Keywords

1 Introduction

Several countries worldwide are increasingly keen to utilise the technological revolution in the communication and mobile field to improve their quality of life for their own people. Indeed, mobile and telecommunication is one of the most valuable sectors for any country. For instance, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) , the largest share of investment and spending in the area of information and communication technology (ICT) is for the communication sector (80%). This means that there are a lot of opportunities in the KSA that are also available to expand the scope of mobile services (M-Services) provided to the Saudi citizens. Nevertheless, the adoption rate of the mobile Internet (M-Internet) by Saudi citizens is very low (less than 10%). This is in addition to the fact that such innovative services have never been used by about 8% of customers in the KSA. Accurately, the adoption rate of these services goes to the lowest level in the southern side of the KSA and for the age group of 55 years and more. According to a report published by the Communications and Information Technology Commission CITC (2007), M-Internet services are realised by more than half of Saudi users as substitute services for traditional platforms (i.e. landline phone and computers) of communication. The same situation of M-Internet services could also be noticed regarding Saudi private sector where the adoption rate of these services does not go more than 8%. As for the public sector, the Communications and Information Technology Commission CITC (2007) reported that only 5% of the public organisations have already adopted mobile government (M-Gov). Based on these statistics for the current situation of M-Services for either individuals or business customers, it could be concluded that the adoption of these services does not reach what has been planned and expected (Abanumy & Mayhew, 2005; Alhussain, Drew, & Von Hellens, 2010; Al-Khalifa, 2011; Almutairi, 2011; Alsenaidy & Ahmad, 2012; Baabdullah, Alalwan, Rana, Dwivedi, & Weerakkody, 2017). Accordingly, a lot of research and practical efforts are requested to accelerate the current understanding about the main reasons hindering or motivating the acceptance of such innovative services in the KSA among all kinds of users. Therefore, this study was motivated to analyse the current situation of two kinds of M-Services (M-Internet and M-Gov) as well as to identify the main factors that could shape the Saudi citizens’ intention to adopt such services.

In fact, an understanding of the main reasons behind the customers’ intention and adoption of M-Services will definitely help to move those potential adopters to be actual users of these services. Thus, the main concertation of this paper is to discover and identify the most important factor that could have an impact on the behavioural intention to adopt M-Services by Saudi citizens. The fundamental challenge to let M-Services get success in the KSA is to know how M-Services’ providers and the Saudi government can effectively introduce such innovative applications in an attractive manner as well as motivate Saudi citizens to adopt such applications as more useful and productive channels in comparison with traditional human encounter (Alsenaidy & Ahmad, 2012). This, in turn, encourages a good number of researchers to examine and figure out the key factor that could play a critical role in hindering or motivating individuals’ inclination to accept and adopt M-Services (see Abanumy & Mayhew, 2005; Alhussain et al., 2010; Al-Khalifa, 2011; Almutairi, 2011; Alsenaidy & Ahmad, 2012; Alwahaishi & Snášel, 2013a, 2013b; Analysys Mason, 2012; Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003; Weidong, Keyi, Linlin, & Likun, 2009).

In spite of the fact that these studies’ efforts expand the current understanding about the adoption of M-Services, there is always a need to build a comprehensive conceptual model covering the main personal, perceptual, environmental and psychological dimensions from the perspective of citizens in the KSA. For the aim of this study, the new model of Venkatesh, Thong, and Xu (2012), the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2), was adopted as a theoretical foundation of the current study model. In detail, the Saudi citizens’ intention to adopt M-Internet and M-Gov is supposed to be predicted by performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), perceived value (PV) and hedonic motivation (HM). This is in addition to two other factors – trust (TR) and awareness (AWA) – which are proposed to have a direct impact on the behavioural intention as well.

2 The Current State of Literature of M-Internet and M-Gov in the Saudi Arabian Context

As discussed in the prior section, the related issues of M-Internet have attracted a considerable interest for researchers and practitioners . This interest could be a return to the developments and expansions in the mobile and telecommunication industry in the KSA especially over the commercial and financial market (STC Group, 2011). As the customers’ intention is the main challenge for moving potential adopters to be actual users of the M-Internet, there is a need to discover and identify the main factors that could have an influence on customers’ intention and, accordingly, understand how the actual adoption of these services could be enhanced. Therefore, there are several researchers worldwide who have examined the related issues of adoption of the M-Internet services such as Das (2011), Hailin (2010), Hong, Thong, and Tam (2006), Hsu, Lu, and Hsu (2007), Venkatesh et al. (2003) and Weidong et al. (2009). However, over the Saudi context, there are quite a few researchers who have paid attention to examining the adoption of M-Internet services (see Alwahaishi & Snášel, 2013a, 2013b; Baabdullah, Nasseef, & Alalwan, 2016). From this perspective, current research aspires to expand the current understanding about the main factors that could predict the citizens’ intention in the KSA as well as add a theoretical contribution to the existing literature in the KSA.

In their endeavours to explore factors that could predict Saudi citizens’ adoption of the M-Internet, Alwahaishi and Snášel (2013a) expanded the UTAUT by considering the role of perceived value, attention focus and playfulness. Their empirical results supported the statistical impact of performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influences and perceived playfulness on the Saudi citizens’ intention to adopt M-Internet services. In a different study, Alwahaishi and Snášel (2013b) were also able to prove that customers’ inclination to use the M-Internet is significantly predicted by the impact performance expectancy and perceived playfulness. Earlier in 2005, Abanumy and Mayhew examined the acceptance of M-Gov. Abanumy and Mayhew (2005) indicated that the level of adoption of M-Gov is not as expected and this lowest level could be attributed to the lower level of adoption of overall E-Gov services. Accordingly, Abanumy and Mayhew (2005) claimed this situation to the fact that the Saudi government has not spent sufficient efforts to motivate Saudi citizens to adopt such innovative services.

In his study, Al-Khalifa (2011) asserted the importance of examining Saudi citizens’ intention towards kinds of mobile phones and which new or traditional applications are available over these phones as well. By the same token, Al-Solbi and Mayhew (2005) focused on how technology readiness either in the public or private context could influence on the success of M-Gov applications in the KSA. One of the main outcomes reached by Al-Solbi and Mayhew (2005) is the importance of having a well-planned strategy by the Saudi government to firstly accelerate the level of technology readiness at the level of governmental organisations and secondly work hard to learn and educate people about the existing and importance of such innovative services in their daily life. Similarly, Alhussain and Drew (2010) empirically approved that customers in the KSA are more likely to be interested in using M-Gov services if they perceived that such services were well secured and protecting their privacy. Alhussain and Drew (2010) also concluded that the adoption of M-Gov is most likely to reach the highest level among those customers who have a higher willingness to use these emerging services. Alsenaidy and Ahmad (2012) presented a number of benefits that could be utilised from both perspectives: service providers (i.e. productivity, effectiveness, less paper work, cost reduction, feasibility) and customers (i.e. public information, quick and accurate service delivery, accessibility). Despite these benefits, customers in the KSA are still hesitating to actually adopt the M-Gov services. This is attributed by Alhussain and Drew (2010) and Alsenaidy and Ahmad (2012) to the fact that Saudi customers are not fully aware of these services positively; there is also distrust in using these services. Other obstacles of adoption of M-Gov in the KSA were mentioned by Almutairi (2011) such as M-authentication , M-payment , location-aware applications and the content display management. Later, Ahmad, Ansari, Akhtar, and Parveen (2014) attributed the lower level of customers’ knowledge and awareness of M-Gov to the fact that these services are not commonly used and adopted by people in the KSA. Among the main reasons behind this level of adoption of M-Gov are the levels of perceived risk as well as that the main technical and informational facilities are not adequately available in the KSA (see Ahmad et al., 2014). One of the main solutions suggested to enhance the adoption of these services is biometric technology to decrease the level of customer risk as well as provide more secured and trustworthy services (see Alhussain et al., 2010; Alhussain & Drew, 2012; Baabdullah, Dwivedi, & Williams, 2015a, 2015b).

All things considered, it seems that the main challenge of success for such innovative services is not only related to introducing and implementing these services but also the extent of how much citizens in the KSA could be converted to be actual users. This is especially in the light of the fact that these services have recently been implemented in the KSA, and accordingly, the related issues of M-Internet and M-Gov have not been adequately examined and well covered in the KSA.

3 Research Gap

In fact, the related issues of the M-Internet and M-Gov have received less attention by researchers in the KSA (see Table 13.1). Practically, different research methods have been adopted by researchers to test the adoption of M-Internet and M-Gov. As M-Internet and M-Gov represent new issues to be discovered in the KSA, there are very few studies examining these applications. Thus, some researchers have employed the qualitative approach to discover the related issues of M-Internet and M-Gov in the KSA (see Table 13.1). To put it differently, theory building has been the main standpoint for these qualitative studies because of the absence of a solid theoretical foundation in the KSA for the adoption of M-Internet and M-Gov. On the other hand, quite a few studies have adopted the quantitative approach and theory testing standpoint. Noticeably, students were the main source of the empirical data for these quantitative studies. This, in turn, reflects negatively on the generalisability of these studies’ results for other categories of people in the KSA.

Table 13.1 Examples of M-Internet/M-Gov studies within the context of Saudi Arabia
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Based on critical reviewing of the most studies in the KSA, it could be noticed that well-known models and theories (i.e. theory of reasoned action (TRA) , theory of planned behaviour (TPB) , innovation diffusion theory (IDT) , motivational model (MM) or technology acceptance model (TAM) ) have not been adopted or integrated to examine the related issues of M-Internet and M-Gov issues. Accordingly, one of the main challenges for the current study is to select a theoretical base covering the most important aspects from the Saudi citizens’ perspective and provide a more accurate view regarding the adoption of such innovative systems in the KSA.

As such, this study recognises a need to propose a solid conceptual model based on a well-established theoretical foundation. This is in addition to the fact that there is a necessity to explore the related issues of M-Internet and M-Gov adoption based on a theoretical foundation focusing on the customers’ perspective rather than an organisational perspective which has never happened prior to these studies being conducted in the KSA. Therefore, as the UTAUT2 proposed by Venkatesh et al. (2012) is fully focused on customer context , the decision was to select UTAUT2 as a theoretical base for the current study model. Also, to override the generalisability concern existing in the prior study over the KSA, this study in its proposed research methodology indicates that all categories of people will be presented and targeted in the current study sample.

4 Conceptual Model

As discussed before, the selection of UTAUT2 was based on the fact that this model was especially proposed by Venkatesh et al. (2012) to address the innovation adoption from the customers’ perspective. Besides that, the original model of Venkatesh et al. (2012) has been tested and supported by several researchers (i.e. Alalwan, Dwivedi, & Rana, 2017; Alalwan, Dwivedi, Rana, & Williams, 2016; Alalwan, Dwivedi, & Williams, 2016; Alwahaishi & Snášel, 2013c; Wang & Wang, 2010; Yfantis, Vassilopoulou, Pateli, & Usoro, 2013) in the context of M-Services. Thus, the main factors of UTAUT2 [PE, EE, SI, HM, PV, FC) are formulated as key predictors of the Saudi customers’ intention to adopt M-Internet and M-Gov services (see Fig. 13.1). As the targeted respondents of the current study are potential users who have not yet used or adopted M-Internet and M-Gov, habit was dropped from the conceptual model of the current study.

Fig. 13.1
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Proposed research model (Adapted from: Gefen, Karahanna, & Straub, 2003; Venkatesh et al., 2012).

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Due to the fact that UTAUT2 does not cover all the dimensions that could have an impact on the customers’ intention as stated by Alalwan et al. (2017), Alalwan, Dwivedi, Rana, Lal, and Williams (2015), Alalwan, Dwivedi, Rana, and Williams (2016), Alalwan, Dwivedi, and Williams (2016), Alalwan, Dwivedi, Rana, and Williams (2016), there was a need to expand the theoretical horizon of UTAUT2 by considering other constructs. This was highly recommended by Venkatesh et al. (2012) who assured the importance of expanding the UTAUT2 theoretically by considering different factors and practically by applying UTAUT2 in different countries and context and for different applications as well. Indeed, a closer scrutiny of the prior literature of M-Services leads to discovering two main factors; they are trust (TR) and awareness (AWA) as key predictors of the customers’ intention over this area (i.e. Almutairi, 2011; Alsenaidy & Ahmad, 2012; Chong, Ooi, Lin, & Bao, 2012; Pedersen, 2005; Shareef, Kumar, Kumar, & Dwivedi, 2011; Shi, Wu, Zhou, & Chen, 2009; Zhang, Huang, & Chen, 2010), and therefore, both were considered over the conceptual model. Furthermore, as seen in Fig. 13.1, it was added as a new causal relationship among the UTAUT constructs. Therefore, PE was supposed to be predicted by three factors : EE as suggested by Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw (1989), TR as suggested by Gefen et al. (2003) and HM as recommended by Van der Heijden (2004).

5 The Proposed Research Methodology

It was mentioned above that the conceptual model of the current study was built and based on a strong theoretical foundation (UTAUT2), and accordingly, the nature of this study seems to be more theory testing rather than theory building (Bhattacherjee, 2012). According to Orlikowski and Baroudi (1991) and Straub, Boudreau, and Gefen (2004), this is in addition to the fact that the area of information system and technology acceptance is well-established and a lot of models and theories have been validated and tested. Hence, the positivist paradigm is more applicable to the current study (Bhattacherjee, 2012). Validating such a conceptual model and testing its hypotheses require more statistical evidences based on a large amount of quantitative data that should be collected for both M-Internet and M-Gov. In this instance, a survey was found to be a more suitable research method to collect such data from a large number of Saudi citizens in many geographical areas in the KSA (Bhattacherjee, 2012; Remenyi, Williams, Money, & Swartz, 1998). To obtain the required data, a self-administered questionnaire will be developed based on item measurements that will be selected from a well-established scale. Then, the collected data will be processed and saved to be empirically examined using two stages of the structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis. At the first stage, the measurement model (confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) ) will be undertaken to test the model fitness as well as the construct reliability and validity. The predictive validity of the conceptual model and the main research hypotheses will be tested and verified over the second stage.

6 Potential Contribution

There is a considerable amount of theoretical contribution that could hopefully be captured by the current study. First of all, this study addresses the problem which has rarely been tested over the Saudi context. Accordingly, this will make a contribution to the current understanding for the related issues of M-Services over this emerging country. Further, this study will be a foundation for future empirical studies that will be undertaken in the KSA by extracting very critical factors from a very well-known theory (UTAUT2) and other M-Internet and M-Gov literature. By doing so, this study was also able expand the validity of UTAUT to a new emerging context (the KSA) as well as to test the Saudi citizens’ intention to adopt new applications (M-Internet and M-Gov). Likewise, adding both trust and awareness in the conceptual model expands the theoretical scope of UTAUT2. This was largely suggested and recommended by Venkatesh et al. (2012). By the same token, other relationships were added over the conceptual model as well. For instance, the important role of intrinsic utilities (hedonic motivation) on performance expectancy will add a deep view on how customers could perceive such new systems as more useful and productive in their daily life. Also, according to Gefen et al. (2003), it will be an important contribution for the current study to see how the aspects of trust could shape the perception of Saudi citizens towards these innovative services.

7 Limitations and Future Research

Indeed, this study seems to be a more theoretical and conceptual attempt to understand how Saudi citizens could react and perceive M-Services. However, it does not provide empirical evidence about the main factors that could actually influence the Saudi citizens’ intention and adoption. Thus, it is important to empirically examine the proposition introduced in the current study by collecting empirical data from customers who are interested in such services in the KSA. Even though adding both trust and awareness could expand the theoretical horizon of the UTAUT2, it would be appropriate to conduct a construct relationships’ analysis and mapping to identify other relevant factors for examining M-Services adoption. For example, some recent studies (Alenezi, Tarhini, Masa'deh, Alalwan, & Al-Qirim, 2017; Dwivedi et al., 2017; Dwivedi, Rana, Jeyaraj, Clement, & Williams, 2017; Rana, Dwivedi, Lal, Williams, & Clement, 2017; Rana, Dwivedi, Williams, & Weerakkody, 2016) have highlighted the need of reintroducing and examining the role of attitude in UTAUT and UTAUT2, which may also be appropriate for examining M-Services in Saudi Arabia. Likewise, Kapoor, Dwivedi, and Williams (2014a, 2014b, 2014c, 2014d, 2015a, 2015b) has highlighted the role of a number of innovation attributes for explaining consumer intention and adoption of mobile-based innovations in a developing country context, which may also be appropriate for explaining the adoption of a mobile-based innovation in Saudi Arabia. This could be the focus of attention by future researchers to consider. The current study model just presents the main causal paths between independent and dependent factors without any justification or explanations. Accordingly, future work should discuss these hypotheses more by providing more logical and theoretical justifications for each causal path.