Assimilation of social media in local government: an examination of key drivers

Abstract

Purpose The government has included social media technology applications in the public sector as part of the fifth wave of information and communications technology adoption. Academic interest in social media in the government sector has been increasing. But there has been little empirical research on the assimilation of social media in the local government. To fill this gap, based on technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework, this study aims to investigate the key technological, organizational and environmental factors that affect the assimilation of social media in local government agencies. Design/methodology/approach To empirically test the model, a survey study was conducted. Data were collected from 150 government employees in the government department of X municipal government in China. The collected data were analysed quantitatively to answer five hypotheses using structural equation model. Findings The findings suggest that technology competence, top management support, perceived benefits and citizen readiness significantly influence assimilation of social media in local government agencies. Top management support is the strongest predictor of social media assimilation in a government agency. Originality/value This study is one of the first attempts that adopted the TOE framework to understand assimilation of social media in the local government. In addition, the effect of the four factors that include one technological factor, two organizational factors and one environmental factor, namely, technology competence, top management support, perceived benefits and citizen readiness, on intention to assimilate social media was investigated.

Stagewise Overview of Issues Influencing Organizational Technology Adoption and Use

“…The participative management subtheme concerns the extent of management support and commitment, availability, and openness to continuous dialogue, leading to the success of organizational change (Andersen, 2016 ). The management shows support by being committed to the vision (Martins et al, 2016 ) and providing both the material resources and the internal political resources (Zhang and Xiao, 2017 ). Being committed, creating milestones, and celebrating achievements throughout the process enhances change momentum (Maali et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The employees can hasten and enhance the process if they are ready for technology changes. Zhang and Xiao ( 2017 , p. 433) define citizen readiness as “a state of mind—a citizen's predisposition and likelihood to try new technology services”; the authors posit that technology cannot be absorbed if people are not ready. The same can be applied to employees in an organization.…”

Consumer’s intention to use self-service parcel delivery service in online retailing

“…According to Parasuraman and Colby (2015), social environment could be a motivator to the acceptance of SSTs. Many researches have discussed social influence based on this paper (Benoit et al, 2016;Kim and Drumwright, 2016;Zhang and Xiao, 2017).…”

An Empirical Investigation and Conceptual Model of Perceptions, Support, and Barriers to Marketing in Social Enterprises in Bangladesh

“…Therefore, as a useful systematic framework, TOE has broad applicability and retains experimental power that is beneficial in the research of a wide range of technologies [60]. This model has been considered a standard theoretical framework for forecasting and describing the acceptance of any type of new technology [61,62].…”