Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gender Disparity in the Usability of E-Government Portals: A Case Study of the Saudi Job Seeking Web Portal

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Electronic Governance and Open Society: Challenges in Eurasia (EGOSE 2021)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1529))

Abstract

The rapid growth of e-government systems presents several challenges, including addressing gender differences in adopting the technology. We focus on the impact of gender and gender disparity on the usability of e-government systems. Our case study is the Saudi job seeking web portal called ‘Taqat’, which provides Saudi citizens access to available job opportunities. The portal is a part of the Saudi government development plan called “Vision 2030” to support Saudi society and accelerate its improvements. We aim to identify potential gender-based disparity in the portal’s usability. We conducted a user study with 200 participants. We adopted Nielsen’s ten heuristic principles and a survey instrument with twenty close-ended questions using a five-point Likert scale. Then, the Mann-Whitney test has been applied to measure the gender disparity of the portal’s usability. The findings showed significant gender disparity among Saudi citizens regarding the usability of the ‘Taqat’. Therefore, further research is required to investigate the social and cultural factors that might influence gender disparity to ensure the efficiency of Saudi e-government services.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Akman, I., et al.: E-government: a global view and an empirical evaluation of some attributes of citizens. Gov. Inf. Q. 22(2), 239–257 (2005)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Aldrees, A., Gračanin, D.: Cultural usability of e-government portals: a comparative analysis of job seeking web portals between Saudi Arabia and the United States. In: Soares, M.M., Rosenzweig, E., Marcus, A. (eds.) HCII 2021. LNCS, vol. 12780, pp. 3–17. Springer, Cham (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78224-5_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  3. Alghamdi, S.A.: Key Factors Influencing the Adoption and Utilisation of E-Government Systems and Services in Saudi Arabia. University of Sussex (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Alhammad, M., Elmouzan, A.: Factors influencing citizen’s adoption of m-government: the case of Saudi Arabia. J. Manag. Strategy. 11(3), 43 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Almukhlifi, A.F.: Investigating the Critical Factors for the Adoption of E-Government in Saudi Arabia. RMIT University (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Alonazi, M.: MGAUM: a new framework for the mobile government service adoption in Saudi Arabia. University of Sussex (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Alotaibi, R.S.: Factors Influencing Users’ Intentions to Use Mobile Government Applications in Saudi Arabia. Griffith University (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Al-Rababah, B.A., Abu-Shanab, E.A.: E-government and gender digital divide: the case of Jordan. Int. J. Electron. Bus. Manag. 8(1), 1–8 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Alsaif, M.: Factors affecting citizens’ adoption of e-government moderated by socio-cultural values in Saudi Arabia. University of Birmingham (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Al-Shafi, S., Weerakkody, V.: Factors affecting e-government adoption in the state of Qatar. In: Proceedings of the European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems – EMCIS 2010, EMCIS 2010, Abu Dhabi, UAE, pp. 1–23 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Bélanger, F., Carter, L.: The impact of the digital divide on e-government use. Commun. ACM. 52(4), 132–135 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Cho, S.-H., Hong, S.-J.: Blog user satisfaction: gender differences in preferences and perception of visual design. Soc. Behav. Pers. Int. J. 41(8), 1319–1332 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Cronbach, L.J.: Essentials of Psychological Testing. Harper & Row, New York (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Gall, M.D., et al.: Educational Research: An Introduction. Pearson, USA (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  15. General Authority for Statistics: Education and Training Survey, Saudi Arabia (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  16. General Authority for Statistics: Labor Market Statistics Q4 2020. General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), Saudi Arabia (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  17. General Authority for Statistics: Population Estimates, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Google: Google Ads (2021). https://ads.google.com/. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  19. Hettmansperger, T.P., McKean, J.W.: Robust Nonparametric Statistical Methods (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Huang, Z., Benyoucef, M.: Usability and credibility of e-government websites. Gov. Inf. Q. 31(4), 584–595 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Human Resources Development Fund: TAQAT The National Labor Gateway (2021). https://www.taqat.sa/en/web/guest/individual. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  22. Jessie, Y., Hamdi, A.: Saudi Arabian women finally allowed to hold passports and travel independently (2019). https://cnn.it/2Yv6QWb. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  23. Khan, G.F., Park, H.W.: The e-government research domain: a triple helix network analysis of collaboration at the regional, country, and institutional levels. Gov. Inf. Q. 30(2), 182–193 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Mumporeze, N., Prieler, M.: Gender digital divide in Rwanda: a qualitative analysis of socioeconomic factors. Telemat. Inform. 34(7), 1285–1293 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Nielsen, J.: 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design (2020). https://t.ly/7YPA/. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  26. Qualtrics: Qualtrics Online Survey Software (2021). https://www.qualtrics.com/. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  27. Saudi Labor Ministry: The Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development (2019). https://hrsd.gov.sa/en. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  28. Saudi Press Agency: Enabling Saudi women and increasing their share in the labor market cuts the gap between the two genders, official report says (2020). https://bit.ly/3ln3lKy. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  29. Saudi Press Agency: KSA Emphasizes Promotion of Strategies Supporting Advancement of Women (2019). https://bit.ly/3AlNYpL. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  30. Saudi Vision 2030 (2016). https://www.vision2030.gov.sa/en. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  31. Shaouf, A., Altaqqi, O.: The impact of gender differences on adoption of information technology and related responses: a review. Int. J. Manag. Appl. Res. 5(1), 22–41 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Singh, M.: Factors contributing to reading literacy differences between males and females. Int. J. Learn. 15(3), 337–2344 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  33. The National Observatory of Labor: Human Resources Development Fund Annual Report (2019). https://nlo.sa/. Accessed 10 Aug 2021

  34. The United Nations: E-Government Survey 2020 Digital Government in the Decade of Action for Sustainable Development. The United Nations, New York (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Venkatesh, V., et al.: User acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view. MIS Q. 27(3), 425–478 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Venkatesh, V., Zhang, X.: Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology: U.S. vs. China. J. Glob. Inf. Technol. Manag. 13(1), 5–27 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  37. West, D.M.: Digital Government - Technology and Public Sector Performance. Princeton University Press, New Jersey (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Yesser: e-government Program (2021). https://www.yesser.gov.sa. Accessed 9 Aug 2021

  39. Huang, Z., Yuan, L.: Gender differences in tourism website usability: an empirical study. In: Marcus, A., Wang, W. (eds.) DUXU 2017. LNCS, vol. 10290, pp. 453–461. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58640-3_32

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  40. Zikmund, W.G., et al.: Business Research Methods. South-Western, Cenage Publishing Co., Boston (2013)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    Asma Aldrees & Denis Gračanin

Authors
  1. Asma Aldrees
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Denis Gračanin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Asma Aldrees .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. eGovernance Center of ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Andrei V. Chugunov

  2. Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Marijn Janssen

  3. North-West Institute of Management, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Igor Khodachek

  4. eGovernance Center of ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Yuri Misnikov

  5. eGovernance Center of ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Dmitrii Trutnev

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Aldrees, A., Gračanin, D. (2022). Gender Disparity in the Usability of E-Government Portals: A Case Study of the Saudi Job Seeking Web Portal. In: Chugunov, A.V., Janssen, M., Khodachek, I., Misnikov, Y., Trutnev, D. (eds) Electronic Governance and Open Society: Challenges in Eurasia. EGOSE 2021. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1529. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04238-6_21

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04238-6_21

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-04237-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-04238-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation