MOTIVATIONS FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN GOVERNMENT: INSIGHTS FROM THE PUSH-PULL-MOORING MODEL AND AGE-RELATED INERTIA

ABSTRACT

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many enterprises are looking to use electronic services to avoid human-to-human contact. During this transition period, enterprises are embracing new business models and digital transformation to overcome the crisis. Similarly, the government is also in need of digital transformation in response to these significant changes. However, there is a lack of empirical research on the motivations behind government digital transformation. Consequently, this study aims to fill this gap in the existing literature. The push-pull-mooring model is suitable for explaining the process of transferring from an inherent way to a new way, such as migration and changes in switching behavior. Therefore, it is an apt framework for elucidating the process of adopting digital transformation within government agencies. In total, data were collected from 268 government employees to examine the proposed hypotheses. The results show that the motivations of digital transformation are indeed affected by the push-pull-mooring model. These motivations encompass service process inconvenience, avoid face-to-face contact, strengthen information security, top management support, fear of learning new IT, and the cost of digitalization. Interestingly, service process inconvenience and fear of learning new IT exhibit interaction effects in relation to age-related inertia. This finding suggests that government agencies can provide varied encouragement and incentives based on employees’ age groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital transformation
• push-pull-mooring model
• COVID-19
• switching behavior
• information systems
• age-related inertia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Science and Technology Council, R.O.C [MOST 109-2410-H-030-035-MY2].

Notes on contributors

Hung-Hsun Lin

Hung-Hsun Lin currently serves in the Information Management Center of New Taipei City Government and has many years of working experience in information and communication management. He graduated from the Department of Information Management at Fu Jen Catholic University in 2022.

Ya-Wen Lin

Ya-Wen Lin is a is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Management at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. Her research interests include geoinformatics, network economy and project management.

Chang-Tang Chiang

Chang-Tang Chiang is an is an Associate Professor in Information Management Department at Chinese Culture University in Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. degree from Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan and a Master of Science degree from St. Louis University in USA. His research interests include educational technology, e-commerce and e-marketing. His papers have been published in Business Strategy and the Environment, Sustainability, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Service Marketing, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, and Communications of the Association for Information Systems.

Chien Hsiang Liao

Chien Hsiang Liao is a Professor in the Department of Information Management at Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan. His research focuses on e-services, informetrics, information systems, social capital, and social networks. His work has been published in journals such as Research Policy, Journal of Informetrics, Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Computers in Human Behavior, Internet Research, Journal of Knowledge Management, Scientometrics, Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning, Online Information Review, and Journal of Electronic Commerce Research.