E‐Government Service Quality: A Qualitative Evaluation in the Case of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Government website services comprise awareness programs for their citizens and others, information distribution, and perhaps data collection, online enquiries, and submissions for regulatory or funding purposes. Quality of service is fundamental to public acceptance and use of e-government websites, although this aspect is frequently overlooked during the design and implementation stages of online public services. Besides transparency, ease of navigation and comprehensive information, these websites require adequate monitoring resources, including targets for responses and reports. The intention of this study is to contribute to the development of e-government services, and to raise awareness of user attitudes to public websites among researchers, government administrators and service providers, especially in the context of Saudi Arabia. This study explores dimensions that contribute to e-government service quality, or have the capacity to detract from website support. A qualitative approach through individual interviews was taken that explored four categories of service quality: the system function category included ease of use, and system availability; and the content category included three dimensions: format, information, and personalization. Further, the procedural category comprised privacy and security, credibility, interactivity, and processing time; the citizen support category included responsiveness and contact dimensions. Development of an appropriate quantitative model and instrument is planned to facilitate research into the relationships among the e-government service quality dimensions and user satisfaction and user trust. Further, it is planned to research various environments and contexts to provide cross-cultural comparisons to understand e-government's user behaviors.

Improving qualities of e‐government services in Rwanda: A service provider perspective

“…Service quality is also affected by the ease of use , which refers to how easy it is to navigate and follow service delivery steps (Alanezi et al, ). Papadomichelaki and Mentzas () consider navigation, personalization, and technical efficiency as ease of use constructs.…”

“…Availability The quality of being at the users' disposal all of the time (Al-Busaidy & Weerakkody, 2009;Anwer et al, 2016;Papadomichelaki & Mentzas, 2012;Verdegem & Verleye, 2009) 3. Information quality The degree to which information is ready, complete, clear, and accurate (Alanezi, Mahmood, & Basri, 2012;DeLone & McLean, 2003;Kaisara & Pather, 2011;Okunola & Rowley, 2013;Rasyid & Alfina, 2017;Verdegem & Verleye, 2009) 4. Awareness Knowledge of existing services (Ahmed et al, 2015;Alawneh et al, 2013;Anwer et al, 2016;Sharma & Mishra, 2017;Sigwejo & Pather, 2016;Verdegem & Verleye, 2009)…”

“…Cost Price of a service (Andersen & Medaglia, 2008;Osman et al, 2014;Verdegem & Verleye, 2009) 7. Information Security The quality of ensuring information confidentiality, integrity, and availability (Alanezi et al, 2012;Anwer et al, 2016;Kaisara & Pather, 2011;Okunola & Rowley, 2013;Papadomichelaki & Mentzas, 2012;Seyal, Tajuddin, Rahman, & Abidin, 2015;Sharma, 2015;Verdegem & Verleye, 2009)…”

Older Adults Adoption, Use and Diffusion of E-Government Services in Saudi Arabia, Hail City: A Quantitative Study

“…Focusing on the commonly ignored aspect of eGovernment services implementation quality, [18] more so in developing countries, it is argued that the quality of services in government websites is a key element for the adoption (acceptance) of ICT within citizens. Research has explored many quality aspects of offered online services, such as the degree of information comprehension, ease of navigation, transparency, system availability, personalization, processing time, interactivity, credibility, security, and privacy.…”

“…Furthermore, a research conducted in Saudi Arabia found that citizens would consider e-Government services as quality services only when these services meet their needs [18]. In terms of this study, quality aspects of online services were included in the constructs of perceived website assistance (PWA), complexity (COMP), and perceived cyber risk (PCR).…”