An empirical study of the key knowledge economy factors for sustainable economic development in Oman

Heavy economic dependence on oil revenues has come under scrutiny in most oil producing countries, including the Sultanate of Oman. The main catalysts for this have been the gradual decline of oil production, depletion of oil reserves, fluctuations in oil price and high rates of population growth in many of these countries. The Omani government has initiated economic strategies with the aim of diversifying Oman’s economy. In the absence of any previous studies on this aspect of Oman’s economy, the aim of this research is to explore the prospects for the development of the knowledge economy and to identify the key knowledge economy factors for achieving sustainable economic development in Oman. The analytical framework used consisted of three distinct phases. First, a benchmarking process was used for assessing Oman’s readiness in relation to the knowledge economy. This phase revealed a low level of readiness in respect of the key knowledge economy pillars. Secondly, interviews of nine relevant senior government officials resulted in the identification of five knowledge economy drivers that could lead Oman into successfully establishing a knowledge economy. Finally, a non-parametric quantitative approach was used on a data set collected through a survey targeting 310 major service companies in Oman. The results of this analysis appear to complement those of the previous two phases of analysis in emphasizing the importance of the four main knowledge economy pillars. Even though two additional factors namely training support and ICT status were also identified as being important for Oman, the additional factors are not outside the four pillars of the knowledge economy, but represent specific dimensions of Oman’s economy