Citizen feedback as a tool for continuous improvement in local bodies

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the feedback discourse by exploring how public managers and politicians use complaints from citizens to improve the overall and specific performance of public services. The main research questions are: Can citizen complaints analysis be a useful planning tool in the public sector? What can public managers learn from citizen feedback? Design/methodology/approach Applying an empirical approach (Yin, 2005), the multiple case studies treated in the paper aim to clarify a series of decisions (particularly, why feedback is not used to its maximum potential). The overall design includes a defined set of questions, and the research protocol includes data retrieval, collection and analysis. A new cataloging model is proposed to homogenize the spectrum of analysis. This model is intended to create a parallel between two local bodies different in size, mission, and complexity, but which have front office facilities and are in the same territory and have the same potential target population. Findings In total, 698 complaints and 183 corrective or preventive actions were analyzed. Public managers’ attention seems to focus on technical or normative issues rather than on aspects of public services. This may be explained by the lack of funds for training, the scarce use of relational and human capital development leverage, and the concomitant necessity to guarantee at least the same level of services as provided in previous years, confirming the “Blame the rich and credit the poor” mantra. Originality/value This paper offers a strategic approach to learning from citizen’s feedback that other scholars or practitioners have not yet provided. There are many academic studies on customer feedback as a continuous improvement tool for the private sector, but few for public administration.

Augmenting Public Service Delivery Through Online Feedback Systems

“…The feedback so collected reflects the user's perception of the service outcome and experience. Feedback from a citizen to a public service authority can be in the form of a complaint, a suggestion for improvement, an appreciation or any other request (Minelli & Ruffini, 2018).…”

“…Moore (2014) attributes the relevance of feedback from the citizens to the fact that the citizens possess the knowledge, skills and competency to create public value. Working on the principles of 'active citizenship' and 'participatory democracy' (Brown et al, 2010), citizens challenge the public authority through their feedback (Minelli & Ruffini, 2018).…”

“…Implementation of a feedback system also calls for public authorities to change the lens through which public authorities view a citizen. There can be many faces of a citizen: They can be a voter, a taxpayer, a resident, an aggrieved person and thus there should be rethinking on implementing public services (Minelli & Ruffini, 2018). Also, varied types of citizens may exist, such as (a) active and silent citizens (b) good and bad citizens (c) aware and unaware citizens (d) literate and illiterate and (e) experienced and new users.…”

“…What people felt about policy measures and how this influenced their opinions and subsequent decisions was inaccessible (Sobkowicz et al, 2012). Now, new technology has helped in realising the true power of feedback (Andreassen & Sandra, 2013;Einwiller & Steilen, 2015;Minelli & Ruffini, 2018). Also, over the years, as governments across the world have decreased in perceived reliability and trust amongst their citizens, it is imperative for them to have more stable and continuous tools to communicate with their citizens.…”

“…It can be exemplified as a delay in receiving a certificate, wrong medicine in a public dispensary, inaction by law enforcement agencies, poor access to clean drinking water, and so on. Resentment in case of such service failures can be reflected by citizens through blaming service providers, (James et al, 2016), negative word of mouth to other citizens, exiting the service provider (Minelli & Ruffini, 2018), citizen raising a grievance with public authority and taking no action at all due to feedback barriers.…”