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Top1. Introduction
Extensive progress in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) along with its essential need to maturity and development has encouraged many thinkers to uphold the optimistic theory which believes that new media can fill present communicative gaps and revive the urge for more participation in the civil society (Alexopoulos et al., 2010). Despite high investments in ICT development, ICT usage has been with delay in terms of expansion and diffusion of different applications in many countries (Medziausiene et al., 2015). One of the reasons is that people have low level of E-readiness for recognizing and using ICT within and among societies and organizations. (Hamner, Al-Qahtani, 2009; Horst et al., 2007;Centeno, 2004). Therefore, the right understanding of E-readiness and moving according to a proper model for directing and initiating attempts for establishing an E-city is vital (M.-L. Marsal-Llacuna et al., 2014). In an E-city all the services required by the citizens are delivered via communication networks and the city authorities are able to conduct their activities in a fast, available, and safe manner using ICT. The main goal of establishing an E-city is to provide the citizens with easy, round-the-clock services even on holidays. Hence, the citizens’ electronic readiness in utilizing provided services has also become a key and important element in this respect. An E-city cannot be easily realized if a society does not have E-readiness for utilizing network-based services or if the elements of E-readiness have not been embedded in society. Evaluating E-readiness helps countries to set up related measures and set realistic targets to achieve an information-based society based on information and E-Government (Akmana et al., 2005; Hamner, Al-Qahtani, 2009). A proper evaluation of E-readiness is important because its results can be used in strengthening accelerating activities, in improving global competition, and in using the limited resources more wisely (Docktor, 2004). Furthermore, a correct evaluation can depict the regional and international status of a given country, enhance its power and competitive capabilities, and improve its core competencies in comparison to other countries (Docktor, 2002).
E-readiness assessments are also useful in understanding and identifying the most key and relevant ICT-based development opportunities. For example, to put ICT to effective use, a country must be E-ready in terms of infrastructure, the accessibility of ICT to the population at large and the effect of the legal and regulatory framework on ICT use, benchmarking progress, collaborations, determining vision, strategy, and priorities (Docktor, 2002). An e-readiness assessment should lead to the development of a strategy and the
preparation of an action plan that would address the opportunities and constraints identified in order to further the objectives of a country in the area of ICTs. Furthermore, E-readiness assessment enables governments to set, measure and achieve realistic goals for an information society, information-based economy, or e-government (Mutula & Brakel, 2006a).
In this regard the main questions of this research are as follows:
- 1.
How to assess and evaluate the E-readiness of citizens to implement and stablish an electronic city?
- 2.
Which dimensions of structural factors for E-readiness of citizens is greater than other?
- 3.
Is there acceptable goodness of fit in exploratory and structural equation modeling in the present study?