| Culture can create a climate for or against the use of information technology in an organization or even a county. Some scholars assert that design, development, implementation, and management of information systems and the degree to which they accommodate cultural differences are key issues. When the design and development processes do not take cultural differences into account, under-utilized or even failed systems are likely to result.; My research examined national culture, based on six cultural dimensions, and their relationships to the adoption of information technology in the work environment. The differences in value priorities may be expected to influence the way in which individuals of a particular culture accept and use information technology in performing their tasks.; My model assumed that power distance, uncertainty avoidance, achievement/ascription, individualism/collectivism, monochrony/polychrony, and context are six cultural dimensions that each held to influence the adoption and usage of IT. This research is probably the first empirical attempt to examine the direct relationships between two national cultures (Saudi Arabia and the U.S.) and their use of information technology.; In cross-cultural studies, scholars have suggested that researchers should consider controlling as much non-cultural variance as possible. As a result, there was an emphasis on the importance of selecting comparable samples. This research was able to provide a control over many non-cultural variances in the samples.; The findings support most of the research hypotheses that concern IT adoption and cultural differences between the research samples. However, the finding did not support the research hypotheses that relate cultural dimensions to IT adoption. Even with the unexpected finding that cultural dimensions have no relationship to IT adoption, the research offers a starting point of reference for understanding the basic aspects of IT implementation. Such an understanding has many practical applications. The research also discussed several possible directions for future research. |
