified through systematic data collection, analysis, and theory
stand in reciprocal relationship with each other” (Strauss and Corbin, 1990:23). GMT is also
used to generate theory where little is already known, or to provide a fresh slant on existing
knowledge, or explain a social situation by understanding the processes in operation (Baker et al.
1992; Goulding,1998 ).
In the recent past, GT has been viewed as the prelude to real quantitative research and there has
been some criticism of its use (Charmaz, 1983).
Furthermore, the premise of the “abstract wonderment of what is going on” (Glaser 1992, p.22)
can be problematic, but this does not suggest that the researcher should be clueless or a novice,
(Carson and Coviello, 1996), but rather that an open mind, objectivity and creativity is needed
coupled with significant personal, professional experience and knowledge to provide orientation
and direction rather than inform opinion.
Other criticisms are that that the GT approach is too vague because it does not dictate data
collection rules. However, the rigour of the analytical process revolves around coding and
categorisation, helping to build a strict explanatory framework, where the critical and iterative
procedures of constant comparative analysis, lead to identification of conceptual categories and
their properties, and also theoretical sampling (Glaser and Strauss, 1967).
GT provides a
systematic method involving several stages used to “ground” the theory, or relate it to the reality
of the phenomenon under consideration (Hughes and Wood-Harper,1999). GT is derived from
the phenomenon under study. This contrasts with the hypothetic-deductive method, where
theories are generated from cyclical testing and refined from previously constructed hypotheses.
In GT studies, theory emerges from the systematic examination of the phenomenon.
Grounded Theory Approaches: Glaser vs Strauss
Grounded theory methodology has been a subject of considerable debate since its inception by its
originators, Glaser and Strauss (Duchscher & Morgan, 2004, Kelle, 2005). Renewed interest was
4
initiated by the intense debate between its originators and their respective split (Duchscher &
Morgan, 2004) into two main emergent approaches: The Straussian and the Glaserian approaches,
with the latter more widely believed to be closer to the original (McCallin, 2003) .
The major differences between the two approaches relate mainly to the coding paradigms each
adopts. The Straussian approach, is driven by the “What if?” question applied to each word in the
data being analysed and examines whether the respective incident emerges from the data or not
(Strauss & Corbin 1998, p. 77). Whereas the Glaserian approach focuses on the data and asks,
‘What do we have here?’ (Stern 1994, p. 220), allowing the story to emerge from the data. This
approach is claimed to be interpretive, contextual and emergent ,whilst the Straussian approach is
more likely to lead to the forcing of perceived notions on the data. In addition, the Straussian
approach emphasises highly complex and systematic coding techniques by listing all possible
meanings from data. This overemphasis has been criticised for reducing the degree of theoretical
sensitivity and insightful meaning (Glaser 1992). The Glaserian approach also criticises the
“conditional” coding device (Strauss and Corbin, 1998:181) as leading to an over reliance on a
narrow family of codes, making it comparatively a less emergent process.
The aim of this paper is to determine the potential factors that affect adoption of e-government
services in Jordan. In striving to understand e-government adoption, the researchers had to deal
with citizens’ attitudes and perceptions, the consequent actions on the basis of those behavioural
characteristics, as well as the contextual influence of the society within which they exist
(Orlikowiski and Baroudi 1991;Myers 2005). As the objectives of this paper relate to generating
theory, which is built on the ‘voices’ and ‘experiences’ of citizens as well as e-government
practitioners, the Glaserian approach would be more suitable to this research than a Straussian
approach.
Grounded Theory in Information Systems Research
5
A review of the IS literature reveals there has been an increasing interest in the use of Grounded
Theory methodology in recent years (Myers, 2005). This is evidenced by the growing literature
that is either discursive on philosophy and application, or detailed about method (Toraskar, 1991;
Orlikowski 1993; Baskerville and Pries-Heje, 1999; Hughes & Howcroft, 2000; Urquhart,
2001). An excellent example of applying grounded theory in Information Systems research can
be found in Orlikowski (1993),
which focused on elements of context, process and actions of
important players associated with organisational change. This influential paper contended that GT
fitted well with the interpretivist, rather than positivist nature of her research. Interpretive
grounded theory approach has become increasingly common in the IS research literature,
precisely because the method is useful in developing context-based, process-oriented descriptions
and explanations of phenomenon (Myers, 1997; Urquhart, 2001). However GT has been used in
many interpretivist studies in a contingent way, where researchers have adopted the procedures
and processes of the method to focus on rigour and traceability in substantive theory
development. Application of Grounded Theory is considered to increase the rigour in the theory
development part of action research (Baskerville and Pries-Heje, 1999; Wastell, 2001. However,
Easterby-Smith et al. (2008) have criticised the application of GT by some researchers, merely as
a superficial means of attracting respectability for their qualitative methodology, with little real
understanding of the challenges involved. This justifiably raised the question as to whether there
is some ‘proper’ way of applying the method.
This question returns to the Strauss and Corbin (1994) concerns about its diffusion. Given that
the issue seems to rest in the interpretivist nature of the research where, in positivist IS research
projects the methods are rigorously applied (Galal and McDonnell, 1997), we would argue that
from its roots in the social sciences, its philosophy is post-positivist, and that it relies less on
canons and positivist validity models and more on the practical application of methods to suit real
situations. In a given methodological context therefore, one would expect that the intended
method could differ from that in use because of the dynamics of the situation, which is entirely
6
consistent with the need to extract richness from social situations. In support of this view, Hughes
and Howcroft (2000) argue against the rigid application of GT in practice. Indeed, Urquhart
(2001) highlights that some seminal advice on GT is in fact contradictory, not least because of the
disagreement between the two original co-authors on its use. Hughes and Howcroft (2000) further
maintain that in any context, the researcher has to adapt to the contingencies of the particular
situation, that GT is a useful vehicle for structuring the process of conducting data collection and
as a rigorous means of data analysis. This is supported by Urquhart (2001) who argues that, "GT
is by definition a rigorous approach – it demands time, it demands a chain of analysis and the
relating of findings to other theories. As it is an inductive, emergent method that is located mainly
in post positivism, this means that researchers need to carefully consider their own philosophical
position" (p. 27). There is resonance here with the work of Klein and Myers (1999) who maintain
that considering a method as either positivist or interpretivist is unhelpful since quantitative
methods have been used in interpretive research and qualitative methods (e.g. case studies) used
in positivist research. Indeed it may be that in IS, GT is predominantly used in interpretive
studies, because that is where it is most appropriate and that its contingent use is consistent with
the treatment of many other methods in this paradigm.
There may be other less obvious reasons for the spread of GT amongst IS researchers. Hughes
and Howcroft (2000) consider underlying assumptions from a selection of research projects
where GT has been used and they identify a different scenario for its evaluation in IS
research. They consider that the individual researcher plays a critical role in an interpretive study
and that using the GT procedures may be a way for a researcher to deal with some of the
uncertainty they feel when faced with data collection and analysis in interpretive studies. Notably
they point to the fact that for novice researchers (or experienced researchers new to interpretive
studies) GT ‘provides a useful template…and as such serves as a comfort factor in the stressful
and uncertain nature of conducting qualitative research’. Wherever the motivation or justification
arises it is clear that GT is growing in popularity.
7
It is worth advising some caution however when discussing the popularity of a method, since the
danger is that it may achieve a standing beyond its usefulness. GT will certainly not always be
appropriate to every situation and the emphasis on qualitative methods does not preclude the use
of quantitative methods in interpretive research.
Grounded Theory: A Critique
Grounded theory methodology has limitations like any other method. It is a very complex and
time-consuming process, underpinned by the iterative and in-depth coding process and memo
writing which is part of the analysis (Bartlett and Payne, 1997). The added difficulty is that GT
does not rely on specific guidance for the intellectual process of finding patterns in the data
(Seaman, 1999) making it a very subjective process relying heavily on a researcher’s abilities.
“Conceptualisations don’t emerge from data. Their source is within the researchers and
is dependent on the extent to which he/she is widely read in scholarly matters” (Selde’n,
2005: p.126).
There is an additional danger that the “methodological flexibility that can disintegrate into
methodological indifference and result in superficial and ambiguous conclusions” (Bryant,
2002b: p.34). Stern (1994) notes that many researchers seem to mix methods such as ethnography
and phenomenology and then use the inappropriate label of GT to present the outcomes of their
research, diluting the fundamental benefits of applying the GT approach.
Others, such as Haig (1995), have queried GT’s reliance on a naïve model of scientific induction,
inappropriate to the tenets of qualitative inquiry. Haig and others, such as Miller and Fredericks
(1999), maintain that the everyday induction of GT is better described as ‘inference to the best
explanation’. Robrecht (1995) notes that the elaboration of sampling procedures by Strauss and
Corbin divert attention from the data toward techniques and procedures, encouraging researchers
‘to look for data rather than look at data’ (p. 171).
8
Moreover, there is a common misconception that the researcher is expected to enter the field,
ignoring any of the theory or associated literature relating to the phenomenon, and wait for the
theory to emerge purely from the data. No sociologist can possibly erase from their mind all the
theory they know before beginning the research (Goulding, 2005). On the other hand, some have
interpreted GT to mean field work before a literature search (Allen, 2003), but this is a
misconception of the original premise put forward by Glaser & Strauss (1967), who encouraged
researchers to use any relevant material, including the work of other authors, as a basis of
professional knowledge and referred to it as ‘literature sensitivity’. Glaser (2002) later elaborated
that the literature review is another source for data and plays a vital role in GT generation.
Because of the successive process of modification of hypotheses formulated, this is considered by
some to make convergent conceptualisation impossible and thus GT escapes the testing of theory
(Goldthorpe, 2000).
Other criticisms of the GT approach are that it does not provide specific planning; it applies
theoretical sampling where it is not possible to progress the nature of the sample that will be used
(Seld’n, 2005). Also, the theoretical saturation and interpretation of the data can make it difficult
to anticipate an accurate timescale for the research (Goulding, 2002), leading to large and
divergent sets of categories and a problem providing an overview and managing the categorical
structure. However, carrying out qualitative analysis is time consuming and it also takes time to
carefully ground theory in data. The pay-off comes when patterns arise among data and theory
evolves.
Another problem identified is that one central category should be identified (Strauss & Corbin,
1998) representing the main theme of the research. However, there is difficulty in trying to
integrate all the categories into one central category. The output from axial coding can result in
several clusters of categories leading to the problem of how to integrate all the clusters into one
big cluster and identify one major theme in the data. For example, most sampling is purposive
and defined before data collection begins. However, in GT, sampling begins as a commonsense
9
or rational process of talking to respondents who are most likely to provide early information.
This information once analysed can help identify provisional explanatory concepts and direct the
researcher to “theoretically” identify further respondents, locations and forms of data. Sampling is
determined by the type of coding procedures used, as well as by theoretical sensitivity. The
researcher should only leave the field and stop sampling when saturation is reached, when no
additional information is found in the data, and or when all elements of the theoretical paradigm
are covered and relationships between categories have been validated (Coyle, 1997; Glaser,
1978; Glaser, 2002).
The Research Context: E-Government
ICT has been in use in the public sector for over 50 years. The advent of internet technology has
created unprecedented conditions for potentially raising sustainable development and growth in
all aspects of life, through e-government (Heeks, 2005). While most governments recognise the
opportunities, many are struggling to translate the vision into actions and reality (Warkentin et al.,
2002; Carter and Belanger, 2004), especially in developing countries. At this stage in the
evolution of a digital economy and knowledge society, ‘too narrow’ a definition of e-government
can constrain opportunity and ‘too broad’ a definition dilutes its value as a rallying force (Caldow,
1999). E-government is broadly defined as the application of ICT to transform the efficiency,
effectiveness, transparency and accountability of informational and transactional exchanges
within government, between government and other governments at different levels, municipal
and local levels, citizens and business, and to empower citizens through access and use of
information.
It is a dynamic and evolutionary phenomenon (Laynee & Lee, 2001) that continues to develop
and evolve adding to the complexity. E-government is not simply the process of moving existing
government functions to an electronic platform and building a web site. Rather, it calls for
10
rethinking the way governments today can transform the way they govern. The range of egovernment services provision ranges from simple information to fully interactive experiences
where citizens and government engage in a dialogue mediated by information technology
(Laynee & Lee, 2001; Weerakkody and Choudrie, 2004; Haifa & Insaf, 2005) but the process is
costly, lengthy and complex in nature. In recent years, governments worldwide have increasingly
realised the potential of e-government systems as a lever for social and economic development in
the information age, thus development and implementation issues are tightly knit to countries’
local conditions and resources.
In the context of Jordan, a developing country, an assessment to realise its potential for
development as well as the potential to facilitate the complex relationships between government
and its constituencies to enable interaction, transaction and delivery of government services
(Montagna, 2005) is critical. To comply with development targets, Jordan undertook a number of
major ICT programmes, one of which is e-government. This complements economic and social
development by providing access to government services and information to its citizens
irrespective of location, economic status, IT skills and educational level. However, the difficulties
in achieving this have already been identified and there is a need to enhance infrastructure,
develop skills, modernise laws and work in partnership with the private sector (Blackmore &
Dutton, 2003).
Rationale for Applying the Grounded Theory Approach
In this study, the Grounded Theory Approach suggested by Glaser and Strauss (1967) will be
applied in order to generate a descriptive and explanatory theory of e-government adoption. An
initial review found that the majority of research on the adoption of e-government has been
investigated through the lens of theories developed within the context of advanced countries, such
as USA and UK, with limited attention being given to developing countries. The diversity of
11
adoption theories and contexts applied, raised questions about the relevance and value that these
approaches can bring to this study of a relatively new innovation in a developing country, Jordan.
The boundaries between the phenomenon and its contexts are not considered to be clearly defined
as the intertwining of socio-technical actors, social context and technical artifacts, in this context,
are very complex (Latour, 1987). GT provides a single, unified, systematic set of procedures
facilitating the focus from generalisation and verification of theories, to the exploration of a new
area to discover unexpected knowledge developing the concepts, categories, hypotheses and
theory from real data, in the process (Charmaz, 2006). In addition, the degree of flexibility in both
the selection and analysis of data, offered by GT are well suited to the exploration of new areas,
such as e-government adoption in the context of a developing country. We are not looking to
verify theories that already exist, but rather generate it.
Also, in view of the complexity and variability of human experiences, Orlikowski suggests that
"to produce accurate and useful results, the complexities of the organizational context have to be
incorporated into the understanding of the phenomenon, rather than be simplified or ignored"
(Orlikowski, 1993:311). In this study, the complexities and richness of both the government
practitioners’ experiences, as they manage and implement e-government initiatives within their
organisational contexts, and citizens’ as they facilitate e-government diffusion, will be captured.
Therefore, the use of GT allows the inclusion and investigation of key contextual and processual
elements, such as impact of e-government on citizens’ as well as practitioners’ attitudes, their
behaviours, skills, experiences, values, interaction, observation in the real life context.
Applying GT to E-government adoption
Different theories have been employed to study adoption, acceptance and the use of information
systems (IS) and e-government in particular. The range of different theories and their application
to e-government are summarised in Table 1.
12
Theoretical Framework
Applied to e-government adoption
Acceptance Model (TAM)
Gilbert et al. 2004; Carter & Belanger, 2005;
(Davis, 1989)
Dimitrova & Chen, 2006; Horst et al., 2007
Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT)
Carter & Belanger, 2005; Schaupp & Carter, 2005;
(Rogers, 1995)
Fu et al., 2006;
Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)
Warkentin et al.,2002; Horst et al., 2007
(Ajzen, 1991)
Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)
Wang,2002; Carter & Weerakoody, 2008; Sahu &
(Bandura, 1986)
Gupta, 2008
Decomposed
Theory
of
Planned Lau 2004; Hsu & Chiu, 2004
Behaviour (DTPB)
(Taylor & Todd, 1995)
Acceptance Model 2(TAM2)
Sinawong & Jeong-Dong, 2009
(Venkatesh & Davis, 2000)
Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Alawadhi & Morris 2008; Alshafi et al., 2009
Technology (UTAUT)
(Venkatesh et al., 2003)
Table 1. Summary of Models and Theories Applied to E-Government Research
These theories identify a range of factors as having potential to determine the adoption of egovernment at different levels. These include a) individual level factors, such as attitudes, user
satisfaction, motivation, user involvement, threat to professionalism, familiarity and participation;
b) organisational level factors, such as process reengineering, organizational structure,
management quality, political processes organization type, and culture; c) Technology level
factors, such as user interface; and d) environmental level factors, such as economy and
government regulations (Palva, 1988; Lorenzi et al., 1997; Enns & Huff, 1999; Warkentin et al,
2002; Nodou, 2004; Carter & Belanger, 2005; Dimitrova and Chen, 2006 ).
The IS literature shows that e-government adoption factors are many and different. However, a
theory is yet to be suggested to explain e-government adoption in developing countries. This may
subject government practitioners to trial-and-error practices when planning for, designing and
implementing e-government initiatives with serious consequences, especially when resources are
scarce. Studies and recommendations concerning the adoption of e-government initiatives have
been facilitated by theories developed from advanced economies such as USA and UK, with less
attention paid to the context of developing countries. Chen et al. (2006) observe the differences
between developing countries and developed countries in key aspects such as technological,
13
economic, social, political and cultural issues, making the emerged experiences of e-government
implementation in developed countries not equally applicable to the context of developing
countries. Kukafka et al., (2003) similarly found that designing an effective approach for
increasing acceptance, adoption and the use of IT continues to be a fundamental challenge that is
not always straightforward. As a consequence, we perceive that understanding the interactions
within contextual differences are critical for developing frameworks to explain e-government
adoption in the developing countries.
Furthermore, as e-government is a relatively new phenomenon in most of the developing
countries, especially Arab states, understanding the implementation context where e-government
initiatives operate, is imperative. If not considered, e-government initiatives will continue to be
implemented with limited knowledge of the context and contribute to the high failure rate of egovernment initiatives (Nodou, 2004; Heeks, 2005; Dada, 2006).
In this paper we recognise the limitations of the existing theories for studying e-government
adoption. We believe that the theoretical assumptions underlying the traditional adoption theory
models lack explanatory power for the adoption of e-government in the developing countries,
especially Jordan. We do not intend to test these models, but rather we aim to use their insights to
provide us with a starting point to look for and evaluate, the relevant theoretical and practical
factors which may potentially influence e-government adoption in a developing country context.
We therefore aim to investigate the adoption of e-government from a developing country
perspective. We also observe that most governments and services are lacking the ability to
address citizens’ true needs and requirements (Wei & Zhao, 2005). More generally, previous
studies have tended to focus on the supply side of e-government services leaving the demand side
with little attention (Choudrie & Dwivedi, 2005). Governments have tended to supply people
with what they think is important while neglecting people’s actual needs, creating a mismatch
between the demand and the supply of e-Government (Sealy, 2003, Reddick, 2005; Tung and
Rieck, 2005). Consequently, we focus on demand-side, specifically on citizens’ intention to adopt,
14
because the success of e-government initiatives depends upon citizens’ willingness to adopt
(Bakry, 2004; Ebrahim et al., 2004; Carter and Belanger, 2005).
Applying the Grounded Theory Approach: Data Collection Process
Various data collection techniques are particularly beneficial in theory generation, providing
multiple perspectives on an issue, more information on emerging concepts, and allowing crosschecking, and yields stronger substantiation of constructs (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss &
Corbin, 1990). Here, data was collected from interviews where groups of respondents were
identified, including experts from the government (strategic and technical) and ICT experts from
the private sector. Previous knowledge of the researchers helped to identify the selection criterion
of interviewees. Other data sources which complemented interview data and guided the sampling
included:
a) documentation - the minutes of meetings with government officials, internal
documents and other government documents providing a historical account of e-government and
possible adoption related issues, b) observation - in government meetings and during visits to
government departments. Once representatives from both government and private sectors had
been interviewed, sampling became more focused leading to interviews with system end-users
(citizens and business). The data collected is grounded in natural settings, very rich and
sometimes contradictory or inconsistent, often resulting in complex analysis.
From a conceptual standpoint, our research involved understanding human behaviour and action
from the respondent’s perspective. A number of general themes served as guidance during the
interviews, but these never determined the questions that were finally asked. All the interviewees
agreed to be recorded, ensuring that the interviewers could exclusively focus their attention on
listening, understanding and interacting with respondents. Interviews were conducted in Arabic
and carefully translated from Arabic to English by the same interviewer as language is critical to
the way codes, meaning and perspective from the empirical world are developed (Charmaz, 2006).
Each interview was transcribed verbatim within 3 days incorporating field notes related to the
15
interviewees’ body language, tone of voice, attitude, etc. Clarification of any jargon or terms used
was immediately made by the interviewer.
According to the GT methodology of theoretical sampling criteria, other groups were also
included informally in the study. It is important to point out that GT is not about collecting as
much data as possible from a particular group, but collecting data about the category, aiming to
generate properties and hypotheses, and thus determining the depth of a sample (Glaser & Strauss,
1967). When GT is applied, it is difficult to predict how many groups will take part in the study
until theoretical saturation (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was achieved, which resulted in a total of 26
people being interviewed in our study. The data collection stage was overlapping with the
analysis stage, both happening simultaneously and fed into the data collection stage.
Applying the Grounded Theory Approach: Data Analysis Process
The process of data analysis started with coding transforming patterns from a group of empirical
markers into data contents. From the hypothetical relations between conceptual codes (their
categories and properties) originated in the data, an abstraction of theoretical nature is built,
backed by data (Strauss, 1987). The process began with open coding, where the researcher
analysed the data in every possible way, scanning the text line-by-line and trying to identify
substantial codes (incidents) with an open mind, aiming to generate categories and their
properties from a careful analysis of the constituent incidents of the data. The text of the
interviews was thoroughly analysed, line by line and broken into segments or incidents. When the
text was read, questions were asked: “Do these data refer to the study? What does this incident
show? What is happening? What did the participant mean?”. The codes were arranged according
to their properties, similarities and differences, at levels representing dimensions they belong to.
Initially, the codes were grouped into components, components into subcategories and
subcategories into categories. To refine the emerging categories that were strictly related to the
phenomenon under study, the process of open coding had to be delimited. The so called selective
16
coding forced the researcher to code only the events that related significantly to the central
category, so that the theory can be devised (Glaser, 1978). The process of delimiting occurred at
two levels: theoretical and categorical. Adjustments, modifications of logical order, elaboration of
property details, elimination of irrelevant properties, and integration of properties were all
performed. At the same time, a process of reduction was conducted, since there was a degree of
uniformity among the original categories, permitting the construction of the theory with a smaller
number of concepts. At the second level of delimitation, a reduction in the list of the components
and subcategories was found to be necessary to finish data collection and coding.
The interaction between substantial and theoretical codes is what characterises GT as an analyticinductive research method (Glaser, 2005). When theoretical coding establishes new connections
and transforms them into relevant ideas, it also determines the original character of the theory
(Glaser, 1978). The theoretical codes were selected as they emerged from the data and were
considered relevant and useful to integrate the components, subcategories and categories; and
consequently, to elaborate the theory.
Another step in the process of generating the theory is the production of written memos. These
are the registries of ideas, through written records, about codes and their relations, taking
concepts that surfaced from the process of data analysis to the highest level of abstraction (Glaser,
1978). When the researcher elaborates memos, they raise the data to conceptual levels, develop
the properties of each category, elaborate hypotheses about connections between categories and
their properties, begin to integrate these connections in category groups and relate the emerging
theory with other potentially relevant theories (Glaser, 1978). In this case, the systematic
production of memos including analytic ideas that can be grouped, ordered, classified and
retrieved (Strauss & Corbin, 2002), made it easier to articulate the theory and connect the
properties of the substantial codes through theoretical codes. Once theoretical saturation of the
categories was reached, processes of revision, sorting and integration of the memos related to the
17
categories followed. While the content of the memos constitute the base of GT, their sorting is the
key to elaborate the theory for a textual presentation (Glaser, 1978).
In GT, literature is considered to be another source of data the researcher can access and integrate
into the theory, through the Comparative Analysis method (Glaser & Holton, 2004). A broad
literature review was conducted as the study took place, aiming to comply with the requirements
of the analyses of the data from the interviews. The literature also helped in the elaboration of
hypotheses, delimiting properties of categories, and in the definition of the theoretical codes. The
description of these emerging categories, as a whole and in their interrelations, revealed the
category that was central to all the others: “Success factors in e-government adoption”. This
category matches what is defined as the Basic Social Process, a manifestation of relations among
the multiple categories of analysis (Glaser, 2005).
The central category incorporated fifteen other categories that defined the structures, properties
and dimensions of the phenomenon. These categories are endogenous to the data. The theoretical
model was formulated and its constituent elements represented by the fifteen interrelated
analytical categories and the central category. The structuring bases of the theoretical model were
designed as questions/inquiries and support each and every category of analysis. They are a guide
to step into the world of e-government adoption directed to people in developing countries,
specifically Jordan, and they also contribute to the building and orientation of studies about
technology implementation in developing countries. Therefore, the use of GT has demonstrated,
in this research, the validity of its application as a scientific method capable of accommodating
such a complex phenomenon.
Applying the Grounded Theory Approach: The Coding Process
The First Stage: Initial coding
Table 2 presents examples of the coding process and how concepts and initial categories were
developed from the interviewees transcripts. An example of the memos/notes written immediately
18
and continuously with data collection after coding their incidents, the conceptual name to some
incidents as quality and service improvement, are also summarised in Table 2. This is only a brief
selection to demonstrate the emergence of initial concepts for illustrative purposes, due to limited
space. Further details can be obtained from the authors on request.
19
Interviewees Comments
Code given to
Incidents
“We are seeking for alternatives to provide better and
improved services”.
“To implement real change the government needs to offer
competitive services”.
“Quality of service is an issue for trusting e-government”.
“Service development facilitates interaction with the
government”.
“The government can fill the gap by offering improved
services, saving time, and reducing costs”.
“Most people fear participation in the political life”.
“We avoid personal interaction with the government”.
“Fearing authority makes it difficult for me to participate
effectively in public services development”.
“Expressing own ideas is always avoided”.
“No body can say no for the government”.
“However the poor history of IT implementation makes me
reluctant to trust the government and its new services”.
“Our region lacks awareness campaigns on e-government
project”.
“Despite the growth of IT markets worldwide, our region is
still in early stage for IT development and to be
competitive”.
Quality
“E-government is not a priority among politicians”.
“However lack of financial support makes e-government
implementation as miracle”.
“More attention to IT investment increases chances to egovernment success”.
“Changing regulations with each government shows
inconsistent decisions”.
“As given low political will makes e-transformation harder”.
“During e-government implementation, less focus on the
collaboration between the government and both private
sector and civil society would make success unachievable”.
Service
improvement
Fear
Power
Politics
Regional
barriers
Political
barriers
Box Memo
(noted by the researchers and drawn from the interviewees’ experiences)
Drivers of e-government adoption:
Change in the government can be realised through e-government, however
it can be used as an alternative for improvement in the quality of the
provision for public services. Since then, quality of service is an issue for
citizens to improve interaction with the government in the one hand, and to
increase trust in both the government and e-government on the other hand.
To this end, offering competitive services for the public can be a driver of egovernment success through adoption.
Barriers of e-government adoption(power and politics)
People fear and avoid participation in the political life. This in turn affects
their involvement to develop public services (expressing own ideas) and
also prevent them from exploring e-government initiatives. To this end,
some cultural aspects, power and politics fear, can be of importance to egovernment success.
Regional barriers and e-government adoption
The environment within which e-government initiatives are operated is
complex, a number of limitations identified as influencing e-government
success such as poor history of IT implementation, lack of awareness
campaigns for e-government services limits their diffusion, and the poor IT
market in the region. This makes the new government services analysed,
designed and developed poorly. To this end, some regional issues can be of
importance to e-government success.
Political barriers and e-government adoption
There has been a clear sign that the political factors may obstruct egovernment implementation. These include e-government is not at the top
of policy makers’ agendas, lack of financial support, lack of support for
more investments in IT market, changing regulations frequently, low
political will break bureaucracy and paying less focus on the collaboration
with the private sector as well as civil society. To this end, some political
issues can be of importance to e-government success.
Table 2. Examples of the Initial Analysis and Coding Process
20
Stage Two: Selective coding Overall, 372 initial concepts were identified. These were then
refined by an iterative comparison analysis process of grouping and labelling, identifying
similarities and differences between them and further grouping them into initial categories. The
researchers became familiar with the field of e-government adoption after the initial interviews
and were able to distinguish the data as relevant or irrelevant to the phenomenon under study. All
the concepts in Figure 1 were coded according to sub-categories and their properties.
Figure 1: Initial Concepts for E-government Adoption Category
After the first stage of data collection the researchers revisited the data and analysed and
compared all the key points to see if similar codes occurred often and grouped them together
21
under the related concept. Table 3 summarises the process of identifying and coding incidents
from the original interviews for one category (Creating Quality). The Interview ID was derived
from the interview number (e.g. A*) and the accompanying number (A*1) refers to the number
and arrangement of the key point. For example, A*1 means key point number one, related to
creating quality category, derived from the first interview given the symbol A*,
Interview
ID
A*1
C*2
D*3
G*4
Key Points
Open code
Accuracy of information
Availability of information
Accessibility of systems
Service responsiveness time
S*13
“We look at accurate information at the beginning”
“We need information to be available all the time”
“We seek for new alternatives to access government sources”
“However service responsive time is a matter of concern for
us”
“Now we can customize our services than ever”
“Personalised services to start with this new technology”
“Usually government suffers from updating websites
information”
“We can offer relevant information for all segments of
society”
“Complete information is on demand in order to trust
government websites”
“Security of information is an important issue for egovernment adoption”
“Ease of use is a driver for e-government adoption”
“Avoid system interruption is another concern influencing
e-government adoption”
“Government lacks quality in its programs”
T*14
“With hope to develop more citizen focused services”
U*15
W*16
X*17
“Service coverage is another issue for citizens’ satisfaction”
“The way government handles services is not transparent”
“We can’t use these services unless we have online assistance
to do that ”
“The more description of e-government services given the
better guide for using them”
“As the system performance is high we gain the difference”
H*5
J*6
K*7
L*8
M*9
O*10
Q*11
R*12
Y*18
Z*19
Customization of services
Personalisation of services
Up to date information
Information relevancy
Information completeness
information security
Ease of system use
System reliability
Quality in government
programs
Government attention to
developing citizen-focused
services
Service coverage
Transparency of services
Online assistance
Service description
System functionality
Table 3: Process Summary of Key points, Incidents and Codes for a Category
The researchers applied the same process to form the other categories. Accordingly, they labelled
all the concepts in figure 2 which were coded in the categories and their properties. Table 4
summarises the process of developing concepts from labelled codes for one category (Quality) as
an example.
22
As the researchers became more familiar with the area, they collected the data selectively and
focused it according to the emergent categories. Following Charmaz (2006), theoretical sampling
was adopted where data was obtained to explicate the categories, which when full reflected the
respondents’ experiences and generated understanding.
Labelled Codes
Accuracy of information, Availability of
information, Accessibility of information,
Up to date information, Information
relevancy,
Information completeness,
security of information
Ease of system use, system reliability,
system
accessibility
and
system
functionality
Concepts
Information quality: overall evaluation and
judgment of the excellence and quality of
information in the context and is described as
exactly what we need, available, relevant,
complete, secure and up-to-date information
Operational quality of systems: overall
evaluation and judgment of the excellence and
quality of e-government operations and is
described as usable, functional and accessible
system.
Responsiveness
time
of
services, Service quality: overall evaluation and
Customization of services, Personalisation judgment of the excellence and quality of eof
services,
Service
coverage, government service and is described by
Transparency
of
services,
Online response time, customization of services,
personalisation
of
services,
coverage,
assistance, Service description
transparency, availability of online assistance
and service description
Organisation quality: overall evaluation and
Quality in government programs,
Government attention to develop citizen judgment of the excellence and quality of
government organisations arrangements to
focused services
facilitate citizen focused services development
at the first stance.
Table 4: Summary of Concepts Developed from Labelled Codes (an example)
Stage Three: Theoretical Coding
Following Glaser (1998), when the second stage of selective coding was completed, using
theoretical coding, the relationship between categories and their properties were connected and
explored in order to develop hypotheses to be integrated into theory. The emergent categories and
their properties are summarised in Figure 2 and are the basis on which this stage of the GT
approach was undertaken
23
Figure 2: Emergent Categories and Properties from Grounded Theory Approach
The theoretical coding analysis process produced four emerging themes, namely macro
environmental factors, e-citizen related factors, institution of government related factors and
adequacy of supportive ICT infrastructure. These themes are believed to explain why people in a
particular context decide to adopt or reject e-government initiatives. The core hypotheses
developed which stemmed from the theory generation process are summarised in Table 5.
24
Hypothesis
H1:
Sub hypotheses:
There is a relationship between:
There is a relationship between e- a) adoption decision of e-government and socio
government adoption decisions and cultural factors.
macro environmental factors.
b) adoption decision of e-government and socio
economic factors.
c) adoption decision of e-government and
political environmental factors.
d) adoption decision of e-government and legal
factors.
H 2:
There is a relationship between e- a) adoption decision of e-government and trust in
government adoption decisions and both e-government and public sector.
e-citizen related factors.
b) adoption decision of e-government and aspects
of e-government usage.
c) adoption decision of e-government and
supportive characteristics of citizens.
H3:
There is a relationship between egovernment adoption decisions and
the institution of government related
factors.
a) adoption decision of e-government and
creating quality in both e-government systems
and organisations.
b) adoption decision of e-government and
security development (technical and managerial).
c) adoption decision of e-government and
organisational change factors.
d) adoption decision of e-government and
integration aspects of e-government.
e) adoption decision of e-government and
supportive factors of organisations.
f) adoption decision of e-government and
web/service design issues.
H 4:
There is a relationship between egovernment adoption decisions and
adequacy
of
supportive
ICT
infrastructure
Table 5. Core Hypotheses Developed from the Theory Generation Process
The resulting hypotheses from applying the grounded theory approach to e-government in the
context of a developing country are organised according to the causal relationships emerging
from the data analysis process depicted in Figure 3.
25
Figure 3: Initial Framework of the Emerging Themes Influencing Citizens’
Adoption of E-government
Addressing Some Grounded Theory Approach Criticisms
GT yet has been criticised by some qualitative researchers in that it fails to pay proper attention to
both data collection techniques and to the quality of the data collected (Charmaz, 1983). For this
research, the researchers kept their interviews open at the beginning to give the interviewees the
chance to express their opinions freely; at the same time, avoiding bias by keeping themselves
from affecting their opinions, paying close attention to exactly what they said. The researchers
use semi-structured questions (built on the first stage results, and concepts) at the later stages
enabling some freedom and, at the same time, remaining focused on data collection and
controlling the information at this stage. Requirements for the second stage were dependent on
the first stage results.
In this research, we have tried to avoid relying completely on the data that is generated from the
interviews. An initial review of ICT implementation in developing countries was conducted
26
before entering into the area of investigation, thus starting interviews with a general picture, but
not with predefined or developed ideas of the phenomenon under investigation. Also, after each
stage of data collection the researchers embarked on a literature review. Another way of avoiding
complete dependence on the interview data was the use of more than one method of data
collection, including document analysis, to gain further information about e-government in the
context.
Validating the Grounded Theory Approach
Despite the fact that interpretive research, including Grounded Theory Approach, has emerged as
a valid and important approach to information systems research, it is not uncommon for findings
from any qualitative research to be criticised for failing to meet certain standards of validity,
integrity and quality. Easterby-Smith et al. (2008) highlight their concern that often researchers
misunderstand “grounded theory”, not considering the rigour and challenge involved. In this
paper, we apply the Klein and Myers’ (1999) framework for evaluation of interpretive field
studies in IS, to assess the rigour of our approach. They advocate a set of 7 inter-related principles
for the “conduct and evaluation of interpretive field studies” (Klein and Myers, 1999: 70) that can
be used for post hoc evaluations, as in this case. We evaluate our approach applying each of the
principles, and find that overall; the conduct of our research is sound. Details of our Klein and
Myers evaluation are summarised in Table 6. It should however be noted that the collected data
are diverse and rich and may still be subject to a different interpretations. “What we have to do is
recognise what it is we who create and suggest that others test our generalisations and our
conclusions based on their own sense of meaning.” (Corbitt & Thanasankit, 2000:p.9)
27
Seven Principles for Evaluating Interpretive IS Field Studies (Klein and Myers , 1999)
Principal of
Evaluation in this field study
1.
The Data transcriptions were frequently searched for themes explaining factors of
Hermeneutic
e-government adoption. Interviewees were contacted to clarify experiences
Circle
and events observed or described in the interviews. The study iterated
between the fragment of interviews (parts) and the real life context to
determine the full aspects of e-government adoption in developing countries
especially Jordan. Concepts were then applied from the extant literature on egovernment adoption to explain the observed phenomena.
2.
The data was collected in real life settings where practitioners had access to
Contextualization their resources, documentations and tools used in implementation. Individual
experiences had a strong impact on the way the projects were described and
what issues were emphasised as the most important.
3.
Interaction Interviewees were encouraged to talk with no restrictions on the issues they
between
the feel of importance. However, the researchers focused on the understanding of
Researchers and the observed aspects of e-government adoption in Jordan, while asking for
the Subjects
additional explanations where necessary. The researchers also encouraged the
interviewees’ to share views and opinions freely on what makes egovernment initiatives succeed and fail in the real life context.
4.
Abstraction The data collected was coded and analysed for commonalities and similarities
and
which were fundamental in forming general aspects for e-government
Generalization
adoption. The system of codes, which enabled interpretation of the observed
phenomenon, evolved iteratively to provide an abstract framework of egovernment adoption factors, issues related to these factors, decisions
resolving various adoption issues, and inter-related adoption aspects which
supported the decision-making process.
5.
Dialogical The initial understanding of e-government adoption factors was based on the
Reasoning
well-known IT adoption models described in the IS literature. However, the
researchers discovered deviations of accepted methodological approaches
from practice. The collected data show that observed practitioners are not
only concerned with the technical aspects of implementation, but also with
aspects related to contexts of the implementation and use environments. The
initial preconceptions had to be revised and the notion of adoption context
evolved during the analysis.
6.
Multiple Practitioners from different backgrounds revealed common challenges
Interpretations
influencing e-government adoption. However, e-government practitioners
presented their insights to deal with every single challenge. However, through
the use of code generalisation, we integrated the interpretations of the
observed phenomenon into a framework for understanding the factors
influencing e-government adoption.
7. Suspicion
The researchers understand that data collected was infused with some degree
of bias. However, this was countered by triangulating interviews with
observations to verify findings. Researchers’ coding and interpretations of
interviews’ transcripts could also be biased. Iterative data collection and
analysis was therefore applied to allow any such misinterpretations to be
identified and subsequently minimised in the process.
Table
6.
Applying
Klein
and
Myers’
(1999)
Seven
Principles
28
Conclusions
In this paper, we have applied a GT approach, following Glaser, to explain and uncover the
complex process of e-government adoption in developing countries, taking Jordan as an example.
Through the rigorous, time consuming and at times intellectually challenging process of data
collection, analysis and coding, four major themes have emerged to explain the adoptability of
e-government initiatives in Jordan. From these, we have identified a complex combination of
relevant factors to explain why people in a particular context may decide to adopt or reject an egovernment. Without such a careful assessment of the contextual issues, e-government initiatives
are subject to failure, which is of particular concern to developing countries like Jordan, because
of the scarcity of resources which could otherwise be diverted to other, arguably more important
and urgent, development programmes. The implications are that e-government practitioners need
to understand what concerns them to implement e-government initiatives successfully in their
contexts, and this study will provide an initial framework for developing this understanding.
The limitations of this method have already been discussed and are addressed elsewhere in this
paper. However, there is a further limitation of this work. At this stage, the themes that have
emerged from this approach have not been finalised for final testing. An intensive theoretical and
practical refinement is therefore required. This will allow the identification and confirmation of
the factors to be organised into a final framework of e-government adoption that will have
stronger explanatory power. To realise this goal, the framework presented in Figure 3 requires
further analysis and refinement to capture the more detailed nuances and complexities of the
inter-relationships between these factors. This is to be done in future work.
The emergence of the various issues presented in this paper, applying the GT Approach,
contributes to the e-government adoption literature in two ways. The first contribution is to study
realities and develop ideas from a developing country perspective. Secondly, the results show that
the traditional adoption theories may not be sufficiently applicable to explain IT adoption in all
29
contexts. Understanding the contextual aspects remains critical and central to the successful
implementation of the ICT initiatives.
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