Introduction

According to a global study conducted by comScore there has surpassed 1 billion Internet Users worldwide (comScore, 2009). In light of the increased ubiquity of e-government, most countries, including the New Zealand which accounted for the number of Internet users (3 million users) (Internet World Stats, 2009), is eager to increase citizen acceptance of this innovation. E-government in New Zealand began in the mid 1990s (Rowena, 2006), after many years of invested and developed, the development and implementation to date of e-government in New Zealand has achieved a sustainable achievement in the area of public management. On the other hand, New Zealand is an immigrants country, there are many new immigrants come to New Zealand every year. Also, New Zealand is based on a multicultural society since these new immigrants have variety of cultural backgrounds. Therefore, in order to find out the impacts of new immigrants on New Zealand e-government adoption and use, this research will focus on India immigrants, which was ranked on the top 3 of total immigrants by nationality in New Zealand (Immigration New Zealand, 1998-2007), and the research will mainly base on cultural aspect, through using the Diffusion of Innovation theory to find out the potential factors which have significant influences on India immigrants’ adoption and use of New Zealand e-government services. On the other hand, through this research, New Zealand government should consider its e-government services more roundly, and to ensure the entire people including new immigrants gain equal benefits form those e-government services.

New Zealand is known as a peaceful and the good environmental country. Also, New Zealand is a nation of immigrants. Every year, many people who are from different countries as new immigrants come and live in New Zealand. Base on Immigration New Zealand (2007), during 1998 to 2007, there has over 40,000 Indians immigrated into New Zealand, and it was ranked on the top 3 of total immigrants by nationality. Meanwhile, according to the data from Immigration New Zealand, at the beginning of 2009, India (average 10.2%) was one of the top 5 countries that it was likely to be selected by Immigration New Zealand. Thus, there is certain amount of India immigrants live in New Zealand nowadays. In addition, for the main purpose of this research, there are cultural differences between India and New Zealand indigenous and Maori peoples. Therefore, these Indians as new immigrants come into New Zealand, they would learn how to use New Zealand e-government services, and would also gain benefit from those services. However, these India immigrants would have difficulties to obtain the benefit form New Zealand e-government services due to some potential factors.

For the adoptions and uses of e-government in New Zealand, e-government within New ZealandNew Zealand can be seen as a world leader in using information and technology to realize its economic, social, environmental, and cultural goals, to the benefit of its entire people. In addition, in terms of e-government development in New Zealand, New Zealand has its own natural advantage that it can compete with other countries, for instance, its small population, single national government, and the limited number of levels of local and regional bodies with jurisdiction at the city or district level (Rowena, 2006). Moreover, in this particular research, I focus on the cultural aspect which would influence the adoption and use of e-government in New Zealand, base on a particular study of is part of an overall government-led Digital Strategy intended to ensure that New Zealander benefit from the power of information and communications technology (Rowena, 2006). Furthermore, Rowena (2006) stated that E-Government Issues in New Zealand from University of Waikato, for cultural aspect, the study showed that there are unresolved issues between the NZ government and the indigenous peoples residing in NZ, including the ongoing debates about Maori land claims and compensation (Bingham et al. 2000), and e-government can be seen as one way to help “close the gaps”, NZ Maori communities and leaders are concerned about the effect the Internet and e-government will have on Maori culture, values, rights, privacy, and cultural and intellectual property (Forbes et al. 2000). Furthermore, in this study, Eric, Alison and Caves Stuart M. (2001) stated that in order to ensure the sharing of common goals in regard to e-commerce and e-government, NZ government plans to consider the cultural and intellectual property rights of NZ Maori and those of other NZ-residing indigenous peoples, as well as the inclusion of Te Reo Maori (Maori language) on government websites. Thus, this study indicates that culture has certain influences in the development of e-government in New Zealand. Finally, for the overall achievement to date of e-government in New Zealand, Rowena (2006) stated that the overall achievement would be mixed. There are still some problems that government needs to redress, such as the lack of control by central agencies, and the limited functions of E-government Unit. However, New Zealand has made its greatest e-government gains in the area of public management, and nowadays the government is seeking to take the people with it into its vision of the future of e-government and focus on some of its early goals and the real benefits to citizens that e-government can bring.