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This study aims to explore how citizens socialise and network in relation to using and adopting e-government. The paper suggests that governments need to consider social networks when introducing e-government initiatives. Using qualitative research, this study explores the reasons, fears, motivations and factors with respect to e-government relevant to two social groups of people, those who do and those who do not have regular access to the internet in the Middle Eastern country of Jordan.

The study analyses the results of focus groups representing different social groups of Jordanian citizens across the digital divide. The focus groups followed the nominal group method to explore questions relating to e-government adoption. The nominal group method provided preliminary categorisations of responses; however, further initial and axial coding of data were used to analyse recordings of focus group transcripts.

Contrary to previous research, this study highlights the importance of considering factors that most likely appear as organizational terms, such as resistance to change, when investigating the adoption of e-government within a social community. Cultural and social themes that emerged include resistance to change, wasta (favouritism), and word of mouth (WOM). Few qualitative studies have investigated the main factors relevant to the adoption of e-government by citizens in the Middle East.

To investigate the adoption of technological innovations including e-government, this paper encourages researchers and practitioners in information technologies (IT) to consider cultural and social factors that have been rarely discussed in IT research in general and e-government in particular. Examples of these factors are wasta (favouritism) and WOM.

This paper aims to engage with the growing debate on the factors that affect e‐government adoption in the developing country of Jordan. The change from traditional interactions between government and citizens in Jordan to interaction via the web needs further exploration in order to understand the factors that might affect e‐government adoption by citizens. This paper therefore aims to report on a study to identify the main factors that influence citizens' intention to adopt e‐government websites in Jordan, using a theoretical framework consisting of diffusion of innovation theory (DOI) and the technology acceptance model (TAM).

A survey study of 400 Jordanian citizens who were internet users investigated the influence of the aforementioned factors on the adoption and use of e‐government websites. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

Contrary to previous research, trust in the internet, relative advantage, compatibility and perceived ease of use were not found to be significant predictors of intention to use e‐government websites. Trust in government, website design, beliefs, complexity and perceived usefulness were significant factors in Jordanian citizens' intention to use e‐government websites.

This study is one of the few to examine what influences adoption and use of e‐government websites by citizens in the Middle East. The study clearly identifies the relationship between the constructs of “beliefs” (religious views) and website design and e‐government adoption, and explores the influence of attitudes towards e‐government adoption in Jordan. Although previous studies show similarities between the constructs related to DOI (relative advantage and complexity) and those related to TAM (perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEoU)), this research shows the importance of including these constructs when considering the topic of e‐government adoption in a Middle Eastern country.

Rising trends in alcohol consumption and early drinking initiation pose serious health risks especially for adolescents. Learner’s prior knowledge about alcohol gained from the social surroundings and the media are important sources that can impact the learning outcomes in health education. The purpose of this paper is to map adolescents’ perceptions of alcohol in Punjab, India and how these perceptions are related to their attitudes towards their social surroundings and the media.

The questionnaire was created after informal discussions with local people who consume alcohol and discussions with alcohol-related experts. Students from five schools (n=379, average age=13.6 years) in the urban region of Punjab, India, filled in a questionnaire. Quantitative tests were performed on the questionnaire data. Summative content analysis was performed for the textbook content about alcohol from classes 1 to 10.

Data suggest that students gain knowledge about alcohol from multiple sources, including society, the media and education. While society and the media can give misinformation, education did not provide them with factual scientific information about alcohol. Students from financially marginalized social surroundings experience the presence and use of alcohol more frequently; they trust the media and celebrities somewhat unquestioningly and, hence, are more at-risk.

All participants in informal discussions as well as all participating schools in the study were from urban regions. Data about individual’s socio-economic conditions was not collected.

This research investigates perceptions of alcohol that are derived from adolescents’ social surroundings, perceptions of the media and perceptions gained through educational guidance in a developing country. Such multi-dimensional investigations have not been conducted earlier.