The objective of this research study is to identify the constructs and factors important to the user-centric transformation of e-governments. The research design follows the comprehensive Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model. The primary data for the research were collected from potential and current users of e-government services in the United Arab Emirates. Exploratory factor analysis was used to extract the important constructs from the 19 factors identified from the literature. Regression analysis was used to identify the influence of individual constructs on overall satisfaction, while correlation analysis was used to identify the relationship between Internet usage and user satisfaction. Analysis of variance and t-test were used to identify potential differences among demographic factors and their overall satisfaction with e-government services. This study identifies confidentiality and users’ trust and attitudes toward using technology as key determinants of overall satisfaction and the subsequent adoption of e-government services. The study also identifies significant differences in how different genders adopt the use of e-government services.

Purpose: E-government is new to the public administration sector of Abu Dhabi and it is rapidly expanding. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that might motivate citizens to adopt the e-government public services provided by the Government of Abu Dhabi Emirate. The insights of the study will help government leaders to plan the delivery of public services effectively. Design/methodology/approach: The study surveyed 638 United Arab Emirates (UAE) citizens living in three main districts of the Abu Dhabi Emirate. The research used an exploratory factor analysis that conforms the validity of the theoretical model to the data collected, confirmatory analysis to extract the latent factors and both multiple regression and structural equation modelling to test the research hypotheses. Findings: The finding revealed that internet trust and performance expectancy was the strongest predictors of intention to use e-government services. Effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and trust had a positive influence on behavioural intention (BI). However, social influence (SI) did not have a significant effect. Gender, age and experience did not affect the relationship between SI and BI. It was also found that BI to use e-government services had a significant influence on the actual use of e-government sites. Practical implications: When the government gets to know the major factors that affect the adoption of e-government services in Abu Dhabi, it can maximise its returns on ICT infrastructure investments by providing efficient service that could be adopted by the citizens. Originality/value: The research has theoretical and practical value. Though the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model has previously been used in organisational settings, the present study uses a modified version in the context of citizens’ acceptance and use of e-government services. The present study thus provides an extension of the UTAUT model that could be suitable for developing countries such as the UAE.

The Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) is used to match a photo of a person's face through a database that contains picture, name, and other records of someone that are already in the database. This technology uses biometric data with other available information and provides precise and accurate information about a person and his behaviour. FRT has positioned itself significantly advanced among all biometric-based technologies. The use of FRT by government agencies and commercial organisation comes under scrutiny as many of them use the technology in violation of right to privacy where the data subjects are either not informed of data collection or not consented for the data collection, use or storage of their data. Privation of regulatory measures allows government agencies and commercial organisations to operate with no real legal restraint and only under limited self-regulation in many common law countries. The research focuses on suitability of the existing law to regulate the use of FRT by analysing the criminal law and the civil law including the privacy laws in few common law countries. The analysis of the laws shows that passing of appropriate laws is inevitable as the existing laws are inadequate to regulate the use of FRT by government and commercial organisations.

Purpose: The move toward e-health care in various countries is envisaged to reduce the cost of provision of health care, improve the quality of care and reduce medical errors. The most significant problem is the protection of patients’ data privacy. If the patients are reluctant or refuse to participate in health care system due to lack of privacy laws and regulations, the benefit of the full-fledged e-health care system cannot be materialized. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the available e-health data privacy protection laws and the perception of the people using the e-health care facilities. Design/methodology/approach: The researchers used content analysis to analyze the availability and comprehensive nature of the laws and regulations. The researchers also used survey method. Participants in the study comprised of health care professionals (n=46) and health care users (n=187) who are based in the Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The researchers applied descriptive statistics mechanisms and correlational analysis to analyze the data in the survey. Findings: The content analysis revealed that the available health data protection laws are limited in scope. The survey results, however, showed that the respondents felt that they could trust the e-health services systems offered in the UAE as the data collected is protected, the rights are not violated. The research also revealed that there was no significance difference between the nationality and the privacy data statements. All the nationality agreed that there is protection in place for the protection of e-health data. There was no significance difference between the demographic data sets and the many data protection principles. Originality/value: The findings on the users’ perception could help to evaluate the success in realizing current strategies and an action plan of benchmarking could be introduced.

Health emergencies require unprecedented measures to protect the public from the health disaster. Such measures may require limiting the exercise of personal freedom and other rights like the right to data privacy. The limitation, however, should be temporary and proportionate so that privacy rights are not compromised superfluously. In this aspect, the European Union (EU) implemented better data protection measures and guided the government and various entities on the acceptable ways of handling data during a pandemic, though the measures taken were not very comprehensive. Canadian privacy laws in general are sector driven and not harmonised at the national level and there is no new guidance on the usage of data during emergencies. Hence, this research will analyse laws and regulation in EU and Canada with a view to understanding the necessity of amending privacy laws in Canada to make it relevant, up-to-date and in compliance with EU data protection requirements so data sharing from EU countries could be made easy. It further encapsulates appropriate standards for Canada health data protection for better management of health data privacy.