Review of e-Government Policy and Outcomes in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Public sector organizations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were directed to place their communications and services online in 2005, in part to promote internet-based technologies throughout the country. Due to political and technical issues, the internet was late to the region; however, the advent of useful and affordable mobile devices accelerated private and commercial take up of data-sharing technologies, and Saudi Arabia currently has one of the highest national growth rates in this regard. Late adoption means that the Kingdom bypassed many early issues of large-scale technological change as managers could select from a range of proven technologies, nevertheless the traditionalist Saudi society remained until recently largely unconvinced of the benefits of the internet. Using the two aspects of rapidly improving technological infrastructure and a reticent family-based national consumer profile, this paper relates the progress of internet-based adoption in an emerging market through the prism of e-government status in Saudi Arabia. The issues raised in the context of Saudi Arabia have application in the Arab world and other emerging markets, especially Islamic.