Enhancing the case for Electronic Government in developing nations: A people-centric study focused in Saudi Arabia

Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 137–143

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Government Information Quarterly
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / g ov i n f

Enhancing the case for Electronic Government in developing nations:
A people-centric study focused in Saudi Arabia
Marvine Hamner a,⁎, Fahad Al-Qahtani b
a
b

George Washington University, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, 1776 G Street, Suite 110, Washington, DC 20052, USA
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Research Center, King Saud University, 11543 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Available online 1 November 2008
Keywords:
eGovernment
Technology acceptance model
Theory of reasoned action
Individual utility

a b s t r a c t
The pace of implementing Electronic Government (E-Gov) is rapidly increasing. However, despite high levels
of investment, a broad range of applications, and various methods of access relatively low levels of various
methods of access, relatively low levels of usage (and even familiarity with e-gov) are still common. For

example, in Canada, long recognized as a leader in implementing e-gov, less than 27% of Canadians used EGov during the past 12 months and 81% of c non-users report a low level of familiarity with either federal or
provincial governmental services available through e-gov ( Canada, 2004). Or, consider the showcase e-gov
Gyandoot project in the Dhar district in central India, whose population is estimated at 1.7 million. Even after
implementing e-gov in a showcase project for the rural poor, a study by the Center for Electronic Governance,
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad concluded that this model of “government to citizen” service
delivery has serious sustenance problems (,World Bank, 2004). The research reported in this paper takes a
step back and focuses on the acceptability of e-gov by individuals. It is a people-centric approach to
determine the overall acceptability of e-gov to people in a developing country, Saudi Arabia. Although this
research may be generalizable to other situations, the primary intention of this project is to shed light on
how to approach and manage implementation projects in developing nations.
© 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
It has been said that e-gov can provide substantial benefits for
citizens, businesses, and governments around the world (Jaeger &
Thompson, 2003). E-Gov has been promoted as a key to “radically
shrinking communications and information costs, maximizing speed,
broadening reach, and eradicating distance” (Norris, 2001). Unfortunately, research has shown that at best, e-gov is only making
incremental advances, that progress may be best described as “edging
up,” regardless of location. There are many explanations for this, e.g.
political, institutional, or technological, which are outside the scope
of this research. Among other things, West (2005) found that:
•
•
•
•

“19% of government websites offer services that are fully executable online.
89% of websites this year provide access to publications and 53%
have links to databases.

18% (up from 14% in 2004) show privacy policies, while 10% have
security policies (up from 8% in 2004).
19% of government websites have some form of disability access,
meaning access for persons with disabilities, up from 14% in 2004.

⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: (M. Hamner),
(F. Al-Qahtani).
0740-624X/$ – see front matter â 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.giq.2007.08.008

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Countries vary enormously in their overall e-government performance based on our analysis. The most highly ranked nations
include Taiwan, Singapore, United States, Hong Kong, China,
Canada, Germany, Australia, and Ireland.
There are major differences in e-government performance based
on region of the world. In general, countries in North America score
the highest, followed by Asia, Western Europe, Pacific Ocean
Islands, Middle East, Eastern Europe, South America, Russia and
Central Asia, Central America, and Africa” (West, 2005).

In addition, while much of the work that has been done on
developing e-gov has occurred on what Reddick (2004) called the
“supply side” (the development of systems such as infrastructure and
policies that constitute “what is available”), while less work explores
the “demand side” (whether or not people would actually use e-gov if
it were made available). Studies examining the “demand side” have

considered what information governments have made available “that
people want” (such as databases) and what services people might
want use (e.g. paying taxes online, Holmes, 2001). However, this still
does not consider why people would use e-gov over other ways of
fulfilling their need for government services or obligations.
By focusing attention on whether or not people would use e-gov if
it were available this study considers that question. Note that because
it does not focus on systems, e.g. hardware or software, this is a
slightly different question than that of technology acceptance. Take for


138

M. Hamner, F. Al-Qahtani / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 137–143

example, the notion that in some parts of the world people may
have to wait in lines for days to renew their driver's license. This, in
and of itself, has nothing to do with “how” people accomplish this
task — only that they do. Other people in other parts of the world
who grumble about having to wait for a couple of hours may find
that idea ridiculous (AAMVA, 2001). But if that is the only way of
accomplishing a task, “obtaining what people need,” then that is
what people will do. This statement points to the core result of this
research: that people will act in a way to fulfill their needs
regardless of geographic location, nationality, gender, race, religion,
political system, and so on. This is a direct manifestation of the
concept of personal utility. In this regard, this study has found that
despite many issues facing individuals, such as the perception of
security or the lack thereof, the development, implementation and
usage of e-gov is no different. If it were available and if it were to

their benefit people would use e-gov.
Saudi Arabia is one of the developing countries that are
attempting to establish e-gov in its daily communication with
citizens, local departments and other countries. The primary
objective of this research was to examine whether the people in
Saudi Arabia would use e-gov if it were available. This research uses
correlation and descriptive techniques to analyze its data. A decision
model was created to analyze the attitudes, knowledge and
skills residents would need to have to support e-gov. The model
functioned well, showing the flow of choices respondents could
make regarding whether they would use e-gov. While the data
collected did display some unexpected results, none of those results
substantially worked against the model. Overall, it appears that
people in Saudi Arabia would use e-gov. Of 453 valid responses from
random people, 65% (294) would be willing to use e-gov, had the
skills, and considered the means (kiosk, home PC, work PC, and
internet café) useable and secure. The overwhelming conclusion of
this research is that the people of Saudi Arabia would use e-gov, if it
becomes available. Individual motivation for deciding that e-gov is
acceptable is discussed in the paragraphs immediately below. What
will remain to be determined is why there exists such a large
difference between the conclusions reached by this research and the
actual usage of e-gov.
1.1. The Theory of Reasoned Action
The surveys conducted for the study in Saudi Arabia
measured individual beliefs and attitudes regarding e-gov and
areas related to the government. This study is a predictive study
that examines attitudes and beliefs of individuals prior to the
existence of e-gov. Understanding and predicting behaviors is at
the base of the Theory of Reasoned Action created by Fishbein

and Ajzen (1975).
The Theory of Reasoned Action predicts an individual's
behavior based on their beliefs and society's norms. In brief, it
says, “Generally speaking, the theory is based on the assumption
that human beings are usually quite rational and make systematic
use of information available to them. We do not subscribe to the
view that human social behavior is controlled by unconscious
motives or overpowering desires, nor do we believe that it can
be characterized as capricious or thoughtless. Rather, we argue
that people consider the implications of their actions before they
decide to engage or not engage in a given behavior. For this reason
we referred to our approach as ‘a theory of reasoned action’”
(Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975).
This theory says that there are two basic components that make up
how an individual will act. The first component is a person's nature, or
personal beliefs. The second component is societal beliefs. According
to Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), “The personal factor is the individual's
positive or negative evaluation of performing the behavior; this factor
is termed attitudes towards the behavior.” Fishbein and Ajzen (1975)

also write that, “The second factor is the person's perception of the
social pressures put on him to perform or not perform the behavior in
question”.
1.2. The Technology Acceptance Model
Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use and User Acceptance of
Technology is a later work that is built on The Theory of Reasoned
Action and was written by Fred D. Davis (Davis, 1985). Davis' theory
was that a number of things come together to determine whether
or not a given technology will or will not be accepted. The model
created by Davis was called the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).

Davis defined five (5) elements that are a part of the Technology
Acceptance Model:
•
•
•
•
•

External variable
Perceived usefulness
Perceived ease of use
Behavioral intention
Behavior

The Technology Acceptance Model is shown below in Fig. 1.
In any new technology, all user variables are ultimately external.
Given a new technology, all impressions are new. These new,
external variables provide input into perceived usefulness, as well as
perceived ease of use. First, with regard to perceived usefulness and
the issue of e-gov in Saudi Arabia, this study addresses the fact that
one of the primary goals of a successful implementation of e-gov
would be to make it highly useful and readily available. Some of the
factors cited by study participants that would make e-gov useful
and available are: equal access to government services by all people
everywhere, immediate access to government services any time and
any day, convenient locations for access to government services, and
accuracy of data involved in transactions with the government.
Additionally, this study collected information regarding preferred
access locations and method of access. These issues relate to the
Technology Acceptance Model above in terms of perceived ease

of use. Clearly, perceived ease of use is critical to a successful
implementation of e-gov in Saudi Arabia. If any offerings of E-Gov
are widely thought to be difficult to use or access, then the initiative
is likely to fail, as it would likely result in negative behavioral
intentions.
1.3. Individual utility and decision-making
The utility of e-gov extends benefits to government and to
individuals. One of the potential benefits of e-gov is a lower cost of
government. This is generally irrelevant to this study, because individuals pay no income or sales taxes in Saudi Arabia. Therefore,
any benefits of lower government cost relates very little to the
individual. The Technology Acceptance Model as it relates to

Fig. 1. Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1985).


M. Hamner, F. Al-Qahtani / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 137–143
Table 1
Resident survey data returned
Distributed

Returned

Invalid

Valid

900

558

105

453

individuals, indicates that greater personal utility creates a positive
behavioral intention by an individual. This means that benefits
identified from the use of a new technology can be directly related
to a greater intention to use that technology. For individuals, the
benefits from E-Gov include:
• Reduction in over-the-counter costs associated with registration
and submission of forms
• Reduction in errors and greater accuracy of data, as human error is
reduced
• The ability to communicate directly and quickly with institutions
• Eliminating the need to appear in-person at government agencies
• Providing government services to citizens 24-hours-a-day, 7-daysa-week.
• Delivering government services from any place.
The items listed above are strong reasons for individuals to accept
E-Gov. In addition, perceived ease of use also has input into perceived
usefulness. That is, if a technology is considered very useful, but
extremely difficult to use, then perceived usefulness is decreased and
the behavioral intention is less likely to result in the technology being
accepted. This underscores the need to create easy and intuitive
interfaces.
An inherent component of this research is individual
decision-making under a variety of social influences. Decisionmaking can be viewed as “…a process of choosing among
alternative courses of action for the purpose of attaining a goal
or goals” (Turban & Aronson, 2001). Thus, decision-making as a
process that inherently involves cultural patterns and beliefs and
is supported by The Theory of Reasoned Action discussed above.

However, effects of social influences are not directly considered
in this research. That is, while the question of whether or not
cultural, religious, ethnic, or other beliefs impact the accept-

139

ability of E-Gov is obviously relevant, it is the overall acceptability in terms of an individual maximizing their personal
utility that is considered in this research. Focusing this research
in this way implies that the responses of individuals with
respect to the acceptability of E-Gov may be similar regardless of
whether that individual is in a developing nation or a highly
industrialized nation.
2. Research methodology
2.1. Research design
This research uses correlation and descriptive research to
analyze its data. Determining the correlation is useful for
discovering links between variables and is discussed below.
Descriptive research involves exploring previous study efforts and
published documents that offer explanation or insight into
observed results. According to the Center for Applied Research in
Educational Technology, “Descriptive Research typically use[s] data
derived from surveys, case studies, or more qualitative methods for
gathering information to inform the conclusions and recommendations of the study or report.” (CARET, 2003) That is, other
published work may offer an explanation or bolster conclusions
regarding why certain things are observed. It is, therefore, useful
to include related work.
2.2. Correlation research
A correlation is “a statistical term used when describing the
relationship between the quantities of two different ‘things’”
(Anderson, 1997). A correlation is a numeric value between −1.0

and 1.0 that indicates the degree of relationship between two
factors. As a correlation result approaches 1.0 or −1.0, a strong
relationship is indicated. The closer a correlation is to zero
indicates that less of a relationship between variables is shown. A
positive correlation means that as one factor increases, the other
factor also increases. Negative correlations indicate that as one
factor increases, the other decreases; they would have an inverse
relationship.

Fig. 2. Resident decision model for use of e-gov.


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M. Hamner, F. Al-Qahtani / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 137–143

Table 2
Descriptive statistics for age groups
Age group

Mean

N

18–23
24–30
31–40
41–50
51+
Total

.94
.89
.90
.69
.24
.80

84
104
83
80
41
392

Dependent variable: use of e-government for DMV or passports.

feedback and adjustment in content. The Virginia DMV employees
were particularly helpful.
Other reviewers were: six Saudi Arabian Embassy employees, two
social workers, and two psychologists. The Saudi Arabian Embassy
employees were able to screen the documents for prejudicial
language. These persons recommended that definitions of the terms
kiosk and E-Government be added to the text of the survey instrument.
The social workers and psychologists read the documents in detail and
gave their approval. All of these six reviewers approved the general
content.

2.3. Survey questionnaire design

2.5. Survey return

A questionnaire was created for randomly selected residents of
Riyadh over 18 years of age. Development of the questionnaire
(Creative Research Systems, 2003) sought to provide a number of
survey items that, when answered, would clearly prove or disprove
the fundamental research question (Would people use E-Gov if it
was available?). Beyond simply proving or disproving this hypothesis, a number of demographic items were developed to produce
supporting information. For example, survey items include questions about age, sex, citizenship and level of education. It may be
possible that there are variations in willingness to try E-Gov across
different groups (age, gender, and status of citizenship). This
information may be useful in determining why there is an apparent
barrier to E-Gov that emerges in the discrepancy between the
overwhelmingly positive conclusion of this research and the actual
rates of E-Gov usage. To implement E-Gov, a wide-sweeping
automation effort would have to be undertaken. This would require
a large capital investment as well as increasing numbers of
personnel who are computer, network, and internet literate.

The survey was distributed to respondents randomly at various
locations in Riyadh during September of 2003 (as shown in Table 1).
The distribution locations included shopping malls and various public
meetings. We distributed 900 resident surveys, and 558 were returned
to us. Of these, 453 resident surveys were determined to be valid.
Surveys were deemed invalid if they could not be read, had excessive
selections, or lacked selections for required answers.

2.4. Data validity

3.2. Resident decision model

Initially the survey was validated by submitting it to a
collection of fourteen people who could provide expert feedback
or who worked in fields examined in the proposed study. Four of
these people were DMV employees working for the State of
Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Through their
existing employment and relative standing in the respective
Departments of Motor Vehicles, they could shed light on issues
or errors not anticipated by the researcher. The results obtained
from these reviews of preliminary surveys resulted in significant

The resident decision model outlines a sequence of choices
which detail how E-Gov would be accepted or rejected, factoring in
general desire, computer skills, internet knowledge, awareness of
availability, and security. Ten hypotheses were included in this
study which in turn forecast ten different relationships. The first
five hypotheses forecast positive relationships to exist between
owning a computer, youth, education, computer skills, internet
knowledge, and a willingness to use e-government. The first level
of the random survey model (Desire to use E-Government?)
separates those with and without a desire to use E-Gov. It is
anticipated that those respondents who are in the best position to
use computers and internet technology will indicate a willingness
to use E-Gov. In addition, Hypothesis 10 predicts that those who
have had difficulty with people at either of the two departments in
question would be part of the group most willing to try a computer
interface with E-Gov.
The second level of the random respondent model (Have
computer and Internet skills) is not in the critical path to acceptance
of E-Gov. Rather, it enumerates the access methods respondents are

3. Results
3.1. Research models
The Correlation Analysis Method, as described earlier, was used to
interpret the survey data. This research is a forecast study. The unique
data to be examined in this study was survey survey data concerning
various attitudes held by random respondents. This study compared
the survey data against a logical model which anticipates various
logical chains dealing with the survey responses.

Table 3
Descriptive statistics for education level

Fig. 3. Estimated marginal means — use of e-government for DMV or passports by Age
group.

Highest education level

Mean

N

Less than HS
High school
Undergraduate
Masters/professional
Doctoral
Total

.72

.78
.84
.90
1.00
.80

65
165
147
10
5
392

Dependent variable: use of e-government for DMV or passports.


M. Hamner, F. Al-Qahtani / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 137–143

likely to choose. Generally, they break down into access from a
personal or work computer versus public terminal (kiosk) access.
Hypothesis 6 indicates that users with their own relevant computer
skills would choose their own personal computers versus a public
terminal. Conversely, it could be stated that those without
computers or adequate computer skills would be required to use
kiosks.
At the third level of the model (Access to E-Government),
Hypotheses 3–5 predict higher levels of knowledge and skill will
cause a person to prefer E-Gov access from a personal computer. A lack
of skill and knowledge would leave a person desiring to use E-Gov only
via kiosk access. Hypothesis 8 predicts a critical factor: easy access. Ease

of access will be a critical factor in the acceptability of E-Gov. Those
who do not believe they will have any easy access to kiosks or the
internet may not use E-Gov.
At the fourth level of the model (Confident of security and
privacy?), a critical branch is present. Hypothesis 9 predicts that
those who have little or no confidence in the security of technology will not want to use E-Gov. Trust is a fundamental requirement for any willing transaction. Lacking trust, one could
expect few people to find a new form of access to government
acceptable. Should people largely accept E-Gov on other grounds
(skill, education, and access) and reject it based upon distrust
of technology, this would provide extremely useful information.
Knowing that, a government could design and build systems and
advertising that specifically reflect the trustworthiness of E-Gov.
The resident data model functioned well, showing the flow of
choices respondents could make regarding whether they would
use E-Gov. While the data collected did display some unexpected
results, none of those results substantially worked against the
model. Overall, it appeared that people in Saudi Arabia would use
E-Gov. In addition, a relatively large number of respondents
indicated that kiosks were secure and desired platforms for
accessing E-Gov. In the resident model, kiosks were predicted to
be an alternative to PCs and the internet, useful only to those
with no internet skills. This assumption proved false. Kiosks were
looked upon as simply another platform for accessing E-Gov,
desired by a variety of respondents. Fig. 2 illustrates the choices
made by resident respondents.
Fig. 2 shows that of 453 valid responses, 312 would initially
be willing to use E-Gov. Of this 312, only 35 did not already have
Internet skills, and thus (presumably) would not be able to use
PC and/or internet access to E-Gov. This left only kiosks for those

Fig. 4. Estimated marginal means — use of e-government for DMV or passports by
education level.

141

Table 4
Descriptive statistics for knowledge of the Internet
Knowledge of internet

Mean

N

Expert
Average
Minimal
None
Total

1.00
.85
.88
.47
.80

32
212
74
74
392

Dependent variable: use of e-government for DMV or passports.

35 people. The remaining 277 respondents desired access to EGov from home, work, and/or internet cafés. When asked how
they would access E-Gov, and allowed only one choice, internet
Cafés had the lowest total (13). Home, kiosk, and work ranked
from highest to lowest respectively. Home access ranked the
highest by far, indicating a well-adopted E-Gov program would
likely need a public web presence, easily and effectively accessed
from home computers. Note that 61 individuals chose the kiosk,
compared to the 35 who lacked internet skills and could only
use it.
With respect to security, home ranked as the location where
most felt secure accessing E-Gov over the Internet, with 258 of
312 choosing this location. Work was felt to be the next most
secure location, followed by Kiosk. Internet cafés were deemed
secure by less than half of respondents. Interestingly, only 16
respondents made choices that lead to no location being deemed
secure enough to access E-Gov. Therefore, this data shows that
for a large portion of the Saudi population, some access point
could be made available to satisfy their security needs.
3.3. Factors affecting individual acceptance of E-Gov
• Age. For random residents, age and willingness to use E-Government did have a negative relationship. It is presumed that youth
inspires a stronger interest in the internet and technology (Table 2,
Fig. 3).
• Education level. Even though computing is an indispensable part
of academia today, the observed data did not support a close
relationship between education levels and desire to use EGovernment. It appears from the data that E-Government is
generally desired, regardless of education level (Table 3, Fig. 4).
The data does appear to show an increased desire for e-government

Fig. 5. Estimated marginal means — use of e-government for DMV or passports by
knowledge of the Internet.


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M. Hamner, F. Al-Qahtani / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 137–143

Table 5
Descriptive statistics for feeling secure purchasing on the Internet
Secure purchasing on internet

Mean

N

Very secure
Secure
Insecure
Very insecure
Total

.94
.97
.89
.51
.86

16

99
99
43
257

Dependent variable: use of e-government for DMV or passports.

as education level increases. The relationship was not significant,
though.
• Internet knowledge. E-Government initiates would likely rely
on the internet for much of its delivery of government services.
Those who feel confident in their use of the internet would
naturally be inclined to also use it for e-government (Table 4,
Fig. 5).
• Security. E-Government may involve sending sensitive personal
data across the internet. It is expected that citizens would want to
feel safe doing this. It was also expected that those who did not
feel safe would feel equally unsafe with e-government (Table 5,
Fig. 6).

4. Comparison of results for developing countries with those of
industrialized nations
The motivation for individuals to use e-gov will be their personal
benefits. These include (MOICT, 2002):
• Reduction in over-the-counter costs associated with registration
and submission of forms.
• Reduction in errors and greater accuracy of data, as human error is
reduced.
• The ability to communicate directly and quickly with institutions.
• Eliminating the need to appear in-person at government agencies.

• Providing government services to citizens 24-hours-a-day, 7-daysa-week.
• Delivering government services from any place.
Thus, the answer to the questions, “Despite differences in social
influences what would cause individuals to decide to use E-Gov?”
or “How are these benefits related to the decision to use E-Gov

whether in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else?” is simple: utility.
People want to receive government services in the simplest and
most cost-effective way regardless of where they are. E-Gov,
whether it is in North America, Europe, or Saudi Arabia, has the
potential to provide benefits that increase an individual's personal
utility. As E-Gov is implemented in Saudi Arabia, the results will
likely be very similar to what has already occurred in North
America and Europe.
So while the remaining question, “Why does such a large
difference between the conclusions reached by this research and
the actual usage of E-Gov exist?” is very complex, the results of
this study and reality may simply converge over time. That is,
assuming that nations do not give up on E-Gov in the interim.
For example, age is potentially a key factor in the acceptability
of E-Gov. According to the Saudi Arabian Central Department of
Statistics, more than 74% of the population is under 35 years old.
Survey data is consistent with this in that approximately 70% of
respondents were under the age of 40. As seen above, age
relates directly to the acceptability of E-Gov. In general, this is
because young people tend to be faster adopters of technology
than their elders. In a study on this topic, “Uses and attitudes of
young people toward technology and mobile telephony,” Joseph
Valor wrote:
Young people tend to be early adopters of technology, not only in

Europe but also in the U.S. and Japan. Increasing our understanding of youth behavior and attitudes towards technology is
therefore not only important from a societal point of view, but
identifying the needs of the younger generation will also be
critical to understand the new uses of technology in society, which
in turn will allow new business opportunities to emerge (Valor &
Sieber, 2003).
Therefore, assuming that E-Gov becomes available and youth move
to adopt it, the future of E-Gov looks much brighter than the present.
5. Summary
The conclusion of this study is that the people of Saudi Arabia
will use E-Gov if it becomes available, although the initial rate of
usage may be disappointing. Analysis has shown that the residents
of Saudi Arabia's largest city, Riyadh, had the willingness and
means to use E-Gov. Of 453 valid responses 65% (294) are willing
to use E-Gov, had the skills, and considered access (kiosk, home PC,
work PC and internet Café) useable and secure. And, in developing
countries where young people are the highest percentage of the
population, e.g. Saudi Arabia with greater than 74%, future rates of
usage will probably increase rather than decrease. This would be
consistent with trends in internet usage, e.g. Saudi Arabian
adoption internet users is shown in Table 6.
Given the results of this study and the demographics of developing
nations, perhaps the most important undertaking for developing
nations to succeed in implementing E-Gov will be continuing to
educate and train youth in Information Systems such as E-Gov, and
related areas.

Table 6
Saudi Arabian Internet users (KACST, 2004)

Fig. 6. Estimated marginal means — use of e-government for DMV or passports by
feeling secure purchasing on the internet.

Date

Estimated number of users

April 2001
December 2001
July 2002
December 2002
September 2003

690,000
900,000
1,110,000
1,453,000
1,462,000


M. Hamner, F. Al-Qahtani / Government Information Quarterly 26 (2009) 137–143

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Further reading
Canada (2004). Research publication by the Canadian Government. Retrieved October
7 from />World Bank (2004). Research publication by the World Bank. retrieved October 7, from
/>
Dr. Marvine Hamner received her D.Sc. from Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

She earned her M.S. from Purdue University and her B.S. from MIT. Dr. Hamner is
currently an Assistant Professor at the George Washington University in
Washington, DC. Her research focuses on complex, adaptive systems including
modeling and simulation with diverse applications including communication
networks, organizations and information/knowledge management. Prior to her
appointment at GWU, she worked as an engineer and engineering manager for a
number of years at the Boeing Company and Johns Hopkins University/Applied
Physics Laboratory.

Dr. Fahad Al-Qahtani received his D.Sc. from George Washington University in
Washington, DC. Dr. Al-Qahtani focused his studies on engineering and technology
management.