The Decision Makers' Perceptions Toward the Adoption of Information Technology by Government Institutions in Jordan and its Affect on Information Accessibility, and Decision Making Quality

Abstract

In this age of rapidly advancing technology, many governments around the world have spent a great deal of money on these tools, in order to increase the performance of their work. Therefore, the Jordanian government decided to implement information technology in public institutions. However, the picture is not clear about the perceptions of users towards this technology. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of decision-makers towards the use of this technology and its impact on access to information and the quality of decision-making. Quantitative methodology was used to obtain the information necessary to achieve the objectives of this study. Three hundred questionnaires to decision-makers located in the city of Irbid were distributed. Two hundred sixty eight questionnaires were returned; 253 were usable, at 84% response rate. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. The results indicated the importance of computer technology in the Jordanian governmental organizations. The results revealed that the majority of the participants expressed positive perceptions about the technology. They saw this technology as a viable, necessary and effective tool. However, they still expected to have more active role of this technology in government institutions. Also, they provided many of the factors that led to some restrictions on the use of computers. In addition, the study revealed that the demographic characteristics that would hinder perceptions towards this technology seems mostly unfounded. Based on the results of this study, Joradanian government should provide its employees more training and education opportunities on the use of this technology, in order to maintain, improve and increase the use of such technology in the future. Keywords. Information technology, Decision making, E-government, Jordanian government. JEL. C80, D37, D78, H53, H83.