Assessing the determinants of information technology adoption in Jamaica's public sector using the technology acceptance model

Abstract

Superior performance improvement and productivity gains are normally achieved when labor or ordinary capital is substituted by information technology (IT) in organizations. Consequently, on average, organizations have spent more than 50% of their total capital budget on IT, but have not gained commensurate return on their investments, partly due to the non-acceptance and underutilization of the technology. The Government of Jamaica has invested billions of dollars in IT over the last 10 years to transform the way public-sector agencies operate. Despite this large investment in IT, the Government's wage bill, which stands at about 11.75% of the country's total output, continues to be a burden to taxpayers due to the relatively low productivity level of its large workforce. This non-experimental quantitative correlational study was based on sample data collected from 428 respondents from the electronic survey distributed to 1,607 public-sector workers in Jamaica's Revenue Service. An extended technology acceptance model was developed and structural equation modeling (SEM) used to assess the impact of the individual characteristic computer self-efficacy and the organizational factors infrastructure support and technical support on individual's intention to use IT, mediated through perceived ease of use of IT or perceived usefulness of IT. It was found that computer self-efficacy influences intention to use IT through both perceived usefulness (r[428] = .233, p < .001), and perceived ease of use (r[428] = .12, p = .038). It was also found that technical support influences intention to use IT mediated through both computer self-efficacy (r[428] = .20, p = .013) and perceived ease of use (r[428] = .214, p <.001). No statistical evidence was found to suggest that infrastructure support influences perceived usefulness, (r[428] = .020, p = .638) or computer self-efficacy (r[428] = .026, p = .753). In order to achieve higher technology usage towards improving productively, public-sector managers should develop programs to improve computer self-efficacy levels of their staff and develop strategies to increase the level of technical support provided to IT users. Recommendations for future studies include assessing additional antecedents of computer self-efficacy, a construct which plays a critical role in technology acceptance.