Does local government staff perceive digital communication with citizens as improved service?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does local government staff perceive digital communication with citizens as improved service?

AU - Berger, Jesper B.

AU - Hertzum, Morten

AU - Schreiber, Trine Louise

PY - 2016/4/1

Y1 - 2016/4/1

N2 - Digital communication between government and citizens is pivotal to e-government. The Danish e-government initiative Digital Post aims to digitize all communications between government and citizens. We surveyed local government staff about how Digital Post affects the service delivered to citizens. As much as 82% of the 448 respondents considered digital communication with citizens using Digital Post a good idea, yet 47% reported concrete incidents in which they perceived a decrease in service with Digital Post. This result shows the importance of distinguishing between the overall service relationship and the concrete incidents of which the service consists. We discuss interactions between the relationship level and the incident level of Digital Post on the basis of a content analysis of the respondents' incident descriptions.

AB - Digital communication between government and citizens is pivotal to e-government. The Danish e-government initiative Digital Post aims to digitize all communications between government and citizens. We surveyed local government staff about how Digital Post affects the service delivered to citizens. As much as 82% of the 448 respondents considered digital communication with citizens using Digital Post a good idea, yet 47% reported concrete incidents in which they perceived a decrease in service with Digital Post. This result shows the importance of distinguishing between the overall service relationship and the concrete incidents of which the service consists. We discuss interactions between the relationship level and the incident level of Digital Post on the basis of a content analysis of the respondents' incident descriptions.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - E-government

KW - digital communication

KW - online services

KW - technology adoption

KW - local government

KW - digital divide

U2 - 10.1016/j.giq.2016.03.003

DO - 10.1016/j.giq.2016.03.003

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0740-624X

VL - 33

SP - 258

EP - 269

JO - Government Information Quarterly

JF - Government Information Quarterly

IS - 2

ER -