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Since the advent of the Internet, governments recognized that the Internet and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) improved the quality of people’s lives. Therefore, governments used ICT as an opportunity to satisfy citizens’ needs (Al Athmay, Fantazy & Kumar, 2016). Many governments worldwide, including the Qatari government, have planned and implemented programs to integrate ICT and the Internet into their delivered services to citizens and businesses. E-government is the use of ICTs to enhance public services and improve the democratic and social lives of citizens (Layne & Lee, 2001; Basu, 2004; Evans & Yen, 2006; Yildiz, 2007). Other researchers adopted a comprehensive view of the concept of e-government and included dimensions (terms) like e-democracy, e-inclusion, e-participation, and better and enhanced public performance (Medaglia, 2007; Caldow, 2004; AL-Rababah & Abu-Shanab, 2010; Yao & Okoli, 2007). Such direction extends e-government and improves our understanding of the holistic view of the concept.
E-government requires utilizing the available online information technology to deliver public services offered by governments to their citizens (Lallmahomed, Lallmahomed & Lallmahomed, 2017). The purpose is to encourage citizens to participate in public events (Abu-Shanab, 2017). Accordingly, it is important to explore the factors that enhance the relationship between the government and its citizens. E-government is defined as the utilization of ICT, the Internet and mobile technology to deliver public services online, enhance the performance of governmental entities, and encourage the public to participate in democratic and public events (Kurfali et. al., 2017).
The success of any e-government project depends mainly on the involvement of the public and business representatives in using these initiatives and finish their transactions efficiently and effectively without the need to go to the governmental offices physically (Lallmahomed et. al., 2017). Research reported that 20% of the reasons for successful e-government projects depend on its technology implementation, and the other 80% of such reasons are people and process related (Sang & Lee, 2009). Based on such view, this study will focus on citizens and their adoption of such applications and specifically Metrash2 in Qatar.
E-government aims at achieving several objectives such as improving the transaction speed, strengthening the relationship between the government and the public, improving the efficiency and the effectiveness of the delivered services (Abu-Shanab, 2017; Al-Yafi, Hindi & Osman, 2016; Al Najjar et al., 2019), improving the productivity, and improving users’ satisfaction (Layne & Lee, 2001; Basu, 2004; Evans & Yen, 2006; Yildiz, 2007; Medaglia, 2007; Caldow, 2004; AL-Rababah & Abu-Shanab, 2010; Yao & Okoli, 2007). E-government services extended to several stakeholders not only to citizens. They target businesses and public employees. Therefore, e-government became an important tool for citizens and businessmen, where they can conduct their transactions online (Danila & Abdulla, 2014).