Mapping the consumption of government communication: a qualitative study in Germany

Abstract

Successful communication between citizens and government is critical for the effective implementation of governance. Although government communication is highly relevant to society, few governments fully exploit the potential benefits of the direct communication instruments at their disposal. To establish foundations for encouraging various forms of government communication, this article starts by examining its reception among German focus groups and thus offering general implications for successful, citizen‐sensitive government communication. The results suggest the need for better articulation of interests in government communication, such that they appear more egalitarian, closer to the citizen, and online—that is, successful government communication demands considerable proximity to citizens, interactive feedback channels, and systematic participation by citizens in political processes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Understanding the effects of perceived ethics failure, compassionate leadership, and communication strategy on anti‐government sentiment

“…Second, this study has taken the first step toward exploring publics' perceptions of government communication strategies by examining how people actually perceive and evaluate their government's communication strategy, as well as the significance of compassionate leadership. To narrow their distance from society, governments should seek to understand publics by integrating consultations with citizens into their communication activities (Heinze, Schneider, & Ferié, ; Ramsey, ).…”

Gauging the Rigor of Qualitative Case Studies in Comparative Lobbying Research. A Framework and Guideline for Research and Analysis

“…Therefore, past public affairs research has very much relied on case studies “that illustrate the broad scope of contemporary public affairs practice” (Moss & Tonge, , p. 166) to understand and describe the corporate policy cycle (Schuler, ). Although such illustrative cases often provide a convincing narrative for examples of public affairs (see, e.g., the special issue on case studies in this journal, 2009, Volume 9, Issue 3 or Moss, ) and set the stage for empirical research in terms of surveys (e.g., Murphy, Hogan, & Chari, ), interviews (e.g., Fairbanks, Plowman, & Rawlins, ), content analyses (e.g., Olatunji & Adekunle Akinjogbin, ), focus groups (e.g., Heinze, Schneider, & Ferié, ), or mixed approaches (Marland & Giasson, ), they are not apt to build theory. Instead, to generate theory, an empirical case study approach is needed (Yin, ) that draws from different empirical data sources and analyses.…”

After <i>Izimbizo</i>, what next? A participatory development communication approach to analysing feedback by the Limpopo Provincial Government to its citizens

“…However, these studies (Bonson et al 2015;Heinze et al 2013) do not address how feedback is conducted through social media sites to ensure a complete process of participation. The paucity of feedback in existing studies about community participation propels the need for this study to delve into the subject of the feedback phenomenon in online communication.…”