IDENTIFYING THE DETERMINANTS OF CLOUD COMPUTING ADOPTION IN A GOVERNMENT SECTOR – A CASE STUDY OF SAUDI ORGANISATION

Year 2014, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 29 - 43, 01.12.2014

Majed Alsanea David Wainwright

Abstract

The adoption of Cloud Computing technology is an essential step forward within
both the public and private sectors, particularly in the context of the current
economic crisis. However, the trend is struggling for many reasons. The purpose
of this study is to establish the foundations for the development of a framework to
guide government organisations through the process of transferring to Cloud
Computing technology. The main aim of this research is to evaluate the factors
affecting the adoption of Cloud Computing in the government sector by
conducting a multiple case study of Saudi government organisations, and to
develop a Cloud Computing adoption framework. Investigating and identifying
the main factors affecting the adoption of Cloud Computing is done by examining
the literature and by conducting a mixed-method investigation. The most
significant concerns are Service Quality, Usefulness, Security, Complexity, Cost,
Organisation Size, IT Infrastructure Readiness, Senior Management Support,
Feasibility, Trust, Organisation Culture, Organisation Structure, Privacy Risk,
Direct Benefits, Indirect Benefits, Culture, External Pressure, Industry Type,
Government Support, and Regulatory Concerns. This study will apply the TOE
(Technology-Organisation-Environment) framework and the Iacovou model to
obtain improved knowledge, to better determine the most suitable Cloud
Computing adoption factors. These models form the conceptual framework for
this study. Two phases are performed in order to collect the required data: firstly,
a questionnaire-based survey; secondly, interview-based case studies approach.
The data and hypothesis are analysed and tested using descriptive statistics, AHP,
multi-regression and Pearson Correlation. SPSS is used to analyse the collected
data and all statistics and figures are extracted from this software. The initial
results show some of the main factors that could affect the adoption of Cloud
Computing, and show the relationship between the dependent and independent
variables which indicate the positive and negative impact.

Keywords

Cloud Computing, Public Sector, Technology Adoption, IS innovation theories

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