The impact of employees' resistance to change on implementing e‐government systems: An empirical study in Egypt

Abstract

Electronic government (e-government) implementation has played a key role in developing government business processes in order to improve efficiency in data processing, as well as achieving transparency and accuracy. However, although there are benefits of e-government implementation, there is the problem of employees' resistance to change, as people tend to resist any kind of new system. This research was conducted for the purpose of examining the effect of employees' resistance to change including resistance to modern technology, fear of loss of control, feelings of insecurity, fear of inability to implement change, and fear of workload increasing, on implementing an e-government system represented in performance dimensions (efficiency and effectiveness) in Egypt. This paper reflects the lack of research into resistance to change in the specific context of e-government implementation in Egypt. We surveyed 400 respondents in several public organizations in Egypt to investigate the impact of such resistance, in order to determine which behaviors can affect any of the implemented e-government dimensions. The study also determines the differences between employees' responses to implementing the new system depending on variables such as gender, age, educational level, job position, and level of experience. The results reveal that fear of loss of control and fear of workload increasing affect all dependent variables significantly, while feelings of insecurity does not affect efficiency significantly. Resistance to modern technology and a fear of inability to implement change do not have significant effects on the dependent variables.

Digital discretion and public administration in Africa: Implications for the use of artificial intelligence

“…In fact, the changes or disruption to roles associated with information technology implementation is itself argued to lead to corruption (Elgohary and Abdelazyz, 2020). The integrity of digital systems is further eroded by regular security breaches; and the centralisation of biometric or identity data in national repositories increases the reward for external hackers, whilst creating almost 'infinite' opportunities for internal official misuse of personal data (Breckenridge, 2005: 281).…”

Digital discretion and public administration in Africa: Implications for the use of artificial intelligence

“…But it is also because information technology can amplify or create alternative opportunities for corruption, potentially of a much larger scale than the petty corruption prevalent in many African states (Donovan, 2015;Mutungi et al, 2019;Addo, 2021). In fact, the changes or disruption to roles associated with information technology implementation is itself argued to lead to corruption (Elgohary & Abdelazyz, 2020). The integrity of digital systems is further eroded by regular security breaches; and the centralisation of biometric or identity data in national repositories increases the reward for external hackers, whilst creating almost 'infinite' opportunities for internal official misuse of personal data (Breckenridge, 2005, p.281).…”

“…Adding new technologies to work practices can increase access to relevant data, but also leads to information overload for officials, affecting their perceived efficiency and effectiveness (Elgohary & Abdelazyz, 2020;Barata & Cain, 2001, p.255). A study of health information system adoption in two tertiary healthcare facilities in South Africa found that the broad, non-targeted adoption of computerised activities adds to workload for nurses, taking time away from patients -and so the recommendation is to more carefully target specific work flows for digitalisation (Cline & Luiz, 2013).…”

Drivers of immersive virtual reality adoption intention: a multi-group analysis in chemical industry settings

“…Moreover, compared to less than 5 years of work experience or western group, respondents who have more than 5 years of experience or come from the Eastern region are more hesitant to learn the IVR training. Elgohary and Abdelazyz (2020) reported that there is a significant difference between the length of work experience and the resistance to change in a developing country setting. Given these observations, it is understandable that for these groups, EE is a more important factor to consider for IVR adoption intention than SI or HM.…”