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Chapter 55
Thamer Alhussain
Griffth University, Australia
Steve Drew
Griffth University, Australia
Employees’ Perceptions
of Biometric Technology
Adoption in E-Government:
An Exploratory Study in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses an exploratory study of government employees’ perceptions of the introduction of
biometric authentication at the workplace in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The authors suggest that
studying the factors affecting employees’ acceptance of new technology will help ease the adoption of
biometric technology in other e-government applications. A combination of survey and interviews was
used to collect the required data. Interviews were conducted with managers and questionnaires were given
to employees from two different government organisations in Saudi Arabia to investigate the employees’
perceptions of using biometrics. The results of this study indicate a signifcant digital and cultural gap
between the technological awareness of employees and the preferred authentication solutions promoted
by management. A lack of trust in technology, its potential for misuse and management motives refect
the managers’ need to consider their responsibilities for narrowing these gaps. It was apparent that
overcoming employees’ resistance is an essential issue facing biometric implementation. Based on the
research the authors recommend that an awareness and orientation process about biometrics should
take place before the technology is introduced into the organisation.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-1740-7.ch055