Citizen feedback and executives: Improving government performance through citizen relationship management

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to design a model in order that government hears citizen voices and welcomes people’s suggestions to improve its performance, it may be regarded as Management By People’s Suggestions.

Design/methodology/approach

After designing a conceptual model, collected data through the responses of 451 questionnaires from nine areas of Iran Territory Development Plan were analyzed using the structural equation model and an ANOVA.

Findings

The results indicate three directions are initiatives for the action of using citizens’ opinions to improve government performance. The directions are as follows: the direction of government strategies moving toward citizens’ needs; the direction of developing a seamless, integrated, coordinated, relationship between citizens and authorities; and the direction of centralizing citizens’ suggestions and criticisms.

Practical implications

This study suggests an approach using citizen feedback to improve government performance in Iran where it appears to be signs of a gap between people and government.

Originality/value

This paper reveals that, before any effort for citizen relationship management, investigations into effective directions which affect citizen–government relationship seems essential.

Citation

Havaeji, H. and Albadvi, A. (2019), "Citizen feedback and executives: Improving government performance through citizen relationship management", International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 242-258. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOTB-05-2018-0054