The Same Wine but in New Bottles: Public E-Services Divide and Low Citizens' Satisfaction: An Example from Lebanon

When introducing the public e-services, Lebanese government predicted that it would reduce inequality between citizens (OMSAR 2002). But, the results of this research prove that it will not be the case. The introduction of the virtual channel of services delivery system will create a public e-services divide. In response to the research questions: “what is an e-services divide?” and “what are its antecedents and consequences?”, this cross-sectional explanatory research shows that the public e-services divide will separate citizen’s who have access to ICTs, who have the skills to use ICTs, and who accept to use public e-services from the others. The public e-services divide will result from the e-access divide, the e-skills divide, and from the public e-services acceptance divide. It will lead to a lower citizen’s satisfaction.