Citizen Satisfaction and Public Service Inequity

• In Event: Symposium on Governmental Image, Reputation, and Professionalism: Citizen Engagement: Communication, Satisfaction, and Stakeholder Involvement

Abstract

This paper examines the relationships between public service equity and stakeholder satisfaction, emphasizing the importance of equity in public program outcomes and the perspectives of multiple stakeholders. Despite the volume of previous research on citizen satisfaction, we know little about the role of equity in shaping satisfaction with public services. As satisfaction is a primarily perceptional indicator, individuals’ perceptions of equity should affect their level of satisfaction. Another gap in the literature is that most satisfaction studies focus on service user/citizen satisfaction, while different stakeholders’ perspectives are important.

To address these gaps in the literature, we investigate the equity-satisfaction relationship using individual-level cross-national education panel data involving gender equity in fifty-six countries from 2011 to 2019. Our findings suggest that the existence of inequity in public service processes may result in dissatisfaction, but the effect varies by different stakeholders (teachers, students, and parents). The relationship between service equity and satisfaction is also affected by the country’s level of gender equity and the individual’s socioeconomic status. The findings from this study shed light on understanding the role of equity in shaping public service stakeholders’ satisfaction and highlight the importance of considering different stakeholders’ perspectives, as well as individual and national level contexts.

The paper makes significant contributions to our understanding of citizen satisfaction both theoretically and empirically. First, theoretically, it presents theoretical mechanisms on how service equity affects different stakeholders’ satisfaction, incorporating multiple theories on organizational justice, equity, and the expectancy-disconfirmation model (EDM). Second, empirically, it tests the hypothesized mechanisms using the cross-national panel data of fifty-six countries, thereby enhancing the generality of the citizen satisfaction research.

Authors

• Suyeon Jo, University of Arizona

• Ken Meier, American University

• Seung-Ho An, University of Arizona

• Ken Meier, American University