Transformation towards e-government in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: technological and organisational perspectives

E-government represents a fundamental change in the whole public sector structure, values, culture and the ways of conducting business by utilising the potential of ICT as a tool in the government agency. It fundamentally alters the way public services are delivered and managed. More and more governments around the world are introducing electronic government (e-government) as a means of reducing costs, improving services for citizens and increasing effectiveness and efficiency in the public sector. Therefore e-government has been identified as one of the top priorities for governments across the world. However, the introduction of e-government is about a radical change within government and about the relationship between a government and its citizens. Hence, the adoption of e-government raises important political, cultural, organisational, technological and social issues which must be considered and treated carefully by any government contemplating its adoption. Findings of several studies indicate that despite high costs of e-government projects, tangible and intangible, many e-government efforts are failing or are slowly diffusing. This study explores and investigates empirically how an e-government system can be adopted in developing countries taking the Saudi Arabian initiative as a case study. The key technological and organisational issues that affect systems development are investigated; and how these issues could be treated in practice. Following a review of the relevant literature in Information Systems, E-commerce and E-government, a theoretical framework is formulated. The framework is then applied in a real-world case study to support further data collection and to establish a view of e-government adoption at both national and agency levels. Based on the data collected the initial framework is then revised by using the interpretive case study approach where triangulated data are extracted. As a result, a comprehensive framework including details about the key factors that affect e-government adoption is developed. The framework can be used as a tool to determine the road ahead for adoption an e-government system at national and agency levels and to identify the main practices and key conditions to move towards successful implementation especially for governments in developing countries that are seeking to adopt an e-government system.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

De Montfort University

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Al-shehry, Abdullah Mohammed

• e-government adoption
• Saudi Arabia

Licence

• https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/5c203eef-93b9-4c91-a5fc-d6087e49b64f/download