As communications technology has developed and accessibility to the Internet increased, the world has witnessed a shift in the way services are provided to customers. Traditional media have been replaced with electronic forms providing online services through websites, smartphone applications and mobile computing tools.

In the Sultanate of Oman, great efforts have been made to ensure that e-services are available to people, thus giving access to various government services. However, little attention has been paid to evaluating the quality of e-services. Therefore, a study was conducted by Dr. Tayseera Al-Balushi – College of Economics and Political Science – to measure the quality of e-services by focusing on two perspectives: the perspective of service providers, i.e. how they evaluate the quality of their e-services; and the perspective of service users, i.e. how they gauge the quality of e-services they receive. The study aimed to examine the factors that determine this quality, such as ease of use and security, and how service providers measure them. It also sought to develop a general, multidimensional quality framework for e-services, from the user’s perspective, and to establish a solid foundation for providing high-quality e-services.

The research methodology included a literature review of e-services, quality models and e-service assessment techniques. The researcher also investigated web diagnostic tools to rate the quality of current e-services through surveying the opinions and preferences of users and e-government service providers regarding it.

The study found that security, personalisation and usability were among the main concerns of users of e-services, while ease of use, security and website design were the main factors from the perspective of service providers. The results also showed a gap between what users needed in terms of e-services quality and what service providers delivered and what their priorities were.

Thus, a common quality framework will be proposed for all e-services in the public sector, taking into account the views of both service providers and users. It aims to help government institutions provide better quality services to beneficiaries, and includes factors such as ease of use, security, accuracy, reliability and effectiveness.