Investigating the Factors That Influence the Citizen Adoption of Digital Government Services: A Case Study from the UAE

The digital government (DG) plays a pivotal role in governmental agility, resilience, and effective responses to disasters. Despite substantial budget allocations for digitization, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the adoption of DG services remains low. This study analyzes the factors influencing citizen adoption of DG service, in pursuit towards formulating the Digital Government Services Acceptance Model (DGSAM) based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Model (UTAUT). The sought DGSAM incorporates seven constructs, namely Perceived Public Value (PPV), Perceived User Experience (PUX), Social Influence (SI), Trust (T), Transparency (TR), Engagement (E), and Intelligence (I), contributing to citizens' Behavioral Intention (BI) to use DG services, and hence the actual Use Behavior (UB). Embracing a positivist Epistemology philosophy and employing a quantitative data collection and analysis method, this study utilizes a questionnaire with 401 digitally-literate citizens. Employing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) as the quantitative analysis technique, the findings INDICATED a direct relationship observed between PPV and UB. A direct relationship is observed between (BI) and DG services usage (UB), emphasizing the practical importance of intention in predicting usage behavior. Gender, age, and education nuances influence acceptance and usage patterns, providing actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners. The study offers a list of recommendations to address challenges, and opportunities that enhance the adoption of DG services. Furthermore, it opens avenues for future exploration, encouraging deeper investigations into the complex interplay of factors affecting public adoption of DG services.