Will PPP-based digital services failures decrease citizens' trust? Roles of technological features and responsibility attribution

• In Event: Regulating and Reframing AI Policy

Abstract

Enhancing public service delivery through Public-Private Partnerships has become a mainstream choice for public sectors around the world. (Crosby et al., 2017; G. Hodge et al., 2017; G. A. Hodge & Greve, 2007), especially in the domain of digital administrative services.(Catalá-Pérez & de-Miguel-Molina, 2021; Palaco et al., 2019; Panagiotopoulos et al., 2019).It has been proven that PPPs not only helps improve the quality and efficiency of public services but also alleviates fiscal pressure on governments. However, service failures within PPPs are not uncommon(El-Gohary et al., 2006; Soomro & Zhang, 2015; Zhang & Tariq, 2020), and the uncertainty of failures escalates when complex digital technologies are involved, potentially eroding citizens' trust in government. (AlAwadhi et al., 2024; Alsarraf et al., 2023; Tolbert & Mossberger, 2006; Welch et al., 2005).

While extant studies have examined contractual and relational governance within PPPs(Feng et al., 2023; Fleta-Asín et al., 2020; Mu et al., 2023; Rufín & Rivera-Santos, 2012), critical issues persist in understanding how digital service failures affect citizens’trust. In particular, in firm-led and technology-embedded PPP projects, three questions are pivotal:

How do citizens attribute responsibility for service failures? Does technology obscure or amplify government responsibility? And how does this, in turn, shape citizens’ trust in government？

To address these questions, this study investigates whether failures in PPP-based digital services undermine citizens’ trust in government, with a dual focus on technology risk and technology embeddedness. Using a 2x2 scenario-based experimental design, this study aims to examine how technological factors influence responsibility attribution in failure of PPP-based digital services , and subsequent citizens’ trust.Furthermore, this research explores how corporate reputation, as a contextual factor, may further shape public trust in government. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of trust mechanisms in the digital era and provides governance insights for governments in the design of digital partnership projects.

Author

• yao CHEN, SUN YAT-SEN University
  Presenting Author