The Influence of Culture on the Successful Implementation of ICT Projects in Omani E-government

Abstract

Given the importance of ICT in the modern world, it is surprising that so little attention is paid to the impact of culture on the success of the implementation of ICT. While an enormous amount of research has gone into understanding the factors that can hinder the successful implementation of ICT, the impact of culture has been largely ignored. This lacuna has a particular significance when it comes to e-government projects where cultural dimensions normally go well beyond the boundaries of the implementing organisation. As a result of this gap, any study investigating the impact of culture on ICT project success, including this one, currently lacks a validated theory with which to understand the impact of cultural factors on e-government projects and, in the case of this research, specifically in Omani public sector. More specifically, there seems to be a lack of knowledge on how culture affects the success of ICT implementation in public organisations. A major reason for this gap in research is the absence of an overlap between those who research culture and those who study information systems (IS) success. Existing IS success models focus on other factors such as systems quality and ease of use, generally ignoring the more subtle, but potentially equally important impact of culture. This research first identified cultural variations in four public organisations in Oman and then investigated how these variations and characteristics of national culture affect the degree of success of ICT projects in these organisations. This investigation used a mixed of quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the culture of each organisation, the culture within the ICT project teams and how both of these sat within the broader national culture of Oman. A conceptual framework based on Hofstede?s models of both national and organisational culture was used to provide a theoretical framework. The research identified a range of cultural dimensions and workplace factors, the behaviours that followed from these dimensions/factors and how these interacted with each other. For policy-makers, it is expected that the findings of this research will enable them to devise approaches that take account of cultural factors, finding ways to address those that obstruct and harness those that contribute to project success.