Do squeaky wheels get the grease? Understanding when and how municipalities respond to online requests

Abstract

Citizens often attempt to interact with government through online modes of communication such as email and social media. Using an audit study, we examine when and how American municipalities with populations of over 50,000 respond to online requests for information. We develop baselines for municipal responsiveness, including the average rate, time, and quality of responses, and examine whether these response attributes vary based on the mode of communication or the tone of the request. Overall, municipalities responded to 54% of email requests and 38% of Twitter requests. A majority of responses were received on the same business day. Responses are slightly faster on Twitter, but of higher quality on email. Governments are more likely to respond to frustrated constituents on email, but respond faster to frustrated queries on Twitter, though with lower quality responses. These findings contribute to our understanding of local government responsiveness and have significant implications for democratic accountability and resident compliance with and the effectiveness of local government policies. Furthermore, our scholarly understanding of local government communications with residents, and particularly the promise of social media as a tool of two-way communication, may be underdeveloped.

Are the answers all out there? Investigating citizen information requests in the haze of bureaucratic responsiveness

“…The way in which a message is perceived by the receiver can significantly influence the response. While Cuillier (2010) or Epstein et al (2021) found that threatening and angry messages, respectively, receive faster responses from public officials than more friendly ones, this research delves deeper and shows that the underlying emotions a request evokes can be associated with responsiveness. Requests that evoke more positive sentiments are more likely not only to receive a response from a public organization in general, but also to receive the information requested.…”

“…In the context of information exchange, researchers have already investigated the important role of emotions and found that a person's mood substantially impacts information sharing (and seeking) behavior (Dardenne et al, 2011;Peters et al, 2009). Applying this idea of reciprocity to the interaction between citizens and government, Epstein et al (2021) describe the customer-related and service-oriented role in which public officials find themselves. In the course of their duty of representing the state and of ensuring a positive service quality evaluation, they are required to manage and control their emotions and expressions to deliver satisfying public services.…”

“…A citizen‐centered model has evoked from these prior definitions, stating that “public administrators should fulfill their democratic responsibilities by faithfully carrying out citizen demands” (Liao, 2018, p.160). Drawing from this, many scholars conceptualized bureaucratic responsiveness from a micro‐perspective as a part of citizen‐state interaction (Alkadry, 2003; Balla, 2000; Epstein et al., 2021; Liao, 2018; Saltzstein, 1992; Yang & Callahan, 2007).…”

“…As demand for information on high accountability‐seeking topics has the potential to attract public attention, officials may feel a stronger urge to respond due to outside pressure (Busuioc & Lodge, 2016). In such cases, ignoring the request would prevent citizens from obtaining important information or from using a service they are entitled to (Epstein et al., 2021), and thus, create public salience. Not only could it give the impression that the organization has something to hide, but also that officials are lazy or dilatory if requests are ignored.…”

“…A request may involve an issue of high public accountability with the potential to generate high public salience, or it may involve an individual, private issue of less public relevance (Berliner et al., 2018; Michener & Worthy, 2018). In addition, not only the topic, but also the way in which requests are formulated can affect responsiveness (Cherry & McMenemy, 2013; Cuillier, 2010; Epstein et al., 2021). Especially in online interaction and digital discourse, the tone and style of a message have the power to polarize and shape the direction of communication (Anderson et al., 2014; Tromble, 2018).…”