Literature review

E-government background

In last decade, E-government initiatives are in their infancy in many developing countries. The success of these initiatives is dependent on government support as well as citizens’ adoption of e-government services (Morris and Alawadhi, 2008). E-government becomes a major issue in our life. As Xu and Astone( 1999) stated that the definition of E-government :“E- Government is the use of information technologies by government agencies to transform relationships with citizens, businesses, and other branches of government. These technologies can serve a variety of purposes: better delivery of governmental services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, empowering citizens through access to information, and more efficient management of government. ” Hernon, Cullen and Relyea (2006) report that “E-government within New Zealand is part of an overall government-led Digital Strategy intended to ensure that New Zealanders benefit from the power of information and communications technology.”Furthermore, in some studies, e-government is defined by the objectives of the activities while in others by the specific technology used (Yildiz, 2007). Base on previous literatures, Siau and Long (2006) provided another framework, describing four types of e-government systems, namely government to customer (G2C), government-to-business (G2B), government-to-government (G2G), and government-to-employee (G2E).Therefore, many researchers focus on the e-government adoptions and uses.

Harmonious (Hexie) world in Chinese culture

According to the previous literatures, As Cai (2008) stated that, China is now in an unprecedented critical transition period along its history. It is confronted with both strategic challenges and culture pressures as it needs to integrate into the world and international society. Many problems have occurred during this process of transition. At the core, they are all related to a spiritual, political and diplomatic culture. Therefore, under the background of the globalization, integration into the world as well as society transition, culture from Peaceful Development, Peaceful Rise to Harmonious Society and Harmonious World is justified and necessary. Many Chinese researchers believe that Hexie(Harmonious) is the most principal rule of Confucian values (Ye, 2006). A recent literature reviews, the importance of Hexie shows that the Chinese culture puts emphasis on the smooth relationships among all aspects of all the involved persons and organizations, and usually prefers evolution rather than revolution when innovations are introduced. In such situations, gradual changes are much easier to be accepted. This basic characteristic is reflected in various areas (Zhang, Guo, chen and Chau, 2009).

With the development of globalization and the fusion of Eastern and Western culture, the traditional Confucian values and implications of Hexie have also be evolving in latest years(Zhang, Guo, chen and Chau, 2009). A recent empirical research found through principal factor analysis that the values of current Chinese people have been further dispersed, comparing to their father-generation in traditional Confucian values, modern Chinese people tend to regard them as a series of instrumental values that can be applied in the workplace, namely as work values (Hwang, 2006). Base on previous literatures, Zhang, Guo, chen and Chau(2009) reported that “the cultural value of Hexie would play a more important role the evaluation and adoption of IT/IS in Chinese organizations, especially the governmental organizations that are generally seen as more “traditionally” structured. Consequently, it is reasonable to predict that the perceived fit, which represents the degree of Hexie between the IT/IS and the other aspects of the users’ work and life style, would have a strong impact on the end user evaluation towards e-government system.” Base on previous literatures, the “compatibility” in the classical IDT theory is defined as the degree to which an innovation is perceived as consistent with the existing values, past experiences, and client needs (Rogers, 1995).Finally, I will put the perceived fit model in my research. It has two reasons. Firstly, perceived fit as a related dimension to Hexie in Confucian values would easier to be accepted than compatibility by practitioners (Zhang, Guo, chen and Chau, 2009). Secondly, since Moore and Benbasat’s (1991) compatibility has become too pervasive to be adjusted, a new concept can provide researchers with a new perspective on this issue.