A User-Centric Evaluation of e-Government Services in the GCC Region: Case of State of Qatar

Technology In Qatar’S Public Sector

The State of Qatar is geographically located in the Arab peninsula and is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Its oil and natural gas resources allowed the country to witness high-pace development in various aspects. Qatari e-Government initiatives started in the early years of the previous decade as part of a larger effort to modernize other sectors such as health and education (Al-Shafi and Weerakkody, 2007). Despite the fact that Qatar is categorized as a developing country, like all GCC countries, huge efforts were, and still are, undertaken to advance the nation forward and to position itself among the greatest nations. As opposed to many developing countries where technology proliferation is lagging, Qatar pioneered a number of initiatives to exploit the latest technological developments (Faisal and Talib, 2015). Financial investments and administrative reforms were done to secure a sustainable base for implementing public e-Services such as e-Government, e-Health and e-Learning. Nevertheless, it has been estimated that these e-Services are yet under-utilized and the adoption rate can be boosted (Al-Shafi and Weerakkody, 2008).