=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3049/paper8
|storemode=property
|title=A Citizen-Centered Analysis of What Public Services are Suitable for Digital Communication Channels
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3049/Paper8.pdf
|volume=Vol-3049
|authors=Sara Hofmann,Christian Østergaard Madsen,Ida Lindgren,Guri Verne
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/egov/HofmannMLV21
}}
==A Citizen-Centered Analysis of What Public Services are Suitable for Digital Communication Channels==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3049/Paper8.pdf
A Citizen-Centered Analysis of What Public
Services are Suitable for Digital Communication
Channels
Sara Hofmann*, Christian Østergaard Madsen**, Ida
Lindgren***, Guri Verne****
*Centre for Digital Transformation, University of Agder, Norway, sara.hofmann@uia.no;
**Research Centre for Government IT, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark, chrm@itu.dk;
***Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden ida.lindgren@liu.se;
****Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway, guribv@ifi.uio.no;
Abstract: The benefits of digitalizing public services can only be met if citizens adopt digital
services while at the same time stop using expensive traditional channels. Still, many citizens
keep using traditional channels. Studies on channel choice and IT adoption have addressed what
factors influence citizens’ channel behavior. However, they have omitted the interplay between
citizens’ perceptions of public services and their channel choices, as well as how the design of
digital services and citizens' experience of using self-service applications affect their channel
choice. In addition, the technological optimism of digital government may have caused us to
overlook the important question whether all public services are suitable for digitalization. In this
ongoing research paper, we present the outline of a research project starting this summer, in
which we will critically analyze – from the perspectives of citizens and public sector organizations
– what public services are suitable for digital communication channels.
Keywords: digitalization, public services, citizens, participatory design
Acknowledgement: This research is funded in part by the Helsevel program of the Norwegian
Research Council and a R&D grant from NAV, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration.
1. Background and Objectives
Increasingly, public organizations digitalize their services. By offering their services online and
transferring tasks from caseworkers to citizens in self-service applications, public organization can
achieve large efficiency gains. In addition, automating services can help reduce error rates by
ensuring data integrity [1]. Citizens and businesses, on the other hand, get easier access to
information and services outside opening hours, without having to physically visit public
organizations [2].
Copyright ©2021 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
76 Ongoing Research
However, these efficiency goals can only be met if citizens adopt the offered digital services while
at the same time stop using the traditional offline channels such as telephone or in-person visits to
the counter. The continued use of traditional channels is expensive for public organizations because
it requires the involvement of caseworkers [3]. A related problem occurs when citizens fail to
provide the correct information, and caseworkers must ask citizens for updated information or to
restart the application entirely. In countries all over the world, digital public services are not used
to the expected extent [4]. Even in countries where the uptake of digital self-service applications is
high, many citizens, also those with good digital competencies, keep using traditional channels [5].
There are several reasons why citizens choose to contact public organizations via traditional
channels. Research from the digital government field shows that digitalizing and transforming
public services into easy-to-use self-service applications are challenging tasks. Digital solutions can
be confusing and difficult to understand for citizens [4]. Reasons for turning from digital to
traditional channels include citizens’ need for information or for explanation concerning a public
service, or the need for caseworkers to perform actions that citizens are not able or willing to do
themselves [6], [7]. Citizens are not professionally trained caseworkers, and often lack the
administrative competencies needed to understand the task at hand or the language involved [8]. In
addition, it is important to acknowledge that citizens are no homogeneous user group. They differ,
among others, in age, gender, social and cultural background [9], and digital and administrative
literacy [10]. Thus, the same public service is perceived differently by different citizens.
The channel choice (CC) and multichannel management (MCM) branches of the digital
government field have studied how citizens choose channels for public service encounters, and how
public organizations manage service interactions across traditional and digital channels [11], [12].
Also, the IT adoption field in digital government research has analyzed citizens’ willingness to use
digital tools in public service encounters [13]. However, neither of these fields have performed in-
depth analyses of the interplay between citizens’ perceptions of public services and their channel
choices. They have not yet studied the digital services themselves, with regards to citizens’ channel
choice and use, their need for help, or the design of digital self-service applications. Not taking the
nature of the public services into account presents an important knowledge gap in the literature.
In addition, the optimism which has characterized both research and public policy on digital
government since its introduction, may have caused us to overlook one important question, namely
whether all public services are suitable for digitalization and self-service applications. Only few
studies have taken a critical perspective on the digitalization of public services and shed light on
potential negative effects [4]. This lacking perspective also becomes evident in the fact that many
projects dealing with technology and digitalization are innovation and development projects while
research projects are the minority [14]. However, a successful development of technological
solutions requires research on the importance of technology for public services [9] from both the
provider perspective, i.e. public organizations, as well as from the demand perspective, i.e. citizens.
Ongoing Research 77
2. Project Objectives and Contribution
The objective in this project is to critically analyze – from the perspectives of citizens and public
sector organizations – what public services are suitable for digital communication channels. The
research objectives are organized in four work-packages, each with their own sub-goal (see Figure
2, below). First, we identify the public services that citizens use the most and the least on digital and
traditional communication channels and the services that generate the most and the least effort for
public organizations. Second, this sample of services will be the basis for the further analyses. In
collaboration with citizens and policy makers, we identify characteristics that are important for (a)
citizens’ and (b) public organization's perceptions of a public service. Third, we use this set of
characteristics to analyze how different citizens perceive the selected sample of public services, and
how their perception of these services relates to their channel choices and to public organization's
multi-channel management strategies. Finally, we identify what services as perceived by citizens
and public organizations are suitable for digital communication channels and offer guidelines for
how public services may be designed and offered. Our project strongly relies on the involvement of
users, especially citizens, caseworkers, and policy makers. To understand the needs of potential
users of digital public services, it is necessary to involve the targeted user group [4].
Our project takes places in collaboration with public organizations across Scandinavia, which
administer complicated public services in areas such as social benefits, health, and family benefits.
These organizations have all encountered the problems described above. Citizens independent of
their age and educational background use traditional channels for contacting them. By collaborating
with these organizations, we seek a broad data basis and allow for a Scandinavian comparison. We
believe such a comparison is fitting and promising because the Scandinavian countries share a
similar cultural background (e.g., high levels of trust in public institutions) and are among the
frontrunners in public sector digitalization. Still, they approach to public sector digitalization
differently, with Denmark, for example, following a mandatory digital self-service strategy.
Our project contributes to the digital government and public administration literature by
analyzing and discussing what public services are suitable for digitalization from citizens’ and
public organizations' point of view. We build on the existing research by studying actual use of
different digital services as it happens across traditional and digital channels. We involve citizens,
caseworkers, and policy makers in analyzing service suitability and their respective needs in relation
to the use and provision of digital services.
3. Research Question, Theoretical Approach, and Method
The project objective is concretized in the overarching research question “Why do citizens choose
certain channels for public services and how does this match public organization's channel strategies?”. This
is divided into four underlying research questions, one for each work package.
• RQ1: What public services do currently generate the most and the least traffic on digital and
traditional communication channels?
• RQ2: How can citizens’ and public organization's perceptions of public services characteristics
be understood and analyzed?
78 Ongoing Research
• RQ3: How do the characteristics of public services relate with citizens’ channel choices and
public organization's multi-channel management strategies?
• RQ4: What public services should be digitalized from citizens’ and public organization's
perspectives?
To address these questions, we will analyze channel traffic and citizens' perceptions of a set of
public services supplied by large governmental agencies in the Scandinavian countries. We will go
deep into the structure of the services chosen, analyzing the underlying processes from both a public
administration view, and a citizen view. We will search for patterns that can inform what services
are suitable, and not suitable, for being delivered through the digital channel, and how some services
can be improved. Our theoretical approach is based on the understanding that public services are
not one-dimensional as often treated by research but complex and need to be broken down into steps
before they can be understood in detail [15]. Figure 2 depicts a generic step model of a public service
(applying for a public benefit). The figure is based on empirical studies [6], [15] and inspired by
service design and user journeys. Before a public service starts, a trigger occurs. This trigger can be
an event in a citizen’s life such as getting a child or losing a job. However, a public service can also
be triggered by an activity on the public organization's side such as sending a letter, paying out
money to a citizen [16] or by refusing an outcome of a public service (see step 5a. in Figure 2). We
will use this process model as a point of departure for our analyses. Each process included in the
analysis is likely to share traits with other processes that can be broken down in the steps suggested
in Figure 1, but also have its own unique qualities and settings.
Figure 2: Process step model of benefit application from a citizen’s perspective
We organize our methodological approach in four work packages (WP) whose relationship is
depicted in
. Throughout our project we will follow an interdisciplinary approach. We will apply and combine
findings and methods from the fields of digital government, channel choice, multi-channel
management, participatory and service design, and public administration. The interdisciplinary
approach is further described in each of the work packages and is reflected in the composition of the
project team as well as the complementary knowledge from the external advisors.
Ongoing Research 79
Figure 3: Relationship between work packages
WP1: Analysis of
channel traffic
WP4: Develop
WP3: Application
guidelines for
of public service
digitalising public
WP2: Analysis of characteristics
services
public service
characteristics
WP5: Project management
3.1 Stakeholder Engagement
Our research approach strongly relies on stakeholder knowledge and experience. We will involve
the main stakeholder groups citizens, caseworkers, policy makers, and service designers. While
citizens will be involved in interviews and design workshops in WP 2, 3, and 4, the stakeholders
from the public organization side will be involved in all four WP via interviews and design
workshops. Especially when collaborating with citizens, we will pay attention to a diverse sample
in terms of, amongst others, age, gender balance, and cultural background. We will get access to
knowledgeable citizens via reference user groups that are involved with our collaborating public
organizations in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. They will further provide access to data such as
channel traffic and internal reports as well as enable contacts with caseworkers, policy makers, and
service designers.
3.2 Ethical Considerations
In qualitative research, the researcher must respect the rights of the participants as well as their
needs and desires [17]. Since our research methods are in parts intrusive (e.g., co-listening to citizens’
calls) and reveal sensitive information (e.g., interviews about the services they use), participation in
our studies is voluntary and especially citizens have the possibility to drop out at any stage. Before
data collection, participants will be informed about its purpose and need to give their consent to
data collection. The privacy of the participants will be guaranteed, and data will be stored
anonymously. We will ensure when conducting interviews and workshops with citizens that they
represent a diverse sample in terms of e.g., age, gender, and educational background.
4. Impact
Our project has various implications for research. First, our approach and results may spark new
discussions about the technological optimism which underlies many research studies on
digitalisation. By asking what public services should (not) be digitalised, we contribute to a critical
80 Ongoing Research
discussion about the consequences and boundaries of digitalisation. Second, we contribute to the
research fields of channel choice and multi-channel management. By analysing public organisations’
channel traffic (WP1), we answer researchers’ calls for presenting more and up-to-date data on
citizens’ actual interaction on different channels that has been gathered in real life scenarios [10].
Third, the development of the analytical tools for identifying public service characteristics from
citizens’ and public organisations’ perspectives based on theoretical and empirical data (WP2)
provides an impact to various research streams. The mapping of characteristics to the different
stages of a public service can serve as a typology for characterising citizens’ perceptions for various
kinds of public services. It contributes to a deeper understanding of the public service in, e.g., the
research fields of channel choice and multi-channel management as well IT adoption, where it can
serve as both a template for further factors influencing IT adoption as well as a means for
interpreting the results. Combining and contrasting the service perceptions of citizens and public
organisations will highlight discrepancies between provider and demand side. Fourth, through the
application of the analytical framework to citizens’ perception of public services and their channel
choices (WP3), we get detailed insights into how citizens make their channel choices throughout the
different steps of a public service. By contrasting these with the characteristics identified by public
organisations, we identify how citizens’ channel choice relates to public organisations’ channel
strategies. In doing so, we contribute to theory building in the fields of channel choice and multi-
channel management. Fifth, based on collaboration with citizens and service designers (WP4), our
recommendations for how to integrate citizens’ perceptions into service design contribute to the
service design research stream. Sixth, while our research will focus on the public sector, we believe
that our findings can also be useful for service provision in the private sector such as the banking
and insurance industry. Seventh, our project also has methodological implications for research.
While our research approach is tailored to the cooperation with welfare organizations in
Scandinavia, it is a methodological blueprint that can be applied to basically any public sector
organization and that can be replicated in various contexts. Finally, by having an international
project team and by cooperating with experts from different countries, our project will strengthen
the international visibility of the channel choice field, which has previously mainly centered around
a limited set of countries [12].
The target audience of our research project is manifold. First, it includes citizens as the main users
and stakeholders as well as employees from public organizations such as policy makers,
caseworkers, and service designers that will be involved in our data generation and analysis. In the
academic field, our target groups are researchers from different domains such as digital government,
channel choice, service design and public administration, as well as students. From a practice-
oriented perspective, the relevant target audience includes strategic decisions makers and
employees involved in the public sector in Scandinavia. Beyond that, our results are relevant to
decision makers and service designers in public organizations in all Western countries. Finally, our
target audience includes the public who is interested in our research and NFR as the funding body.
Ongoing Research 81
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About the Authors
Sara Hofmann (Project Lead)
Associate professor Sara Hofmann has researched the interaction between citizens and public sector
organizations for many years and published several well-received papers on citizens’ channel choice and
public sector organization's multi-channel management. Her expertise are qualitative research methods.
She has been involved in and has led several research projects in the field of digital government.
Christian Østergaard Madsen
Associate Professor Christian Østergaard Madsen is experienced in conducting research projects in
collaboration with public and private stakeholders. He is an expert on channel choice and multichannel
management research and has a proven track record for developing and implementing multichannel
management strategies as well as mixed-method research in public organizations.
Ida Lindgren
Associate Professor Ida Lindgren is an acknowledged researcher within the field of information systems. She
is an expert on digitalization in the public sector with special expertise in public e-services. She is currently
conducting research on automation of public services.
Guri Verne
Senior lecturer Guri Verne has a long track record of research projects about technology and service
development from a user perspective. Her PhD thesis from 2015 was about automation of public services
from the citizens’ perspective. Her research is published in leading conferences within the fields of
Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Participatory Design, and e-Government.