The Role of Organisational Culture in Digital Government Implementation. Exploring the Relationship between Public Sector Organisational Culture and the Implementation of Digital Government in Oman

Abstract

Organisational culture plays an important role in the success of the adoption of technology and the development of the organisation; therefore, it is very important to understand how organisational culture impacts the process of implementing technology, either positively or negatively. The aim of this study is to explore the role of organisational culture in digital government implementation in Omani public sector organisations. This study used mixed methods as a research methodology. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with top and middle management and at operational levels in the Omani public sector organisations. In the quantitative phase, a survey was distributed to employees within the public sector organisations to build on the findings of the first stage and develop an understanding of the relationship between organisational culture and implementation of digital government in Oman. This study found that there is a relationship between organisational culture and digital government implementation. It was found that the type of organisational culture has some impact on the digital government implementation as it was found that the organisations with the clan culture type had low levels of implementation of digital government whereas, organisations with the hierarchy culture type had high levels of implementation. Moreover, the study found that middle managers in public sector organisations in Oman had a critical impact on the digital government implementation.