Adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Local Governments: An Exploratory Study on the Attitudes and Perceptions of Officials in a Municipal Government in the Philippines
Abstract
Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) have been instrumental in transforming governments in recent years, which is why several agencies worldwide have integrated them into their governance strategies. One of the countries that have paid attention to the potential of AI is the Philippines, which launched its national AI roadmap in 2021. This study investigated the perceived acceptance and adoption of AI in the Municipality of Carmona located in the Province of Cavite. Following the combined constructs from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), perception data were gathered from among Carmona’s local executive and department administrators. The study found moderate to high levels of positive attitude and behavioral intention toward the use of AI in government operations. Moreover, correlation analysis revealed that all acceptance and adoption factors had positive moderate to very strong relationships with the attitude and behavioral intent to use AI, except for the anxiety factor, which only had significantly negative moderate to very weak correlation with attitude toward AI. As component of the sequential mixed-method design, the thematic analysis provided context to the findings. This paper contributes to the growing literature on the governance, acceptance, and adoption of AI in governments.
