Technology Acceptance Of Cloud Computing In Ict Departments Of The Kenya Government Ministries

Abstract

Cloud computing is associated with a new paradigm for the provision of computing infrastructure and services. It represents a shift away from computing as a product that is purchased, to computing that is delivered as a service to consumers over the Internet from large scale data centers or ‘clouds’. Clouds provide an infrastructure for easily usable, scalable, virtually accessible and adjustable IT resources that need not be owned by an entity but can be delivered as a service over the Internet. The cloud concept eliminates the need to install and run middleware and applications on users own computer by providing Infrastructure, Platform and Services to users, thus easing the tasks of software and hardware maintenance and support. The project aimed to understand both the positive and negative factors that can significantly explain Kenya government ICT officers’ acceptance intention and use behavior for cloud computing. The project empirically validated a modified unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model by adding a “Cloud Risk” construct in the Kenyan government ministries context to determine the effect of negative influences in the acceptance and use of the cloud computing paradigm. Data was collected from a questionnaires distributed to ICT officers in selected government ministries. The partial least squares (PLS) technique of the structural equation model (SEM) was used to evaluate the causal model and the reliability and validity of the model was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The new construct of Cloud Risks (CR), was found to have a significant factor affecting ICT officers’ behavioral intention.