Evaluation of E-Government Services Quality: A Business Perspective

Abstract

Given the vast and rapid developments in using e-government services, many countries all over the world commenced to improve the quality of their e-government services especially the ones concerning the business sector. Accordingly, the issue of evaluating the quality of e-government services from the perspectives of business firms became a crucial aim. This study addressed the topic of evaluating e-government service quality in Jordan from a business perspective. The study problem stemmed from the paucity of research that addressed evaluating e-government service quality form a business perspective at the local and global levels. Moreover, the literature review showed the lack of effective model for assessing the quality of e-government services based on the business perspective. Furthermore, frequent international reports showed that Jordan occupy low rank in E-government readiness at the global and regional levels. The current study aimed to fill the existed gap in literature related to evaluating the quality of e-government services from the business perspective by adding to the present literature body. In order to fulfill the study's goals, a conceptual framework was developed and proposed. The framework included two scales: a SERVQUAL questionnaire and Barrier-Enablers questionnaire. The proposed model was verified according to the validity and reliability indicators. The study methodology adopted an explanatory mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method involved questionnaires that were applied on 300 employees who were working in the business sector and in direct contact with e-government services. However, the qualitative method involved 11 stakeholders who are in charge for E-government services within two major governmental departments were interviewed. In order to verify the model's measures and gather data; means, standard deviations, internal consistency, t-test, ANOVA, simple linear regression and Factor analysis were used. Based on the proposed model, the study results revealed various gaps between the actual and expected e-services from the business firms' perspective. All the expected e-services scored higher than the real ones. All the gaps in the proposed SERVQUAL questionnaire indicated statistical significant differences in the overall dimensions except the Security and Privacy dimension that revealed no statistically significant difference. Moreover, the results revealed various gaps between the actual and expected barriers/enablers from the business firms' perspective. Similar to the expected e-services, all the expected barriers/enablers scored higher than the actual ones. Furthermore, the qualitative results indicated a number of barriers and enablers that influence using e-government services from E-government perspective in Jordan. Furthermore, based on the results of the analysis, the proposed model was revised and modified. The results introduced a number of implications for the public agencies that provide E-government services. Moreover, the results lend themselves to researchers who are interested in furthering the current study by revising the resulting model and addressing more perspectives or variables.