Managing citizens' expectations of public service performance: Evidence from observation and experimentation in local government

Public Administration

Volumn 89, Issue 4, 2011, Pages 1419-1435

  James, Oliver ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EXETER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

LOCAL GOVERNMENT; PUBLIC SERVICE;

EID: 84155171198     PISSN: 00333298     EISSN: 14679299     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9299.2011.01962.x     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. Appleby, J. and A. Alvarez-Rosete. 2003. 'The National Health Service: Keeping up with Public Expectations?', in A. Park, J. Curtice, K. Thomson, L. Jarvis and C. Bromley (eds), British Social Attitudes: The Twentieth Report-Continuity and Change over Two Decades. London: Sage.
2. Ariely, D., G. Lowenstein and D. Prelec. 2003. 'Coherent Arbitrariness: Stable Demand without Stable Preferences', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118, 2, 73-105.
3. Bouckaert, G., S. Van de Walle and J.K. Kampen. 2005. 'Potential for Comparative Public Opinion Research in Public Administration', International Review of Administrative Sciences, 71, 2, 229-40.
4. Boyne, G., O. James, P. John and N. Petrovsky. 2009. 'Democracy and Government Performance: Holding Incumbents Accountable in English Local Governments', Journal of Politics, 71, 4, 1273-1284.
5. Boyne, G., O. James, P. John and N. Petrovsky. 2010. 'Top Management Turnover and Organizational Performance: A Test of a Contingency Model', Public Administration Review, 71, 4, 572-581.
6. Bozeman, B. and P. Scott. 1992. 'Laboratory Experiments in Public Policy and Management', Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2, 3, 293-313.
7. Cabinet Office. 2000. Consumer Focus for Public Services. London: Cabinet Office.
8. Delli Carpini, M. and S. Keeter. 1996. What Americans Know about Politics and Why it Matters. Yale, CT: Yale University Press.
9. Dowding, K.M. and P.J. John. 1996. 'Exiting Behaviour under Tiebout Conditions: Towards a Predictive Model', Public Choice, 88, 4, 393-406.
10. Dowding, K.M. and P.J. John. 2008. 'The Three Exit, Three Voice and Loyalty Framework: A Test with Survey Data on Local Services', Political Studies, 56, 2, 288-311.
11. Downs, A. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper and Row.
12. Duffy, B. 2000. Satisfaction and Expectations: Attitudes to Public Services in Deprived Areas CASE Paper 45. London: Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion.
13. Green, D.P. and A.S. Gerber. 2003. 'The Underprovision of Experiments in Political and Social Science', Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 589, 1, 94-112.
14. Harrison, G.W. and J.A. List. 2004. 'Field Experiments', Journal of Economic Literature 42, 4, 1009-55.
15. Hirschman, A.O. 1970. Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations and States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
16. Heinrich, C.J. 2003. 'Measuring Public Sector Performance and Effectiveness'. In G Peters (ed), Handbook of Public Administration. London, Sage. 25-37.
17. Hood, C.C. 2011. The Blame Game: Spin, Bureaucracy and Self-preservation in Government. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
18. Hood, C.C. and R. Dixon. 2010. 'The Political Payoff from Performance Target Systems: No-Brainer or No-Gainer?', Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 20, 2, 281-98.
19. Hood, C.C., C.D. Scott, O. James, et al. 1999. Regulation inside Government: Waste Watchers, Quality Police and Sleazebusters. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
20. Iyengar, S. 1987. 'Television News and Citizens' Expectations of National Affairs', American Political Science Review, 81, 3, 815-32.
21. James, O. 2000. 'Regulation inside Government: Public Interest Justifications and Regulatory Failures', Public Administration, 78, 2, 327-43.
22. James, O. 2004. 'The UK Core Executive's Use of Public Service Agreements as a Tool of Governance', Public Administration, 82, 2, 397-418.
23. James, O. 2009. 'Evaluating the Expectations Disconfirmation and Expectations Anchoring Approaches to Citizen Satisfaction with Local Public Services', Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 19, 1, 107-23.
24. James, O. 2011. 'Performance Measures and Democracy: Information Effects on Citizens in Field and Laboratory Experiments', Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21, 3, 399-418.
25. James, O. and P. John. 2007. 'Public Management at the Ballot Box: Performance Information and Electoral Support for Incumbent English Local Governments', Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17, 4, 567-80.
26. James, O. and D. Wilson. 2010. 'Standards of Evidence in the Comparison of Public Service Performance', Evaluation, 16, 1, 5-12.
27. Lewis-Beck, M. and M. Paldam. 2000. 'Economic Voting: Introduction Economics and Elections', Electoral Studies, 19, 2, 113-22.
28. Lupia, A. and M.D. McCubbins. 1998. The Democratic Dilemma: Can Citizens Learn What They Need to Know? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
29. Lyons, W.E. and D. Lowery. 1989. 'Citizen Response to Dissatisfaction in Urban Communities: A Partial Test of a General Model', Journal of Politics, 51, 4, 841-68.
30. Lyons, W.E., D. Lowery and R.H. DeHoog. 1992. The Politics of Dissatisfaction: Citizens, Services and Urban Institutions. London: ME Sharpe.
31. Manski, C.F. 2004. 'Measuring Expectations', Econometrica, 72, 5, 1329-76.
32. Meier, K.J. and L.J. O'Toole, Jr. 2002. 'Public Management and Organizational Performance: The Effect of Managerial Quality', Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 21, 4, 629-43.
33. Miller, T.I. and M.A. Miller. 1991. 'Standards of Excellence: US Residents' Evaluations of Local Government Services', Public Administration Review, 51, 6, 503-13.
34. MORI. 2009. 'A New Politics, Some Old Problems', accessed 22 September 2009.
35. Moynihan, D.P. 2008. The Dynamics of Performance Management: Constructing Information and Reform. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
36. National Consumer Council. 2004. Making Public Services Personal: A New Compact for Public Services. London: National Consumer Council.
37. Office of Public Services Reform/MORI. 2002. Public Service Reform: Measuring and Understanding Customer Satisfaction: A MORI Review for the Office of Public Services Reform. London: Cabinet Office.
38. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. 2004. Best Value User Satisfaction Surveys 2003/04: General Survey Initial Topline Report. London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
39. Parasuraman, A., V.A. Zeithaml and L.L. Berry. 1985. 'A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implications for Further Research', Journal of Marketing, 48, 1, 41-50.
40. Parasuraman, A., V.A. Zeithaml and L.L Berry. 1988. 'SERVQUAL: A Multiple-item Scale for Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Service', Journal of Retailing, 64, 1, 12-40.
41. Parks, R.B. 1983. 'Linking Objective and Subjective Measures of Performance', Public Administration Review, 44, 2, 118-27.
42. Performance and Innovation Unit. 2001. Satisfaction with Public Services: A Discussion Paper. London: Performance and Innovation Unit.
43. Poister, T. and J.C. Thomas. 2011. 'The Effect of Expectations and Expectancy Confirmation/Disconfirmation on Motorists' Satisfaction with State Highways', Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, access doi:10.1093/jopart/mur004.
44. Roch, C.H. and T.H. Poister. 2006. 'Citizens, Accountability, and Service Satisfaction', Urban Affairs Review, 41, 3, 292-308.
45. Rust, R.T., J.J. Inman, J. Jia and A. Zahorik. 1999. 'What You Don't Know About Customer-perceived Quality: The Role of Customer Expectation Distributions', Marketing Science, 18, 1, 77-92.
46. Sanders, D., H. Clarke, M. Stewart and P. Whiteley. 2006. 'Does Mode Matter for Modelling Political Choice?', Political Analysis, 15, 3, 257-85.
47. Sargent, T.J. 2008. 'Rational Expectations', in S. Durlauf and L. Blume (eds), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
48. Shadish, W.R., T.D. Cook and D.T. Campbell. 2002. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
49. Stipak, B. 1980. 'Local Governments' Use of Citizen Surveys', Public Administration Review, 40, 5, 521-5.
50. Teas, R.K. 1993. 'Expectations, Performance Evaluation and Consumer's Perception of Quality', Journal of Marketing, 57, 4, 18-34.
51. Teas, R.K. 1994. 'Expectations as a Comparison Standard in Measuring Service Quality: An Assessment of a Reassessment', Journal of Marketing, 58, 1, 132-9.
52. Van de Walle, S. and G. Bouckaert. 2003. 'Public Service Performance and Trust in Government: The Problem of Causality', International Journal of Public Administration, 26, 8-9, 891-913.
53. Van de Walle, S. and G.G. Van Ryzin. 2011. 'The Order of Questions in a Survey on Citizen Satisfaction with Public Services: Lessons from a Split-ballot Experiment', Public Administration, DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9299.2011.01922.x, 15ff.
54. Van Ryzin, G.G. 2004. 'Expectations, Performance, and Citizen Satisfaction with Urban Services', Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 23, 3, 433-48.
55. Van Ryzin, G.G. 2006. 'Testing the Expectancy Disconfirmation Model of Citizen Satisfaction with Local Government', Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 16, 4, 599-611.
56. Van Ryzin, G.G. and E. Charbonneau. 2010. 'Public Service Use and Perceived Performance: An Empirical Note on the Nature of the Relationship', Public Administration, 88, 2, 551-63.
57. Van Ryzin, G.G., D. Muzzio, S. Immerwahr, et al. 2004. 'Drivers and Consequences of Citizen Satisfaction: An Application of the American Customer Satisfaction Index Model to New York City', Public Administration Review, 64, 3, 321-41.
58. Zeithaml, V.A., L. Berry and A. Parasuraman. 1993. 'The Nature and Determinants of Customer Expectations of Service', Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21, 1, 1-12.