Talk or type? The effect of digital interfaces on citizens' satisfaction with standardized public services
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| Author | Christine Prokop,Markus Tepe |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12739 |
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Talk or type? The effect of digital interfaces
on citizens' satisfaction with standardized
public services
Christine Prokop
1
| Markus Tepe
2
1
Department of Public Administration,
University of Twente, Enschede, The
Netherlands
2
Institute for Social Sciences, University of
Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
Correspondence
Markus Tepe, Institute for Social Sciences,
University of Oldenburg, Ammerländer
Heerstraße 114-118, Oldenburg, Germany.
Email: markus.tepe@uol.de
Abstract
Although digital interfaces are increasingly pervading public
administration, little is known about how replacing face-to-
face interaction with digital interfaces affects citizens' satis-
faction with public service encounters. This study presents
evidence from a vignette experiment conducted on a sam-
ple of German citizens (N= 1.234) whereby we randomly
varied the type of public service request with regard to its
psychological costs, service quality, and the type of interac-
tion (face-to-face, self-service terminal, or app). We found
that replacing face-to-face communication with a digital
interface has no effect on citizens' satisfaction, nor does it
mitigate the effect of psychological costs, service failure,
and recovery. Corroborating previous research on service
recovery, we found that explaining and apologizing partially
compensates for failure. Based on these results, we con-
clude that using digital interfaces does not undermine the
goal to enhance citizen satisfaction with public services.
1|INTRODUCTION
Along with the rise of e-government, digital public services, also referred to as e-services,begin to alter state–citizen
interaction (e.g., Pleger et al. 2020). Public e-services can be understood as digital interactions between a provider of
public services and citizens as an end user (Jansen & Ølnes 2016, p. 648). In these e-services, civil servants are
Received: 13 July 2020 Revised: 16 March 2021 Accepted: 18 March 2021
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12739
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which
permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no
modifications or adaptations are made.
© 2021 The Authors. Public Administration published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Public Admin. 2022;100:427–443. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm 427
partially or fully replaced by digital interfaces like self-service terminals (SSTs) or apps installed on a personal mobile
device. Although the profound changes that digital interfaces bring to service encounters have been discussed in the
context of the private sector (e.g., Meuter et al. 2000), there is mostly conceptual work on the potential conse-
quences of digital interfaces for public service encounters (e.g., Lindgren et al. 2019; Lindgren & Jansson 2013). The
lack of empirical research is surprising since digital interfaces are expected to become the default in public service
encounters in the near future, particularly with standardized public services.
Although e-services are attractive to policymakers as a means to reduce personal costs, public organizations are
lagging behind in taking advantage of digital interfaces compared to the private service sector. Rather than thinking
about e-services from an end-user perspective, most of the attention has been paid to the technological and design
aspects of public e-services (e.g., Verdegem & Verleye 2009). Ignorance of user satisfaction, however, can result in
low acceptance and adoption rates of e-services (e.g., Pleger et al. 2020). This study takes an end-user-centric
approach to study how replacing face-to-face interaction with digital interfaces –SST or apps –changes citizen satis-
faction in public service encounters.
The state–citizen interaction is known to be of particular importance for how citizens perceive the state and
how expectations toward the state are formed (e.g., Lipsky 1980). Issuing official documents at a local public office is
among citizens' most common experiences with state representatives. Citizens hold normative expectations
(e.g., honesty, impartiality, rule adherence) based on personal experience with the way state officials in such service
encounters treated them. These expectations affect citizens' acceptance of the state and its administration
(Ariely 2013) as well as the willingness to coproduce (Parrado et al. 2013). Lindgren et al. (2019, p. 428) argued that
digitalization has already altered the underlying conditions for public service encounters. They call for a systematic
empirical analysis of how e-services affect the interaction between citizens and public authorities, because
implementing digital interfaces to make public services more convenient could also undermine the goal to enhance
citizen satisfaction with public services (Arendsen et al. 2014).
Given the pace of technological innovation in the domain of e-services, it is critical to understand how citizens
react toward digital interfaces. This study represents a first step in this direction. Advocates of e-services highlight
their potential to offer greater convenience to citizens (e.g., reduced use time, reduced travel time, easier access). In
public discourse, the digitization of public administration is combined with the promise to make public services more
accessible and easier to use (OECD 2020). The European Commission (2016a, p. 2), for example, proposes e-service
as a means to reduce administrative burden on citizens by making the interaction with the state more effective and
convenient for citizens. Whether these non-monetary benefits of e-services are reflected in citizens'satisfaction has,
however, not been studied yet. We bring this promise of greater satisfaction through e-services to an empirical test
by asking: What is the effect of digital interfaces on citizens' satisfaction in standardized public service encounters?
In a second step, we ask whether the explanations of satisfaction in interpersonal public service encounters also
apply as explanationsfor satisfaction in digital publicservice encounters. There is a rich public administration literature
examining the determinants of citizens' satisfaction with public services in interpersonal settings. Among the various
determinants thathave been proposed to explain citizens'satisfaction with public services(e.g., see Van den Bekerom
et al. 2021), the type of service and the servicequality are most influential. We investigate whether theset of factors
that lead to satisfactionin public service encounters matterwith digital interfaces, too (e.g., Meuteret al. 2000,p.51).
Digital interfacescould be expected to lower the psychological entrybarriers, in particular, when thetype of public ser-
vice comes with psychological costs dueto potential stigmatization (Herd& Moynihan 2019). On the other hand, ser-
vice failure in digital interaction could severely decrease satisfaction when the promise of e-service comfort was not
fulfilled.Although there is no coherent theoretical frameworkto derive answers to these questions, it is crucial to know
whether our theoriesof citizen satisfaction with publicservices adapt to the digital era of governance.
To answer these questions, we conduct a vignette experiment with visual cues on a sample of German citizens
(N= 1234). The vignette randomly varies the type of interface (SST, app, or face-to-face with a street-level bureau-
crat), the type of service (issuing a passport, a certificate of good conduct, or social housing benefits), and the service
quality (no service failure, service failure with and without an explanation). Citizens' self-reported satisfaction with
428 PROKOP AND TEPE
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
