E-governance and its relationship to University of Ha'il excellence from the viewpoint of the students in light of the Kingdom's vision 2030

The implementation of e-governance in universities is considered a crucial matter because of integrating roles and achieving community development and institutional excellence. Despite this, there is a shortage of studies and research that deals with e-governance and institutional excellence, especially in Saudi universities. Hence, this is a pioneer in the context of Saudi Arabia. This research is aimed to identify the impact of e-governance on institutional excellence at the University of Ha'il in light of the Kingdom's 2030 vision. The study has relied on a random sample of 400 male and female students from various university colleges. The questionnaire was used as a means of collecting data after confirming its validity for measurement. Then the questionnaire was distributed electronically due to the suspension of the study because of the Corona pandemic. The data was analyzed using statistical methods appropriate to the data's nature. It has included averages, standard deviations, simple correlation coefficients, and multiple regression coefficients. The study has reached several results. The most important are the e-governance dimensions and institutional excellence criteria. These are effectively applied at the university. However, significant importance is not given to infrastructure, beneficiaries' satisfaction, and positive correlational relationships between all e-governance dimensions and institutional excellence criteria. The combined dimensions of e-governance are 80.9 % of the variance in institutional excellence. This means 19.1% is not included in the study due to other factors. The research has suggested taking an interest in the university's infrastructure, especially the internet. It has emphasized benefiting the beneficiaries' views in developing the university and supporting external community partnerships.


Introduction
*Saudi universities seek to achieve a distinguished position in the top 200 international universities list, as part of the Kingdom's Vision 2030. So, universities make every effort to achieve their excellence and move towards e-governance and implement its principles. The most important are transparency, accountability, equality, internal and external participation, and effective representation of all parties in the decision-making process. Universities also tend to decentralize and work towards empowering colleges and departments. These have effectively managed their resources in a way that achieves quality and distinction in the educational process. It guarantees the success and recognition of the educational process, which the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and the universities aim to achieve. The application of e-governance in universities is an essential matter because of the roles of integration, societal development achievement, and institutional excellence for universities. Many people believe that the e-governance concept is newly emerging and that it is beginning with the internet emergence. The e-governance concept appeared in the 1930s, but it was limited to the business administration field. The emergence of the e-governance concept has come very late in universities and education in general. The e-governance application in Arab universities has come even later than foreign universities. The first executive step was taken to issue the unified guideline draft prepared by the Middle East University. It was commissioned by the Arab Universities Association at the Beirut Conference 2015. This guide has included several dimensions: administrative and financial control, university management and activities, participation, stakeholders, transparency, accountability, planning, and measuring potency (Al-Din, 2015).
E-governance is defined as "the ability to use the internet or the information network to provide government services and information to the beneficiaries" (Abboud and Abdel-Saheb, 2019). It can be said that e-governance at the University of Ha'il is "the application of modern technologies and electronic technology to all organizational and administrative processes. It transfers from paper form to the electronic form with a commitment to apply the principles of governance and ensure the good and distinguished performance of organizations and institutions." It aims to achieve efficiency, effectiveness, and excellence in performance using modern technologies and information technology for several goals. The most important are organization integration, administrative processes, and improved efficiency, information accuracy, effective decision-making, reducing costs, and developing the functional environment (Al-Zuhairi and Fadel, 2017). It also includes acquiring knowledge capital and creating the organizational structure (Ahmed and Al-Khayal, 2013). It may aim to expand service delivery to beneficiaries, transparency, credibility at work, and integration between different government sectors (Abboud and Abdel-Saheb, 2019). The concept of academic institutions' governance has emerged as a proposed solution to educational institutions' problems. Administration represents a new direction for performance leadership, ensuring freedom of decisions and the efficient use of resources. Academic institutions' governance aims to achieve participation and transparency. It provides correct information and protects relevant parties from abuse of power. The e-governance in higher education institutions seeks to achieve quality and excellence in performance. It strengthens compliance with the law's provisions, ensures integrity, and works completion speed (Al-Zuhairi and Fadel, 2017). E-governance's ten dimensions are transparency, justice, equality, reliability, effective participation, accountability, complementarity, organizational service, administrative perfection, and prediction. These can be further divided into three main dimensions. These are the political dimension, the economic and social dimension, the technical and administrative dimensions. Khuraisat (2018) specified that the right governance criteria are transparency, accountability, and participation. Al-Shabatat (2018) has defined that university governance is based on four primary dimensions: the political dimension, the administrative dimension, the economic dimension, and the social dimension. According to United Nations reports, governance focuses on three essential characteristics: participation, transparency, and accountability (UNROL, 2020). Al-Harout (2018) stated that transparency, accountability, participation, and equality are among the government's most essential characteristics. It can be said that there is an agreement on the three dimensions (transparency, accountability, and participation) in addition to some other dimensions that differ according to the different aims and the study nature.
Institutional excellence is defined as "the desired goal of the organization to achieve excellence by adopting administrative practices and methodologies to achieve positive results and achievements" (Melibari, 2019). It can be said that the institutional excellence at the University of Ha'il in the university's ability to exercise excellence and exclusivity in performance. It can be achieved through the application of e-governance in its various dimensions to attain the best results. It is based on fundamental principles to translate the vision, goals, and mission of the university. It has been turned into a tangible reality felt by the student to achieve their aspirations based on some European model criteria of excellence. These include leadership, policies and strategies, human resource management, achieving community partnerships, and measuring the beneficiaries' satisfaction with the university's services. There are many models for institutional excellence. The chief models are the American Model for Excellence in Performance and the European Excellence Model. The Malcolm Cyclist issues the American Model for Excellence in Performance for Quality Award. This model issues three standards of excellence. One of which is in the education sector. It is based on a set of critical concepts that express the excellence values and total quality management. It is represented by the importance of leadership and the necessity of organizational learning and continuous development (Othman, 2020). The European Excellence Model was established by the European Foundation for Total Quality Management in 1991. It has won an award. This model assumes that leadership is responsible for all outstanding outcomes concerning society, the individual, and the organization. It consists of eight fundamental concepts: Institutional capacity, supportive leadership, a sustainable future, creativity and innovation, employee talent development, added value, results from sustainability, and management flexibility (Melibari, 2019). Moreover, it is explained that there are nine criteria for excellence in the European model: leadership, policies and strategies, people, partnerships and resources, processes, employee results, customer results, community results, and overall performance results. It is also confirmed by another study that the European Excellence Model is divided into enablers and outcomes. It has nine elements that express distinction and determine an approximate ratio for each component. These are leadership, human factors, policies and strategies, partnership, available resources, processes, people's results, outcomes, clients, and community outcomes (Davies, 2004).
Many studies have been conducted, whether in the field of e-governance or institutional excellence, but separately, and only a few reviews link them together. Among the studies that have been conducted in the e-governance field, the Study of Morrison (2019) has aimed to reach the egovernance concept. It reveals its impact on administrative processes and job performance at King Abdul Aziz University. Al-Zuhairi and Fadel (2017) have investigated to reach the concept of egovernance and the extent of its impact on academic institutions. The study of Rida and Saleh (2018) has aimed to identify the effect of the e-governance application on the Baghdad Tennis Federation and the most critical obstacles to implementation. The study of Al-Shogairi and Al-Ghazali (2018) has presented the need for universities to apply egovernance to achieve higher education quality. There are some studies in the institutional excellence field. Dinu and Popescu (2015) aimed to evaluate higher education institutions using the European Excellence Model in Romania. The study has found the possibility of evaluating higher education institutions using the European Excellence Model. Haddad and Judeh (2015) have sought to ensure that the King Abdullah Award's winning institutions achieve excellence in government performance. The most important of which is transparency from its employees' point of view. It also examines the effect of the excellence culture spread on satisfaction with the evaluation criteria for employees. Rahman et al.'s (2016) study aimed at identifying the cultural dimensions of organizational excellence. It determines these in terms of safety, responsibility, political freedom, reputation, authority, strategic leadership, cooperation, and effective communication. Nenadál et al.'s (2018) study is aimed to analyze the current situation of excellence models. Ruben and Gigliotti's (2019) study has aimed to identify the benefit of the Baldreig framework in higher education that calls for participation. Mahmoud's (2020) research has sought to determine the quality of the functional environment's dimension on institutional excellence. The survey of Eaves and Daroum (2020) is aimed to identify the effect of creative behavior on institutional excellence. Al-Wahibi's (2020) study is aimed to determine the role of leaders in excellence. Among the studies that have linked e-governance and institutional excellence in universities, an analysis aims to identify the impact of the economic, social, and environmental e-governance dimensions on institutional excellence (Al-Zubaidi and Al-Samarai, 2019). Another study at Jordan University is aimed to study trends towards e-governance and their impact on performance excellence in private universities in Amman (Al-Harout, 2018). From the previous studies, it becomes clear that there are deficiencies in the studies that linked e-governance and institutional excellence for higher or university education institutions, especially in the Saudi Arabia Kingdom. Most e-governance studies deal with reaching a specific concept of e-governance and defining its dimensions as a study. Most of the studies deal with institutional excellence determinants and institutional excellence variables, such as creative behavior and institutional excellence, the leaders' role in institutional excellence, human resource management applications, and the functional environment. However, only a few studies have linked egovernance with institutional excellence, especially in the university education field. Researchers have not found studies that have been conducted on egovernance and university education in the Saudi Arabia Kingdom, especially the University of Ha'il. So the current research is an addition to what has been done in the e-governance field and institutional excellence.
The university student is considered as the most critical educational process outcome. The graduate's interest increases due to its role in economic and social life. Many countries build their hopes on their graduates to achieve sustainable development requirements in the national economy. They must possess the capabilities and skills that enable them to excel and compete in the labor market. Universities cannot achieve this without maintaining modern and effective methods in the teaching process. Mostly, today's society is seen as a development sector capable of providing solutions to get out of the various problems that our economy is facing. It is the most age group. Today's university student faces extraordinary challenges that make him enjoy a prominent position. The state builds its hopes on him, and he must be worthy of this position presented to him. He must possess all the specifications and capabilities that enable him to work and adapt to the various transformations that he faces in his work (Alsaati et al., 2020). This study's problem is represented in the scarcity of previous studies and research that deals with egovernance and institutional excellence in Saudi universities. It is also evident that most egovernance studies are aimed to reach a specific egovernance concept and define its dimensions. Simultaneously, some institutional excellence studies deal with the institutional excellence determinants and the relationship of some variables in institutional excellence, such as creative behavior and the role of leaders in institutional excellence. Still, only a few studies have linked e-governance and institutional excellence, especially in university education. Therefore, the current research seeks to define the nature and description of the egovernance organizational mechanisms at the University of Ha'il. It is directed towards university students and identifies e-governance with institutional excellence in the educational field. Moreover, it identifies the most significant obstacles that the university faces in reaching a future vision to determine the mechanisms of activating egovernance regarding the university student, to achieve a future vision for institutional excellence in light of the Kingdom's 2030 vision. It is mainly aimed at determining the effect of the e-governance dimensions on achieving institutional excellence in the educational process from male and female students at the University of Ha'il. Many subobjectives emerge from the main aim. It identifies the reality of practicing e-governance at the University of Ha'il. It recognizes the institutional excellence aspects at the University of Ha'il. It distinguishes the relationship between the egovernance dimensions (transparency, accountability, participation, level of services, change management, and infrastructure) and institutional excellence standards. It recognizes the significant contribution of the e-governance dimensions in explaining the variation in institutional excellence at the University of Ha'il. It sets proposals and recommendations that can better achieve institutional excellence at the University of Ha'il.

Research methodology
The study has considered a descriptive and analytical approach, using the social survey method and the sampling method by applying it to male and female students at the University of Ha'il. The data was collected during a period from 11/10/2020 to 28/12/2020 using a pre-prepared questionnaire form according to the study variables. The questionnaire was finally prepared electronically due to the country's conditions from the COVID-19 and the difficulty of collecting the questionnaires in paper form. The research community consisted of all male and female students at the University of Ha'il. The sample size reached 400 students, from whom data was collected randomly (Tables 1 and 2). Some colleges were randomly selected so that the literary and scientific sections were represented. The link to the questionnaire was sent to the academic advising groups and study decisions in each college. The questionnaire's validity was confirmed by sending it to 5 arbitrators in the specialization field before distributing the questionnaires. The questionnaire was distributed to 20 students randomly, who were not included in the sample. The reliability was confirmed by calculating the "Alpha Cronbach" factor, which was proven for scientific research and data collection (Table 3).  It is clear from Table 2 that the age group of 19-22 years is the most common group among male and female students. It is the natural age for belonging to the university among 42.7% of male and female students. The stability coefficients were calculated for the used questionnaire dimensions (Table 3). It was found that these were sufficient to allow the collection of each independent variable dimension item. Moreover, it will easy to see the dependent variable's criteria when calculating the reliability coefficient for the overall institutional excellence questionnaire, which was calculated as 0.958. For the comprehensive e-governance questionnaire, it was found as 0.929, which allows collecting the questionnaire items for the independent variable and the dependent variable.
The data were analyzed statistically with the (SPSS) Version "25". Many statistical methods were used. The most important of which were frequencies, percentages, averages, and standard deviations to describe the study variables and simple correlation coefficients for the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable dimensions. It also included regression analysis and partial regression coefficient to identify the independent variables' contribution to explaining the dependent variable's variance. E-governance was measured with 43 items. These were distributed into six dimensions: Transparency, accountability, participation, provided electronic services, managing change, and infrastructure. It is in agreement with some previous studies regarding the level of provided electronic services, change management, and infrastructure. It expresses how the egovernance requirements are provided and preparing the university environment to apply them. At the same time, institutional excellence was measured by 28 items. These are distributed into five dimensions: Excellence in leadership, excellence in policy and strategies, excellence in human resources, excellence in community partnerships, and excellence in the satisfaction of beneficiaries. These are somewhat consistent with the European Model of Excellence. The five-point Likert scale was used to answer the items.

Research results and discussions
The averages and standard deviations of 6 dimensions were calculated to evaluate the reality of e-governance at the University of Ha'il. The results are shown in Table 4. It is clear from Table 4 that the most electronically investigated dimension is 'Accountability' with a mean of 3.79 and a standard deviation of 0.821. It is followed by 'Participation' with a mean of 3.89 and a standard deviation of 0.887. Then comes 'the Level of Electronic Services' with an average of 3.795 and a standard deviation of 0.94. Afterward, 'Transparency' comes with a mean of 3.77 and a standard deviation of 0.869. Simultaneously, 'Change Management' has an average of 3.70 and a standard deviation of 1.099. The least dimension, 'Infrastructure,' has an average of 3.516 and a standard deviation of 1.15. From the previous presentation, it becomes clear that there is interest in the university sector to be accountable by electronic means. It is concerned with applying the principle of participation in an electronic form. Still, it needs more effort to develop the infrastructure to be compatible with e-governance and its applications. It is noted that the University of Ha'il is striving to implement e-governance, but it needs more attention to infrastructure to strive for change and provide better services.
The averages and standard deviations of the 5 dimensions were calculated to evaluate the reality of institutional excellence at the University of Ha'il. The results are shown in Table 5. It became clear from results that the most applied dimension at the University of Ha'il is 'Excellence in human resource' with an average of 3.74 and a standard deviation of 0.989. It is followed by the dimension of 'Excellence in leadership' with a mean of 3.72 and a standard deviation of 1.02. 'Excellence in policies and strategies' has an average of 3.69 and a standard deviation of 0.99. It is followed by 'Excellence in community partnerships' with a mean of 3.50 and a standard deviation of 1.17. Finally, 'Excellence in beneficiaries' satisfaction' has an arithmetic mean of 3.43 and a standard deviation of 1.19. It explains the university's need to exert more effort in community partnership and measure the beneficiaries' satisfaction.
The correlation between the e-governance dimensions and the institutional excellence standards was determined. The bilateral correlation coefficients between the e-governance dimensions and the institutional excellence standards at the University of Ha'il were calculated. The results are shown in Table 6.  Table 6 has found a highly positive direct correlation at the 0.01 level between the six dimensions of e-governance and all institutional excellence standards.
The impact of e-governance dimensions on institutional excellence was determined. The linear regression coefficient was calculated between egovernance dimensions and the institutional excellence dimensions to find this. The results are shown in Table 7. From these results, it is clear that the independent variables' ratio is interpretative to the change in the dependent variable, which is the institutional distinction. Moreover, its variable ratios are between 45% to 71%, which are all significant ratios in the value of 'T' and the importance of 'F.' It indicates the model validity in every equation. It shows the effect of the independent variables related to the dimensions of e-governance on the dependent variable, which is institutional excellence. However, some variables are not covered by the previous models, which call for further studies.
Furthermore, multiple regression was implemented using the (ENTER) method to illustrate the effect of independent variables combined in explaining institutional excellence variance. The results are shown in Table 8. It is clear from Table 8 that the combined egovernance dimensions explain 80.9% of the variance in institutional excellence. Simultaneously, 11.1% of the institutional excellence variance is due to other variables not included in the model. Besides, the correlation coefficient between e-governance and institutional excellence reaches 0.899. It is a significant value at 0.01 level, which indicates a strong direct link between e-governance and institutional excellence. It specifies the presence of a relatively high impact of e-governance on the institutional excellence at the University of Ha'il from the university students' viewpoint.
From the results, it is found that there is a correlation between the current study and some previous studies as the present research has shown that there is a strong positive correlation between the e-governance dimensions and the institutional excellence standards. It has also proved that each of the e-governance dimensions affects the institutional excellence at the University of Ha'il. The combined egovernance explains 80.9% of the university institutional excellence variance. Besides, the use of governance increases the beneficiaries' satisfaction, achievements, and workmanship speed. It is evident by the study that digital transformation in universities provides an opportunity for leaders to make decisions and invest in human resources (Elliot and Kay, 2016). Similarly, it is manifested from a previous study that there is a strong link between organizational excellence and organizational involvement, transparency, infrastructure, and the use of electronic management (Othman, 2020). It is found that organizational excellence can be achieved through practicing transparency mechanisms, vital electronic infrastructure, spreading corporate organizational culture, and allowing teacher participation, which is evinced through a previous study. The study has shown that the governance concept leads to achieving transparency, accountability, and involvement in improving the educational process (Al-Shabatat, 2018). Moreover, transparency leads to enhanced performance and participation in decisionmaking and helps the educational institution's advancement and development.
Similarly, it is shown in a study that electronic governance explains 51%, the environmental dimension explains 25.8%, and the economic extent explains 30.25% of Iraqi universities' outstanding performance. And the social importance of universities explains 45.2% of the variance in Iraqi universities' excellent performance (Al-Zubaidi and Al-Samarai, 2019). From the above, there is an agreement between the current study results and previous studies.

Conclusions and recommendations
After analyzing the reality of e-governance at the University of Ha'il, it is concluded that the university sector is interested in being accountable by electronic means. It is concerned with applying the principle of participation in an electronic form. Still, it needs more effort to develop the infrastructure to be compatible with e-governance and its applications. It is noted that the University of Ha'il is striving to implement e-governance, but it needs more attention to infrastructure to strive for change and provide better services. Besides, it is found from the results of the most applied dimension regarding the reality of institutional excellence at the University of Ha'il that the university needs to exert more effort in the field of community partnership and measuring the satisfaction of the beneficiaries. Besides, it is found that there exists a very high positive direct correlation at the 0.01 level between the six dimensions of e-governance and all institutional excellence standards. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient between e-governance and institutional excellence has reached 0.899 at a significant level of 0.01. It indicates the existence of a strong direct link between e-governance and institutional excellence at the University of Ha'il from university students' viewpoint.
Moreover, the research recommends paying attention to the infrastructure and provide the appropriate environment to implement egovernance at the university, especially developing its internet. There is a need to support community partnerships with the university, make more agreements, and exchange services with the outside community. It is essential to spread the university's institutional excellence culture by organizing annual competitions for students, faculty members, administrators, and leaders. It is required to electronically transfer all paper transactions at the university and continue work with them. It is suggested to develop an awareness of the importance of implementing e-governance by holding courses and workshops on an ongoing basis to provide support to students and train them on it. It is recommended to pay attention to continuously taking the beneficiaries' opinions and benefiting from their proposals in developing university performance, especially graduates. There is a requirement to pay attention to students' participation in decision-making processes, mostly updating the university's vision and mission and developing academic programs. It is necessary to conduct more studies in institutional excellence to identify a more significant number of variables explaining institutional excellence variation.