Factors That Influence the Adoption of Enterprise Architecture by Public Sector Organizations: An Empirical Study

Nor Azizah Ahmad,Hairoladenan Kasim,Sulfeeza Mohd Drus

doi:10.1109/access.2020.2996584

Nor Azizah Ahmad, Hairoladenan Kasim + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2020.2996584

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Journal: IEEE Access	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2020
Citations: 123	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universiti Tenaga Nasional

Abstract

The adoption of enterprise architecture (EA) is deemed to be low despite EA's substantial benefits to organizations, especially in the public sector, as evidenced by the scarce literature on the EA adoption stage, which focuses on the decision or intention to adopt EA. This research attempts to identify the significant factors that influence EA adoption in the public sector by using the technology-organization-environment framework and organizational theory. The conceptual model was validated using partial least squares structural equation modeling with data collected from 255 key informants from public sector organizations. Empirical results show that clear communication, coercive pressure, expected benefit, good governance, mimetic pressure, normative pressure, and organizational size have a significant influence on the adoption of EA by public sector organizations. Surprisingly, top management support, ICT infrastructure, EA complexity, organizational readiness, and external support have a nonsignificant influence on EA adoption by public sector organizations. The implications of the findings are also discussed in theoretical, contextual, and practical aspects of EA adoption in the context of public sector organizations. This model facilitates decision-makers in focusing only on the significant factors in the organizational and environmental context that influence EA adoption in Malaysian public sector organizations. Subsequently, the findings may contribute to better insights for EA initiators in their EA implementation plan and strategic planning to support EA implementation among Malaysian public sector organizations.

Highlights

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a strategic tool for defining the overall structure and operation of an organization
An EA survey by.McKinsey [1] conducted among chief information officer (CIO), heads of EA, and business leaders working in EA fields found that EA plays a vital role in running digital transformation [12], [13]
The findings revealed that mimetic pressure is important for EA adoption by Malaysian public sector (MPS) organizations, as indicated by the value of β = 0.130, t = 1.76, and p = 0.04 derived from the path coefficient analysis

Summary

Introduction

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a strategic tool for defining the overall structure and operation of an organization. EA benefits decision-makers and IT practitioners by achieving desired technology solutions [3], eliminating the duplication of applications and processes [4], allowing interoperability, and improving coordination between business. As a result of the e-government report, the adoption of EA has become a primary strategy to improve public service delivery and contribute to national development [8]. Many developed countries such as the United States, Denmark, and Finland have proactively encouraged the implementation of EA [9]–[11]. 62% of organizations recognize EA as an enabler of digital transformation [1]

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