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

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Part of Mini-Conference

• Symposium on Governmental Image, Reputation, and Professionalism

Session Description

Citizen participation in government is at the core of democratic society. Acknowledging there is a clear need to visit the so-called legitimate roles of citizens (e.g., participating in surveys or public-decision-making process to express their views) from an angle that differs from traditional roles in the political sphere (e.g., voting, tax-paying, campaigning, and joining interest groups), growing evidence confirms that engaged citizens can play a critical role in advancing effective public service delivery, accountable financial management, transparent management, and improved social inclusion and empowerment. Engaging citizens becomes especially important during times of crisis as citizens expect public officials to provide robust and transparent information through two-way communication with the public. However, the methods or outcomes of citizen engagement are context specific and depend on social, political, economic, demographic, cultural, and other factors. This panel will help audiences engage in topics related to citizen engagement in different settings – New Zealand, U.S., and international comparisons.

By focusing especially on citizen satisfaction, Jo and Meier’s 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. Using the individual-level cross-national education panel data involving gender equity in fifty-six countries from 2011 to 2019, their findings 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.

From a macro-level perspective, Lee and Kwon illustrate the effect of Official Development Assistance (ODA) education-specific aid on citizens’ well-being and economic growth in 88 countries using panel data collected from 2006 to 2019. Their study provides implications for open social innovation ideas and the potential effective roles of various stakeholders in communities and markets in developing countries.

Citizens’ willingness and attitude toward opportunities to engage in co-producing or co-delivering government services are key issues in successful public service delivery. Cho investigates the attitudes of individual citizens towards the co-production of public services and how these attitudes are related to performance information, perceived confidence in government performance, and the transparency and representation of collaboration processes. Using survey data from citizens in New Zealand, his research aims to inform policy decisions and practices related to citizen engagement, particularly in terms of representation, legitimacy, and participation outcomes.

When citizens become engaged in government services, they often encounter varying degrees of challenges and burdens that influence their perceptions of the government and its programs. One approach for easing the challenges may focus on improving potential applicants’ awareness and reducing learning and psychological costs through various communication campaigns. Using a survey experiment, Rho and Miller investigate the impact of persuasive communication strategies on helping to lessen the perceived learning and psychological costs related to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applications, particularly among underserved communities.

Based on an evidence-based comparative approach, the panel offers the audience with opportunities to enhance their understanding of citizen engagement and satisfaction as well as acquire the lessons about the implications of the communication strategies, public service equity, and representational legitimacy of coproduction process.

Sub Unit

• Division 24: Public Administration

Individual Presentations

• Citizen Satisfaction and Public Service Inequity - Suyeon Jo, University of Arizona; Ken Meier, American University; Seung-Ho An, University of Arizona; Ken Meier, American University

• Financing Support Works? Efficiency Analysis of Aid to Education in ODA - Eunmi Lee, Kookmin University; Myungjung Kwon, California State University, Fullerton

• Communication Message Framing and Administrative Burden: A Survey Experiment - Eunju Rho, Northern Illinois University; Susan Marie Miller, Arizona State University

• Focusing Event Impact on Public Health Assessment/Racism as Public Health Crisis - John A. Grummel, Upper Iowa University

Chair

• Eunju Rho Northern Illinois University

Discussant

• Seung-Ho An University of Arizona