Cultural Impact on e-Performance in Government Organizations in the United Arab Emirates.

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of cultural forces in accepting the implementation of technology systems that deal with assessment and evaluation of government employees to facilitate the transitional process from manual to e-performance assessment in governmental organizations in the United Arab Emirates. The research methodology followed is descriptive and semi-structured interviews with government employees and line managers involved in e- performance and assessment. This study finds that scholars have long argued that cultural characteristics influence behavior directly. This phenomenon, however, varies from one culture to the other depending on numerous factors that shape work ethics and norms in the workplace. This study suggests that the United Arab Emirates enjoys highly structured governmental organizations. This primarily results from the naturally inherited characteristics of being a high- context society.