A cross-country comparative analysis of e-government service delivery among Arab countries

Abstract

Much of the existing e-government research focuses on developed countries. Although a relatively small number of studies explored Arab e-government development, they did so in a single country context. This article provides an insight into the current state of Arab e-government developments. A cross-country comparative analysis of e-government Web sites and portals was conducted on 16 Arab countries to assess their development stages in e-government service delivery capability. Further comparative analysis was performed between the top Arab e-governments and the global top e-governments in developed countries with regard to “e-democracy,” often the highest level e-government service delivery capability identified in the literature. The results confirm a wide digital divide that remains between the Arab countries and the leading developed countries. Importantly, however, the results also show a wide digital divide even among the Arab countries studied, particularly in the development of advanced e-government service delivery capabilities. These results have important implications for developing countries in managing both economic and non-economic resources effectively for successful e-government development. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.