Making the Technological Transition – Citizens' Encounters with Digital Pension Services

Abstract

We examine in this article the impact of digitization on the provision of public services by studying how citizens experience the use of web portals in their pension planning. Based on focus groups and user test material, we elucidate five critical phases that each operate as an obstacle for citizens' further engagement in the digital self-service process: interest, access, comprehension, reflection and support. We argue that these phases and the obstacles they entail illustrate a transition away from a situation in which control and agency over the quality of public services is embedded in a dyadic relationship between citizens and frontline personnel, and to a situation characterized by more complex relations between citizens, the front line, and the digital infrastructure. We argue that this transition implies that citizens are required to possess a new type of competence that contains both financial and digital skills. Citizens who are unable to develop or acquire such competence are likely to be disadvantaged by the services. Lastly, we argue that these developments pose significant challenges for public administrations to ensure the overall quality of the public services.

Do-it-yourself services and work-like chores: on civic duties and digital public services

“…Public services often need information provided by the citizens for the public agency to deliver its services. As public services are increasingly digitized, more and more of the civic duties are delegated to computer systems doing tasks and supporting citizens in carrying out their part of the work [22]. New Public Management reforms require citizens to be ''more selfdirected and to take more responsibility for their welfare service, something which in turn has been central in reducing administrative bureaucracy'' [22].…”

“…As public services are increasingly digitized, more and more of the civic duties are delegated to computer systems doing tasks and supporting citizens in carrying out their part of the work [22]. New Public Management reforms require citizens to be ''more selfdirected and to take more responsibility for their welfare service, something which in turn has been central in reducing administrative bureaucracy'' [22]. The relationship between the government and the citizens is therefore ''increasingly … based on reciprocity'' [22] indicating that citizens are enrolled in the government's organization of work.…”

“…New Public Management reforms require citizens to be ''more selfdirected and to take more responsibility for their welfare service, something which in turn has been central in reducing administrative bureaucracy'' [22]. The relationship between the government and the citizens is therefore ''increasingly … based on reciprocity'' [22] indicating that citizens are enrolled in the government's organization of work. We see the same enrolment of customers in commercial services, e.g.…”

“…This shift towards self-service also has the effect that ''the responsibility-and risk-of obtaining adequate knowledge about one's services is increasingly placed at the hands of citizens'' [22] or customers. When the work task is a simple transaction [23], obtaining the necessary knowledge is easy; however, in complex services this is more difficult.…”

“…When the work task is a simple transaction [23], obtaining the necessary knowledge is easy; however, in complex services this is more difficult. Breit and Salomon [22] argue that the complexity of the governmental system surrounding a public service makes it very difficult for the citizens to obtain ''adequate knowledge'', and this may increase the digital divide in society between those who obtain such knowledge and those who don't. This makes the human call advisor an essential part of a digital public service providing the contextual ''adequate knowledge'' for interpreting and carrying out the delegated work tasks in the correct way.…”