Information Technology and the Arab World: A Question of Culture

The use of IT and its applications is the source of many important economic developments, and is therefore a focus of developing countries. Much IS research has been conducted on factors that either facilitate or inhibit the adoption of IT. While several studies have focused on the cultural aspects of IT adoption, the nature of the significant cultural factors in IT adoption are not completely understood. Furthermore, current models do not always include culture as a variable, and often these models cannot be fully adapted to the Arab world. In this research we highlight some Arab traits that are not currently grasped in existing models. The possibility of culture actually diverging rather than converging may compromise efforts to explore the cultural underpinnings of IT adoption; in light of this, we suggest ways that existing models and theories can be strengthened to better explain the delay of IT adoption in Arab countries.