A Field Study of People's Perception of E-Governance Awareness, Corruption, and Trust

A field study of people's perception of

e-governance awareness, corruption, and trust

By

Rakesh Belwal and Khalid Al-Zoubi

Faculty of Business, Sohar University, Sohar, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the efforts made by Jordan in the direction of

e-governance and people's perception of corruption, trust, and e-governance.

Design/methodology/approach - Desk research was conducted using secondary data sources

followed by a field survey conducted with 412 sample respondents in three major cities of Jordan.

Following the triangulation approach, the responses of university professors and the common people

were also secured.

Findings - The Jordanian government's efforts towards e-governance are commendable in the

Middle East. However, there are certain impediments that are witnessed in the form of the digital

divide, corruption, social bottlenecks, the stage of democratization, the lack of marketing to

stakeholders, and the citizen's lack of adoption of technology. Educated people are aware of the merit

of e-governance contrary to the uneducated ones and perceive that corruption in the Jordanian public

sector is increasing.

Research limitations/implications - The study mainly reflects the views of the educated people.

The views of the uneducated ones are secured through basic interactions as they expressed their

inability to respond to the questionnaires. Somehow, the respondents are not very open to freely share

their opinions or have abstained from participation-since they consider this a sensitive issue within the

Jordanian cultural and political setup. Further, asking opinions of members of the public might not be

the ideal way of judging the level of corruption, or changes in it.

Originality/value - People's perception is that Jordan is affected by a low level of corruption and

that its citizens lack awareness of e-governance. To remedy this, its citizens need to be motivated to

trust