This thesis analysed the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of mobile government services in Saudi Arabia using a mixed method approach combining surveys and semi-structured interviews with Saudi citizens and employees of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Three studies were conducted for the purpose of achieving the aims and objectives of the thesis. The first study shows that the high level of mobile penetration in the country suggests that there is already a demand of a greater range of m-government services despite the fact that still a large proportion of the Saudi population who do not have access to mobile technologies. Nevertheless, the results suggest that there is still a strong desire among users for the provision of mobile government services and the majority of respondents were willing to use such services and understand the benefits of using m-government. This thesis also shows a strong consensus among both government employees and citizens that m-government implementation would contribute to the technological development of the country. The findings of the second study suggest that the high level of mobile penetration offers an opportunity for the Saudi government to offer mobile government services. However, a number of barriers to mobile government exist, including poor quality and speed of internet, lack of customisation of services and data security and privacy issues as well as infrastructural challenges and bureaucratic attitude of the government departments. The third study focussed on the practicality of a mobile phone application, and for this purpose a mobile application for utility bills was developed and evaluated in terms of its usability, reliability and validity of the service. The thesis revealed that the majority of respondents were satisfied with the service usage, as application was easy to use without complications. However, participants were not comfortable to leave their details pertaining to credit card or any personal information. Misuse of information was major threat to participants, which further added reluctance to usage of the application. Respondents were willing to provide financial details if the service was authorised by government agencies. By exploring the opportunities of, and challenges facing m-government in Saudi Arabia, this thesis contributes to the m-government literature on developing countries in particular. This thesis offers important lessons for the m-government policy makers in Saudi Arabia and around the developing world.

E-government is a means of improving provision of government information and services to citizens. The aim of this study was to investigate the current situation and factors influencing access of e-government information and e-government adoption in Tanzania. A triangulation approach for data gathering was adopted. Specifically, a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 448 respondents. In addition, interviews involving five policy makers were conducted to complement the questionnaire survey. Factor analyses were performed and multiple linear regression analyses were carried out to assess the relationships between variables. The findings revealed that, the current state of e-government in the selected districts of Tanzania is characterized by web presence stage. Various enhancing factors and challenges for e-government were noted in this study. The enhancing factors include necessary knowledge, necessary resources, awareness, confidence to use the website, availability and reliability of internet connections, positive incentives that have resulted from using the internet to search for government information, and getting information on demand. Other enhancing factors are guidance for internet use, possession of ICTs, availability of up-to-date information in the website, education, income and social influence. There are some e-government adoption barriers that include worrying about security and privacy of information, lack of support from the government, unreliable power supply, inaccessibility of internet services due to geographical locations, and people not getting as much information about the services as possible. Other barriers are system quality, cultural barriers, age, and information content produced in English, which is a language that the majority do not understand. The study has implications for policy makers and to e-government project teams. Policy makers should consider e-government adoption barriers in order to formulate policies of eliminating them. Likewise, e-government project teams should consider these barriers in order overcome them before the implementation of e-government systems. / Information Science / D. Litt et. Phil. (Information Science)