Exploring non-technical factors influencing digital technology adoption in Malaysian public governance

Abstract

The digitising of local authorities (LAs) is increasingly perceived as an essential solution for improving service delivery, transparency, and administrative efficiency. Successful digital adoption depends not only on technological capabilities but also on organisational and human factors. Non-technical factors such as organisational culture, team dynamics, and management support have been shown to play a critical role in this process. This research utilized a nonexperimental cross-sectional quantitative design that examined the survey data of 30 respondents, with one purposively selected knowledgeable respondent from each of 30 LAs in four states of Malaysia, and the data were analysed descriptively and correlatively. Results suggest that team culture received the highest mean rating among the non-technical factors, and that organisational structure, management support, organisational culture, and individual skills play supportive but secondary roles. Intermediate-adoption characteristics received the highest mean rating, followed by future readiness, basic adoption, and advanced adoption. Organisational and human factors were associated with different dimensions of digital adoption, particularly advanced adoption and future readiness. The implications indicate that digital transformation in LAs is essentially an organisational challenge; this implies the need for leadership-driven shaping of digitised authorities, which focus on people and are applied uniformly over all areas of LAs.