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Article
Publication date: 13 August 2018

Vinitha Siebers

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight in how South African local governments organize citizen engagement. The new South African constitution provides ways to construct and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight in how South African local governments organize citizen engagement. The new South African constitution provides ways to construct and implement citizen engagement at local level. However, understanding citizen engagement at local level is still a challenge and municipalities search for proper structures and mechanisms to organize citizen engagement efficiently.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews with different municipal actors were analyzed using a single case study method. As a primary unit of analysis, a specific project in which citizen engagement is organized was used. In addition, document analysis and a focus group were used to deepen understanding.

Findings

The findings reveal that citizen engagement is a viable strategy to identify the needs of the community if facilitated by a third party and that learning leadership is important when organizing citizen engagement.

Originality/value

The value of this research is the exploration of the citizen engagement process. It sheds light on the conditions that play a role when a local government organizes citizen engagement. As local governments search for ways to effectively organize and structure citizen engagement, insight into these conditions is helpful.

Details

International Journal of Public Leadership, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4929

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 February 2022

Jiun-Yi Tsai, Janice Sweeter and Elizabeth Candello

Email communication is indispensable for US state agencies to respond to citizen requests and engage with constituents, contributing to building trust in local governments. While…

Abstract

Purpose

Email communication is indispensable for US state agencies to respond to citizen requests and engage with constituents, contributing to building trust in local governments. While prior studies examine the responsiveness of elected officials, the quality of virtual interactions between government organizations and citizens is often overlooked. This study aims to investigate how US government agencies capitalize on the potential of online interactions with constituents to manage generic queries and introduce the response engagement index (REI) consisting of response time, reactive transparency and message interactivity to evaluate levels of communicative engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a field experiment encompassing emailing a request to 547 state agencies based in the five largest states and one small state. A total of 377 organizational responses were manually analyzed to reveal the usages of six communicative engagement strategies.

Findings

The results show the potential of online communication is underutilized as the average score of response engagement remains low. Human responses are less engaging than auto-reply messages and require a one-day waiting period, if not longer. Response types and gender of government communicators significantly differ in response time and engagement strategies. The findings identify divergent patterns of response engagement and provide practical implications for facilitating citizen engagement.

Research limitations/implications

This research fills a critical gap by investigating the quality of online interactions between US government agencies and citizens. The authors develop a theory-grounded tool of response engagement to identify three features: response speed, reactive transparency and interactivity. The findings can improve the quality of email communication in state agencies, enhancing governance quality. The REI proposed here addresses what Pfau (2008) deemed problematic for communication scholarship: research is sparse on “functional issues” that examine the communication process. Pfau argued for research that provides knowledge of interest across disciplines so as to “cross-fertilize” ideas between political communication and public relations; this study sought to bridge that gap with a theoretical and practical tool for building public trust in governments.

Practical implications

To support the evaluation of transparent and responsive governments, reliable and valid measurements are needed. The proposed REI provides practitioners with a theory-grounded tool to identify areas of engagement quality in government responses. The findings can be used to improve the quality of email communication in state agencies, enhancing governance quality.

Social implications

Citizens seek reciprocal dialogue through prompt, open and interactive communication. US state agencies should leverage the engagement features for increasing citizen trust – response time, reactive transparency and interactivity – when responding to public inquiries. Ultimately, trust in government agencies' interests in serving stakeholders cannot be strengthened without prompt and engaging responses to meet the public's needs.

Originality/value

This field experiment was one of the first to focus on US state agencies' responses to information requests. It introduces a new REI to assess communicative engagement in a government/citizen exchange.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 26 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 January 2020

Arie Purwanto, Anneke Zuiderwijk and Marijn Janssen

Citizen engagement is key to the success of many Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives. However, not much is known regarding how this type of engagement emerges. This study aims…

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Abstract

Purpose

Citizen engagement is key to the success of many Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives. However, not much is known regarding how this type of engagement emerges. This study aims to investigate the necessary conditions for the emergence of citizen-led engagement with OGD and to identify which factors stimulate this type of engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the authors created a systematic overview of the literature to develop a conceptual model of conditions and factors of OGD citizen engagement at the societal, organizational and individual level. Second, the authors used the conceptual model to systematically study citizensengagement in the case of a particular OGD initiative, namely, the digitization of presidential election results data in Indonesia in 2014. The authors used multiple information sources, including interviews and documents, to explore the conditions and factors of OGD citizen-led engagement in this case.

Findings

From the literature the authors identified five conditions for the emergence of OGD citizen-led engagement as follows: the availability of a legal and political framework that grants a mandate to open up government data, sufficient budgetary resources allocated for OGD provision, the availability of OGD feedback mechanisms, citizens’ perceived ease of engagement and motivated citizens. In the literature, the authors found six factors contributing to OGD engagement as follows: democratic culture, the availability of supporting institutional arrangements, the technical factors of OGD provision, the availability of citizens’ resources, the influence of social relationships and citizens’ perceived data quality. Some of these conditions and factors were found to be less important in the studied case, namely, citizens’ perceived ease of engagement and citizens’ perceived data quality. Moreover, the authors found several new conditions that were not mentioned in the studied literature, namely, citizens’ sense of urgency, competition among citizen-led OGD engagement initiatives, the diversity of citizens’ skills and capabilities and the intensive use of social media. The difference between the conditions and factors that played an important role in the case and those derived from the literature review might be because of the type of OGD engagement that the authors studied, namely, citizen-led engagement, without any government involvement.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are derived using a single case study approach. Future research can investigate multiple cases and compare the conditions and factors for citizen-led engagement with OGD in different contexts.

Practical implications

The conditions and factors for citizen-led engagement with OGD have been evaluated in practice and discussed with public managers and practitioners through interviews. Governmental organizations should prioritize and stimulate those conditions and factors that enhance OGD citizen engagement to create more value with OGD.

Originality/value

While some research on government-led engagement with OGD exists, there is hardly any research on citizen-led engagement with OGD. This study is the first to develop a conceptual model of necessary conditions and factors for citizen engagement with OGD. Furthermore, the authors applied the developed multilevel conceptual model to a case study and gathered empirical evidence of OGD engagement and its contributions to solving societal problems, rather than staying at the conceptual level. This research can be used to investigate citizen engagement with OGD in other cases and offers possibilities for systematic cross-case lesson-drawing.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 November 2021

Tunde Simeon Amosun, Jianxun Chu, Olayemi Hafeez Rufai, Sayibu Muhideen, Riffat Shahani and Miapeh Kous Gonlepa

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of e-government usage on citizen engagement during the COVID-19 crisis in China, in relation to the mediating role of how…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of e-government usage on citizen engagement during the COVID-19 crisis in China, in relation to the mediating role of how citizens perceive the government. A model was also proposed to explain the relationship between e-government usage during the COVID-19 crisis and the mediating role that different perceptions of government play in influencing citizens level of engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

The research model was tested empirically through a survey conducted online with 866 research participants, comprising of Chinese citizens from three large cities, which include Hefei, Shanghai and Nanjing.

Findings

The results in structural equation modeling showed that e-government usage has a significant positive influence on citizens' perception about trust in government, government transparency and government reputation but not significant influence on citizens' engagements. However, an indirect relationship was found out in the mediation analysis. There was also a significant relationship between the different perceptions of government. Mediation analysis showed that all the different perceptions of government mediate the relationship between e-government usage and citizens' engagements during the COVID-19 crisis. The single mediation pathways were found to be most effective mediators, identifying citizens' perception about trust in government to be the most effective mediator.

Originality/value

This study filled the gap in literature by examining how e-government usage by Chinese citizens during the COVID-19 crisis helped influence their attitude and behavior. Specifically, this study is one of the first to integrate citizens' usage of e-government and citizens' engagement through the different citizens' perceptions of government such as trust in government, transparency of government and government reputation in a non-liberal country.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 46 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2023

Marco Contri, Silvia Fissi and Elena Gori

This exploratory study aims to investigate the use of Facebook as a dialogic accounting tool for promoting citizen engagement in Italian regions.

Abstract

Purpose

This exploratory study aims to investigate the use of Facebook as a dialogic accounting tool for promoting citizen engagement in Italian regions.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts a mixed methodology. Indeed, it first collects some quantitative data to construct an engagement index for the Facebook pages of the Italian regions, and then it performs a content analysis of some posts while also examining the tenor of the related comments and the level of interaction between regions and citizens.

Findings

The Italian regions have mainly used their Facebook pages for public communication purposes rather than for public participation. Therefore, they have conceived social pages more as an instrument of self-legitimisation and thus monologic accounting and have rarely considered them as a tool for engaging citizens who, in turn, showed low interest in participating in online debates. Nature and environment, tourism promotion and sport were the most engaging content types. Findings also confirm that posting many messages does not automatically increase engagement.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to investigate the potential of social media from a dialogic accounting perspective, especially in the public sector. Additionally, it focuses on regions which are understudied in the literature, although they are critical actors in implementing public policies. Last but not least, this study offers a framework that integrates the literature on the use of social media for citizen engagement and research on such platforms as dialogic accounting tools.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2018

Vittoria Marino and Letizia Lo Presti

This paper examines the communication modalities on Twitter to broadcast content to citizens and measures the effectiveness of the posted content in activating the citizens’…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines the communication modalities on Twitter to broadcast content to citizens and measures the effectiveness of the posted content in activating the citizens’ political participation proposing an retweetability rate.

Design/methodology/approach

Through content analysis of the European Commissioners’ posts, this paper identifies the most used communication modalities to broadcast content to the citizens. A retweetability rate is proposed to measure the effectiveness of the posted content in activating the political citizensengagement. The methodology is applied to the tweets posted by European Commissioners, who are currently facing democracy legitimation issues and Euroscepticism.

Findings

Empirical results show that Twitter is not fully used yet as a citizen engagement tool. However, the paper highlights the potentiality of Twitter to broadcast contents of value and build a relationship of citizens and institutions.

Practical implications

Measuring citizen engagement based on the posted messages can help the institutions to evaluate the effectiveness of the posted social media content. Moreover, the paper gives suggestions regarding how governments might implement social media content capable of fostering a dialogic communication with citizens.

Originality/value

A measurement of citizen engagement permits the identification of which kinds of public communication stimulate the engagement and favor a closer bond between citizens and public institutions.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 December 2020

Jeffrey A. Stone and S. Hakan Can

The purpose of this paper is to determine the demographic, resource and internal competition factors that influence both the level of citizen engagement provided by municipal…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the demographic, resource and internal competition factors that influence both the level of citizen engagement provided by municipal Twitter accounts as well as the primary purposes for which those accounts are used.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses a mixed-methods approach. Twitter data were content analyzed and categorized according to their specific purposes (information dissemination, community building or calls to action). Twitter engagement was measured as an index variable constructed from prior research, and multiple regression was used to determine the factors which best predict both account engagement and tweet purposes.

Findings

The results show that two factors (a multiplatform approach and fiscal health) along with the interaction of those factors predict the level of Twitter-based citizen engagement. Median citizen age was found to significantly predict the percentage of municipal tweets with purposes of information dissemination and community building.

Originality/value

This study adds to the literature on public sector social media use by examining the purposes and practices of local government Twitter use, providing a context for examining how Twitter is employed by local governments for citizen engagement.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 45 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 8 January 2018

Mary S. Mangai and Michiel S. De Vries

While there is an urgent need for clean water in Ghana and Nigeria, governments lack the financial means to do much to address this need. This does not mean that improving access…

3613

Abstract

Purpose

While there is an urgent need for clean water in Ghana and Nigeria, governments lack the financial means to do much to address this need. This does not mean that improving access to clean water is impossible. On the contrary, this paper argued that engaging citizens through co-production, as is already being done in developed countries in the fields of care-giving, waste management, healthcare and community policing, could provide a successful strategy. The purpose of this paper is to examine how public water facilities are being managed to improve and sustain access to clean water for domestic use in rural areas in Ghana and Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey interview with households and in-depth interviews with water professionals were conducted in Ghana and Nigeria to help the authors understand the practicalities of the co-production of clean water and how this is improving and maintaining access to clean water sources. The paper draws on a philosophical framework of “deep” citizen engagement to describe the merits of co-production and how it works in practice in developing countries.

Findings

Based on the interviews with officials and surveys among the population of rural areas in the two countries studied, the authors found that the two countries vary significantly in their approach to water management decisions and the extent to which citizens are involved. Ghana’s approach seems much more successful than Nigeria when it comes to maintaining boreholes for water supply with the help of the population. In Nigeria, three-quarters of the public water facilities are non-functional, while in Ghana, community involvement in maintaining public water facilities has resulted in the sustained use of boreholes and eliminated the lack of access to clean water in many communities.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the practical understanding of co-production in developing countries and the potential of such co-production in improving clean water access. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous scientific research has studied how co-production can improve and sustain access specifically to clean water sources in developing countries, and this paper aimed to fill this gap.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 August 2018

María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, Manuela García-Tabuyo and Carmen Caba-Pérez

The purpose of this paper is to examine European citizen engagement for enhancing emergency management and, more specifically, in the context of the terrorist attacks which…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine European citizen engagement for enhancing emergency management and, more specifically, in the context of the terrorist attacks which occurred in Paris, France on November 15, 2015. To do so, two main research questions are raised. First, are there differences in the levels of citizen engagement between the country affected, France, and other European countries? Second, what factors foster a high level of citizen engagement in France?

Design/methodology/approach

First, a comparative content analysis of the Facebook pages of local governments in France and other capital cities of the European Union (EU) was carried. Second, a multivariate regression analysis was performed.

Findings

Although the level of online citizen engagement was greater in France than in the other EU cities analyzed, similarities were detected in the messages sent, responses and moment of participation. Moreover, there are certain types of online social behavior that encourage interactive conversations among citizens as well as between citizens and their local governments.

Practical implications

This research enables local governments to understand the similarities and differences between citizens and local governments from the affected country and those from outside it when using social media to engage in emergency management. It also provides further insight for managers of local governments in the country affected with regards to the need to be aware of the influence of online collective behavior that emerges from the information they publish. As a result, the attainment of a high level of citizens’ participation in their social media can differ.

Originality/value

This paper advances in the scarce knowledge of high levels of online engagement (conversational interactions) in emergency situations.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 43 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 October 2018

Vittoria Marino and Letizia Lo Presti

The last ten years have shown a significant upward trend of engagement in public management reflecting a significant increase in interest in the topic. The purpose of this paper…

Abstract

Purpose

The last ten years have shown a significant upward trend of engagement in public management reflecting a significant increase in interest in the topic. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the benefits and factors affecting the construct of civic engagement that thus far are missing in the current literature through the analysis of studies published in the main journals of management.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a systematic literature review, the current research tries to advance the progress in the understanding of the civic engagement construct analyzing a sample of 96 papers published in the main journals on the subject areas of “communication,” “marketing” and “public sector management.”

Findings

The literature was codified and characterized as follows: level of analysis, variables that affect civic engagement; benefits of civic engagement; and theoretic and methodological approach. This research explores the construct through an analysis of the literature found in the main scientific journals to intercept its various profiles and facets alongside the mechanisms that precede and follow its manifestation.

Practical implications

Public organizations can no longer do without engaging citizens in decision-making processes. Public managers can use these findings to establish a connection with their citizens and influence their publics through commitment and managerial actions that guarantee direct democracy.

Originality/value

This is the first research that aims to study the phenomenon in the public sphere from a multidisciplinary perspective that is as yet incomplete. An integrated vision can highlight current and future developments and eventual opportunities for further research.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 32 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 20000