Administrative intensity and local resident satisfaction in Victorian local government

Abstract

A voluminous empirical literature has focused on organizational characteristics and their relationship to organizational performance in the public sector, including municipal efficiency. However, as yet no effort has been made to examine the impact of administrative intensity on the effectiveness of local authorities, as measured by local resident satisfaction surveys. To address this gap in the literature, this article investigates the effect of administrative intensity on local resident satisfaction in the local government system of the Australian state of Victoria over the period 2014/2015 to 2018/2019. Using regression analysis, we find that there is a significant association between administrative intensity and the effectiveness of municipalities. However, the impact of administrative intensity on municipal effectiveness differs between urban local authorities and rural local authorities. This has significant public policy implications given that a uniform policy prescription may not achieve its intended aims due to the differential effects of the determinants of municipal effectiveness.

Citizen Satisfaction Research in Public Administration: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

“…While structural components, characterized by their stability and observability within the organization, do not consistently contribute to a positive impact on citizen satisfaction (Amirkhanyan et al, 2014; Walker et al, 2011), dynamic processes, which are less physically observable but play a crucial role in organizational management and service delivery to citizens, have shown positive effects. These positive process-related factors include a reduction in administrative costs (Barnes & Petry, 2021; Tran & Dollery, 2021), fairness in decision-making processes (Herian et al, 2012), communication effectiveness (Ho & Cho, 2017), efficiency (Shingler et al, 2008), decreased red tape (Tummers et al, 2016), and innovation (Vigoda-Gadot et al, 2008).…”

Perception of Official Corruption, Satisfaction With Government Performance, and Subjective Wellbeing—An Empirical Study From China

“…Management methods, bureaucratic structure, and official behaviors have great impact on government performance ( Thomas, 2005 ; Coggburn and Schneider, 2010 ; Mac Carthaigh et al, 2016 ). Researches focused on how to improve government programs and services through performance evaluation ( Ryzin, 2015 ; Mullin, 2021 ; Park et al, 2021 ), and, ultimately, the status of government in citizens’ eyes ( Lynn et al, 2000 ; Tran and Dollery, 2021 ).…”