The influence of user centricity in digital public services on citizens’ trust in the national government

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The influence of user centricity in digital public

services on citizens’ trust in the national

government

Public Administration Master Thesis 14-08-2020

Ewoud van den Hazel S1563416

Public Administration

International & European Governance Universiteit Leiden

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Preface

In September 2020, I started the master program Public Administration with International & European Governance as a specialization. In earlier education, I was always interested in digital technologies and what their development means for society. As an elective in this master program, I chose the course data-driven policymaking and this encouraged me to do my thesis on a digitalization subject. Shortly after the end of this course, I enrolled in the thesis capstone digitalization with dr. Ingrams as supervisor. Most courses and literature I read on digitalization discussed the benefits of its implementations. But there are also often quite some downsides. This intrigued me and made me want to write a thesis on this discussion on digitalization.

In this thesis, my goal was to find out what digitalization truly means for society. People see the use and benefits of technologies very differently. Therefore, I wanted to find out what does make that these technologies are useful, and what not.

I want to thank my supervisor dr. Ingrams for the advice he has given me. The suggestions and guidance of dr. Ingrams were a big help. Furthermore, I want to thank all other teachers of the master Public Administration at Leiden University, for giving me the knowledge necessary to write this thesis and for a very interesting year. I also want to thank my family for supporting me, listening and giving good suggestions.

Ewoud van den Hazel Leiden, 14-08-2020

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Abstract

In this thesis, the influence of user centricity of digital public services as a part of e-government on the trust of citizens on the national government is analyzed. Previous studies have shown support for the idea that the use of e-government leads to more trust of citizens in the national government. This thesis aims to contribute on the knowledge on the effects of e-government on trust of citizens in the national government, by analyzing e-government from a different perspective. Here, instead of analyzing the use of e-government as an influence for trust in the national government, characteristics important for citizens were analyzed in order to find a relationship between e-government and the trust of citizens in the national government. This makes that this thesis tried to answer the question whether online availability, usability and mobile friendliness of digital public services influence to trust of citizens in the national government. These three concepts indicate the level of user centricity of the digital public services, meaning in what level the digital public services are easy and sufficient to use. In order to find out whether there is a relationship between the user centricity of digital public service and the trust of citizens in the national government, a cross-sectional research was carried out for the member states of the European Union in 2017. In this analysis, data from the Eurobarometer and key indicators of the Digital Agenda were used. With these data, multiple regression models were made. Although the user centricity of digital public services and trust of citizens in the national government correlate, the regression models showed no support for the idea that the user centricity of digital public services has an influence on the trust of citizens in the national government. Further research is needed to identify what elements of digital public services are important for citizens and whether this leads to more trust of citizens in the national government.

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Tables

Table 1 Impact of ICT on public sector values (Bannister & Connolly, 2014, p. 125) ... 13

Table 2 Implications of ICT for ethical public service values (Busch & Henriksen, 2018, p. 9) ... 16

Table 3 Implications of ICT for democratic public service values (Busch & Henriksen, 2018, p. 10) ... 18

Table 4 List of variables ... 34

Table 5 List of regression models ... 36

Table 6 Descriptive statistics variables ... 37

Table 7 Correlation matrix ... 38

Table 8 Normality check citizens’ trust in national government ... 39

Table 9 Regression model 1 ... 40

Figures

Figure 1 Conceptual Model satisfaction and trust (Welch, Hinnant & Moon, 2005) ... 20

Figure 2 Regular internet users (European Commission, n.d.-b) ... 23

Figure 3 Frequent internet users (European Commission, n.d.-b) ... 23

Figure 4 Use of mobile phone for internet (European Commission, n.d.-b) ... 24

Figure 5 Conceptual Model ... 25

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Introduction

The case of digitalization in the public sector

Fast changes in the information and communication technologies made that the amount of e-government implemented by e-governments increases (Porumbescu, 2016). As soon as digital technologies became cheaper, smaller and more powerful and networks such as the internet were established, information could be communicated, stored and processed far more easily. This enabled changes in social infrastructures (Tilson, Lyytinen & Sørensen, 2010). While the private sector and science successfully implement the application of big data, the public sector is falling behind (Klievink, Romijn, Cunningham & De Bruijn, 2016). A study on Dutch public organizations, conducted by Klievink, Romijn, Cunningham & De Bruijn (2016), found that these public organizations often have the technological capacity to use big data, as a component of digitalization, but do not gain any benefit from the use of data when the use does not fit the organization and its tasks. The right use of digitalized technology is therefore very important in the public sector. Furthermore, a steady decline in the trust of citizens in the government (Welch, Hinnant & Moon, 2005) makes that governments have an incentive to renew their public administration and win back the trust of the citizens. New technological possibilities, a critical society and the thrive for modernization in the public sector make for an interesting topic to analyze. Questions like what are the implications of the technological possibilities for the public sector, how can citizens be convinced of new applications of technology and what changes are improving the public sector, or maybe worsen it, become very important.

In this thesis, the effects of the digitalization of the public sector in the form of user centricity of digital public services on the trust of citizens in the national government is analyzed. To clarify the outline of this thesis: the user centricity measures to what extent digital public services meet the expectations of citizens. It consists of three components. These are the availability, usability and mobile friendliness of the digital public services (Capgemini, 2017).

Digitalization in the public sector can have a lot of benefits and opportunities, such as making the public service quicker and more transparent (Lindgren, Mandsen, Hoffman & Melin, 2019), as well as making it more democratic (Bernhard, Norström, Snis, Gråsjö & Gellerstedt, 2018) and enhancing the accountability in the public sector (Reddick, 2005). However, there are some gaps in the knowledge on how digitalization influences the public services (Lindgren, Madsen, Hoffman & Melin, 2019) and how citizens perceive the changes in the public sector through the implementation of digital technologies (Ma & Zheng, 2019). Some argue that the implementation of ICT in the public sector leads to a society that is more rational and efficient, while others argue that it leads to less freedom and more control by the state (Hansen, Lundberg & Syltevik, 2018). Furthermore, digitalization makes that interaction between citizens and public organizations shift from face-to-face to digital interaction through for example internet. This could have a severe impact on the public sector (Lindgren, Madsen, Hoffman & Melin, 2019). The problem that is addressed in this thesis, is the discrepancy between opposing views on the benefits and disadvantages of digitalization in the public sector. The focus of this thesis on this problem is what the digitalization of the public sector means for the citizens.

The importance of analyzing with a focus on citizens

Porumbescu (2016) argues that analyses of the impact e-government have on trust citizens have in their government provide mixed results. Different degrees of support for an increase of citizens’ trust

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in the national government as a result of digitalization were found, as well as studies that found no support on an increase of satisfaction of citizens with their government. The trust of citizens in the national government is important for multiple reasons. One of these reasons is that trust is important for the vitality of the democracy (Warren, 1999), while trust reduces tensions that endanger the working of democracy. Another reason why trust in the national government is important, is that trust is necessary in order for the government to be seen as legitimate (Offe, 1999). The importance of trust in the national government by citizens is further discussed in the theoretical framework of this thesis. Furthermore, the aim of this thesis is to find new mechanisms between the e-government and trust of citizens in the national government, that can describe what increases the level of trust citizens have in the national government as a result of digitalized technologies in the public sector.

Regarding the role digitalization of the public sector for citizens, it is suggested that the use of e-government is not well examined from the perspective of citizens (Gauld, Goldfinch & Horsburgh, 2010; Ma & Zheng, 2019) which leave the questions open how e-government is perceived by citizens, and whether or in which forms e-government is wanted and could be used by citizens. This thesis fills the knowledge gap on this subject, by analysis whether how user friendly digital public services are and what citizens can do with digital public services, influences the trust in the national government. In academic literature, it is suggested that the use of government increases the satisfaction with e-government, which in turn increases the trust of citizens in the national government (Welch, Hinnant & Moon, 2005; Tolbert & Mossberger, 2006). In this thesis, it is tried to find out whether other factors regarding e-government have an influence in the trust of citizens in het national government. In this way, the goal of this thesis is to contribute to the existing theory on the influence of e-government on the trust of citizens in the national government. The focus from the perspective of the citizen in this thesis makes that this thesis has a contribution to the theories on the role of e-government, and especially the perception of digital public services by citizens. The analysis of these components in the form of user centricity of digital public services make that this thesis distinguishes from earlier academic work. In thesis, it is not the use and satisfaction with e-government that is central in the relationship with trust in the national government, but the characteristics and structure of e-government itself.

In order to contribute to the existing theory on e-government and the trust of citizens in the national government as described in previous paragraph, the user centricity of digital public services is analyzed. The user centricity of the digital public services indicates whether these services are focused on the user and are needs-based (Capgemini, 2017). This is broken down in three categories. The first is the online availability, which indicates the extent to which information on a public service, or the public service itself is found online. The second category is the usability of the digital public services, it indicates whether the public service is easy to use online and sufficient support and feedback is provided. The third category is the mobile friendliness of the digital public services, which indicates whether the digital public services can be found and used on mobile devices (Capgemini, 2017).

The unit of analysis in this research are citizens that participated in the autumn 2017 - Standard Eurobarometer (European Commission, 2017; European Commission, 2018) survey of the European Commission and live in member-states of the European Union that have been analyzed in the eGovernment Benchmark. These units of analysis will help find out what the influence of the user centricity e-government is on the trust in the national government. The analysis carried out in this thesis as described in this section can be concluded with the following research question:

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How is the trust of citizens in the national government influenced by the level of online availability, usability and mobile friendliness of digital public services?

This thesis contains different sections in order to answer the research question. First, the theoretical framework will be described. This will be done by review of important academic literature on the subject, giving a clear view on what the benefits and challenges of e-government measures are. This section will lay the foundation for the description of the relationships between the different aspects of digitalization and the trust of citizens in the national government. The second section will lay out the hypothesis of this thesis, which is based on the theoretical framework. The third section encompasses the research design, with an explanation of the conceptualization and operationalization of the variables and a detailed description of the research methods. In the fourth section, the results of the research will be described. In the fifth section of this thesis, concluding remarks on the research will be given.

The analysis of e-government and citizens’ trust in the government

In this thesis, the influence of e-government on the trust citizens have in the national government will be analyzed. The presence of e-government in a state is described by applying the User Centricity component of the eGovernment Benchmark and Digital Agenda Key Indicators of the European Commission. These components track the online availability of public services for different general life events, the usability of digital public services and the mobile friendliness of digital public services. Furthermore, it is a is a part of the Digital Scoreboard & Indicators of the European Commission that focusses on the digital performance and competitiveness of member states of the European Union. The Digital Scoreboard & Indicators consists of the Digital Economy and Society Index, Key Indicators and the eGovernment Benchmark (European Commission, n.d.-a).

In order to find out whether causal inference for the hypothesized relationship between the digitalization of the public sector and trust in the national government can be found, a cross-sectional Large-N Statistical analysis will be carried out. A cross-sectional design can be used in order to find out whether there is a relationship between between the main explanatory variable, which is the user centricity of digitalization of the public sector, and the dependent variable, which is the trust in the national government. Additionally, Large-N designs are useful to find weak and heterogeneous relationships (Toshkov, 2016, p. 200). However, by using a cross-sectional design to analyze the relationship between the user centricity of digital public services and the trust of citizens in the national government, it cannot be found whether an eventual relation between the variables is a causal relation.

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Theoretical Framework

In this section of this thesis, important theories and concepts on digitalization in the public sector are explained and discussed. A state-of-the-art literature review, as well as an oversight of the rationale of the expected relationship between the variables is given. This incorporates the influence e-government as an element digitalization of the public sector on broad public administration concepts, such as legitimacy and accountability, in order to show whether digitalization is truly beneficial to use. While digitalization is necessary for e-government, as well as that the concepts are sometimes slightly intertwined in usage in academic literature, the theoretical framework is used to give an elaborate view on digitalization in the public sector. Furthermore, it incorporates the possible influence of digitalization of the public sector on the trust of citizens in the national government, which is the main topic of this thesis.

Citizens’ trust in national government

An important aspect of this thesis is the trust citizens have in their national government. In academic literature, different characteristics and implications of trust can be found. Trust citizens have in their government is seen as a necessary feature for the public sector in order to be effective and efficient (Porumbescu, 2016). Furthermore, the trust citizens have in their government is a major concern for public administration, and its decline is important for leaders in the public sector (Song & Lee, 2016). Three components of trust can be identified (McKnight, Choudhury & Kacmar, 2002; Porumbescu, 2016). The first is ability, which refers to the believe citizens have that the government has the skills and capacity to carry out their functions. The second aspect is benevolence. This means that citizens are to be perceiving that the government acts in the best interests of the citizens. The third is honesty or integrity, which can be described as the idea that the government is truthful and sincere in living up to their commitments. An important concept that is related to trust is satisfaction. Porumbescu (2016) stresses that satisfaction can be seen as the relation between the expectation of a service and the perception of the quality of the service after the experience.

Two types of trust in the analysis of trust and government can be identified (Hardin, 1999). The first is trust citizens have in other citizens as a result of government institutions and the second is trust of citizens in the government itself. The first form of trust is present in the work of Thomas Hobbes, where it is argued that the government is needed in order to maintain order and enable well-being. The second form of trust is based on the idea of John Locke where citizens transfer their power to a government. This form of trust citizens have in the government is central in this thesis. Hardin (1999) stresses that it is agreed in academic literature that in order for governments to work well, citizens need to trust the government. Furthermore, Van Ryzin (2011) argues that many scholars agree that higher levels of trust in the government are a good thing. However, trust is based on the acceptation that the one who trusts someone, risks a potential harm which is exchanged for cooperation, while the trust can be broken. This means that there is a conflict of interest between the one who trusts and the one who is trusted (Warren, 1999).

Hardin (1999) argues that trust is a three-part relation. This relation can be described as: A trusts B to do x. However, he argues also that the trust is often based on the expectations that B has an interest that is set in A. In other words, B has a reason to live up to the expectation that is the basis of the trust. This can be for example, that B wants to be re-elected by A. Two assumptions need to be done

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in order for this relation to work. The first is that B has the competence to fulfill the trust of A. The second is that A must have the ability to judge B in some sort of way.

The previous paragraphs show that there are multiple factors that make the trust of citizens in the government important. First, it is necessary for the government to work well. Second, it is important for the government as they have interests in the citizens, such as re-election. Nye (1997) argues that there are four dimensions important for the level of public trust. These are the governmental performance dimension, the economic dimension, the sociocultural dimension and the political dimension. The governmental performance dimension indicates that when a government lack the ability to act sufficiently for its citizens, the level of trust citizens have in their government will decline. However, it should be noted that trust is a concept that is multifaceted, complex and ambiguous (Christensen & Lægrei, 2005).

The benefits and disadvantages of digitalization of the public sector

In order to analyze the influence of user centricity in digital public services on the trust of citizens in the national government, several aspects of digitalization in the public sector need to be discussed. Here, the benefits and disadvantages of digitalization will be discussed first shortly. Next, what digitalization means for important public administration values will be discussed. These values are linked to how they can contribute to make the trust of citizens in the national government higher. This link between the digitalization and trust based on the different public values forms the basis of the theory in this thesis.

The concepts of digitalization and e-government

The start of Digital-era governance marked a shift from new public management towards the incorporation of technology which introduced a new form of organization in the public sector that is primarily focused on reintegration, needs-based holism and especially digitalization of the public sector (Margetts & Dunleavy, 2013). A second shift introduced the second digital-era governance. This has been driven by the immersive use of transactional databases and social media. The implications of these technologies and the rapidness in which they have been developed triggered a new wave of changes in the public sector. Governments are expected to form a more agile way of working, which is supported by the use of government cloud-IT systems. Regarding digital change, the components that started in the first digital-era governance, were expanded in the second wave of digital-era governance (Margetts & Dunleavy, 2013). Furthermore, Hofmann, Räckers and Becker (2012) stress that e-government has become the standard way for public administration to organize their work. However, the question that rises with these changes is: what are the benefits of the use of digital technology in the public sector? Therefore, in this section the advantages and the challenges of digitalization of the public sector for society as a whole will be discussed. In order to do so, relevant concepts first need to be examined.

The digital-era governance represents the modernization of the public sector (Margetts & Dunleavy, 2013). This includes that there are several concepts relatively new to the domain of public administration. These concepts have to do with new technological possibilities and its application, and are briefly discussed in this section.

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Digitalization can be described as “a sociotechnical process of applying digitizing techniques to broader social and institutional contexts that render digital technologies infrastructural” (Tilson, Lyytinen & Sørensen, 2010, p. 2). Margetts and Dunleavy (2013) describe digitalization in the sense of the public sector adapting in order to completely embrace the use of electronic systems at the heart of government. In their description, it includes to adaptation of e-government measures to make interaction with citizens and business digital. Digitalization is seen as the main component of the modernization of the public services in Europe (Kirov, 2017). However, it should be noted that there is no academic consensus on the precise description of the concept of digitalization, and in academic literature there are slight differences in the description of the concept to be found (Kirov, 2017). The European Commission identified in 2010 four different spheres of public services in which digitalization can be assessed. These are the generation of income for states and governments, registration such as birth and marriage, returns such as health and social services and permits and licenses (European Commission, 2010). Digitizing in the description of Tilson, Lyytinnen and Sørensen (2010) means “the process of converting analog signals into a digital form” (Tilson, Lyytinen & Sørensen. 2010, p. 2). This makes that encounters that used to be face-to-face, now have the possibility to be digital. Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann & Melin (2019) use the term digital public services in this case, meaning that the interaction between a citizen and a public organization is taken place with the help of an IT-system. Moreover, public services use technologies that are based on the use of internet. Digitalization can help street-level bureaucrats with decision-making by providing information or by taking over a part or a whole process through automated systems (Busch & Henriksen, 2018). E-government can be seen as a part of the process of digitalization in the public sector. A definition that is often used is the definition of Norris and Moon (2005, p. 64): “the electronic provision of information and services by government 24 hours per day, seven days per week” (Porumbescu, 2016). Hofmann, Räckers and Becker (2012) describe e-government as an instrument which can be used to provide citizens, businesses and other administrations with information. In this sense, it comes down to the exchange between information between the public organization and the consumers through technology. There have been substantial developments on the implementations of e-government around the world. One of the motivations for using e-government measures is to improve the levels of satisfaction and trust citizens have in their government (Porumbescu, 2016). Nearly all states have government websites (United Nations, 2010) and many states have made a multi-year program to enhance the use and quality of e-government measures (Accenture, 2004). In academic literature, the consensus that digitalization has a severe impact on work and employment in Europe is growing (Kirov, 2017). Bannister & Connolly (2014) hypothesized the potential of a positive, negative and transformational impact of information technologies for different aspects and values of the public sector. These potentials, that can be found in table 1, show that information technologies have at least a moderate impact for all public sector values they described. Furthermore, there are also a significant number of high potential impacts. This means, that the implications of digital technologies in the public sector are important to analyze, as well as discus in society. Although it should be noted that these are hypothesized impacts and not all proved to be true, the idea of the influence it has, is notable.

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Table 1 Impact of ICT on public sector values (Bannister & Connolly, 2014, p. 125)

One of the consequences of implementing digital technologies in the public sector, is that it limits the amount of street-level bureaucracies (Busch & Henriksen, 2018). Street-level bureaucrats are public service workers who directly interact with citizens, meaning that they have a lot of influence in the working of the public sector and the execution of their job (Lipsky, 2010). Lipsky (2010, p. 161) argues that machines are not able to substitute the judgement of these street-level bureaucrats. However, the wide implementation of digital technologies in the public sector argues against the case of this claim (Busch & Henriksen, 2018). The change from interaction with people to digitalized interaction has been described as the shift from street-level bureaucracy to screen-level bureaucracy, with the follow-up of interaction with automated systems and algorithms as the system-level bureaucracy (Bovens & Zouridis, 2002).

The influence of digitalization in the public sector for public administration values

In this section of the theoretical framework, the influence digitalization in the public sector and the use of e-government have on public administration values are deliberated. Here, the values that make citizens having more trust in the government are linked to the what digitalization means for these values. This makes that a theory can be formed on whether the characteristics of digitalized technologies in the public sector lead to more trust in the national government. The most important of these influences are the efficiency that the implementation of new technologies can offer, and the implication it has for accountability and legitimacy of the public organizations.

Digitalization and efficiency and effectiveness

First, it is important to discuss why governments and the public sectors want to digitalize for their own benefits. Academic literature suggests that there are substantial benefits for the public sector in digitalization for the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration and governments.

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In different articles, it is suggested that digitalization in the public sector improves the efficiency of the public sector (Snijkers, 2005; Wihlborg, Larsson & Hedström, 2016; Giest, 2017; Busch & Henriksen, 2018), as for example, it reduces service lead times. Furthermore, seamless service over multiple organizations can be provided (Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann & Melin, 2019). Also, with the second digital-era governance, a push towards one-stop processes to improve public service became apparent (Margetts & Dunleavy, 2013). A large benefit of the use of digitalization in the public sector is that it can save costs, as well as improve public services (Busch & Henriksen, 2018).

Furthermore, the automation that accompanies the digitalization of the public sectors makes that the public sector is perceived more efficient and effective (Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann & Melin, 2019). Automation is technologically possible and by some authors amongst other things expected to replace street-level bureaucrats and to improve legal decision-making (Busch & Henriksen, 2018). The process of digitalization can be described as a series of waves with vast changes (Davidsson, Hajinasab, Holmgren, Jevinger & Persson, 2016). The first wave was the introduction of computers, the second the implementation of internet and the third wave being mobile internet. Currently, the fourth wave is taken place with the development of the Internet of Things, which enables the implementation of automated processes.

However, automation should be used with caution, while it is argued that it can exclude certain groups of citizens in getting access to some public services. This could lead to an undermining of the legitimacy of the public organization that is providing the public service (Wihlborg, Larsson & Hedström, 2016). Furthermore, Wihlborg, Larsson & Hedström (2016) argue that with automated systems, the individual discretion in decision-making is limited, which could be a loss for the public organization, while there is a trade-off between specialization and integration. More efficiency means less freedom in decision-making and a potential loss of specialized knowledge and choices.

Moreover, Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann & Melin (2019) argue that digital public services are often provided in order to resemble their analogue predecessors. In this way, digital public services are mostly public forms that are made digital. However, the authors also identify new forms of digitalization where the digital public services’ role as a mediator is exceeded, and not just information is provided, as actual public services are provided. However, Ebbers, Jansen and Van Deursen (2016) found that the sort of public service that is required influences which kind of channel is chosen. If a citizen needs to register, they choose an online channel in general. However, when consultation is needed, citizens are likely to choose an offline channel of the public service. This implies that the nature of the interaction is important for the understanding of the use and satisfaction of e-government.

Digitalization of the public sector enables citizens to interact more with their government and services are more integrated (Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann and Melin, 2019). However, there are some doubts on whether digitalization truly enables people to be more connected with public organizations. Some literature suggests that the impact of digitalization for access to the public sector can be for the better or worse (Bannister & Connoly, 2014). Bannister and Connolly (2014) suggest that the effect digitalization has on the equality of access is partially dependent on the consequences of the digitalization for the efficiency and economy. They argue that governments that seek to reduce their expenses will cut off public services which cost a lot of money. These are often the more traditional channels of public services. With more people using digitalized channels to interact with public

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organizations, the traditional channels become increasingly relatively expensive. This means that people that lack the financial capacity or the ability to adapt to the new technologies will be left behind (Bertot, Jaeger, Gorham, Green & Lincoln, 2012; Bannister & Connolly, 2014). Furthermore, the use of websites for public service purposes has declined in some places, likely due to the lack of the in-depth capacity of problem-solving that website have (Reddick & Anthopoulos, 2014). It was also found that due to the complex laws digitalized public service need to comply to, public organizations encounter significant challenges in creating user-friendly digital system (Hansen, Lundberg & Syltevik, 2018). Another problem with the efficiency argument for digitalization, is that while it is often used, efficiency self is a dubious kind of value for the public sector. Bannister & Connolly (2014) argue that efficiency is not a value, but merely “doing things in an efficient manner”.

Digitalization and legitimacy

Besides an increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector, governments have more to gain for digitalization. One of these benefits is an increase in the legitimacy of the public institutions and the government. The legitimacy of public organizations is founded on the skills and knowledge of the people working at the organization, as well as the tasks it is carrying out in accordance with the law. These components, in combination with the presence of impartiality, accessibility, transparency and equality need to be implemented in the design of the e-government in order to maintain legitimacy (Wihlborg, Larsson & Hedström, 2016). Offe (1999) argues that the legitimacy of governments may be increased by governments receiving more trust. This makes that, while digitalization possibly increases the legitimacy of the government and its institutions, increased trust in the government in turn also increases the legitimacy of the government. Furthermore Offe (1999) argues that good governments make good laws and good citizens. These ‘good’ citizens, are more likely to cooperate with the government, while they perceive the government as legitimate. This underlines the relationship between trust in the government and its legitimacy. Furthermore, it is argued that the legitimacy of a democracy is subject to the quality of procedures (Grimes, 2006). Sufficient digital public services for citizens is therefore important for a democracy to be seen as legitimate. In line with the view on trust as described by Porumbescu (2016), the legitimacy of the public sector is most important for all three components of trust: ability, benevolence and honesty, while being seen as legitimate is subject to all these factors.

The legitimacy of a public organization is linked to how citizens perceive the public service. It is argued that Information technologies cannot offer the satisfaction for citizens, while it lacks the flexibility of a personal meeting (Jansson & Erlingsson, 2014). Furthermore, Wihlborg, Larsson & Hedström (2016) argue that in order to have legitimacy, the public organization needs to build trust by having a high level of accountability. This argument suggests that the values legitimacy and accountability in public organizations are connected. The benefit of digital discretion in the decision-making regarding public services, is that citizens are in principle treated more equally and decision-making is less influences by bias or coincidences (Busch & Henriksen, 2018).

Moreover, it is argued that digitalization can be for the better or for the worse (Bannister & Connoly, 2014), meaning that not all technological change is actually good. Digitalization that is for the worse, undermines the legitimacy of the public organization. As is stated in the previous section, digitalization could limit the legitimacy of the organizations by making it more difficult for certain groups of citizens to interact with the public organization. Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann and Melin (2019) continue this

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discussion by giving arguments in favor of more people finding the public organization through digitalization and giving arguments against this notion. The authors stress that people that have a disability or illness can be more in contact with public organizations through digitalization. However, they also argue that some people might find it more difficult to interact with the public organization, while the use of some digital services may require a certain set of skills that some people lack, or are not willing to equip themselves with. On the contrary, people that are comfortable with the use of digitalized systems are more likely to use e-government applications (Gauld, Goldfinch & Horsburgh, 2010). It was found that elder people and less educated people are less likely to use e-government and ICT-systems with public services (Gauld, Goldfinch & Horsburgh, 2010). This form of digital inequality is also referred to as ‘the digital divide’ (Ebbers, Jansen & Van Deursen, 2016; Hansen, Lundberg & Syltevik, 2018). The digital divide has two separate elements. The first is a divide in the accessibility and the second is a divide in the ability to use digitalized public services. However, in developed states the access divide is becoming increasingly less present, meaning that the divide based on the skills is more relevant (Ebbers, Jansen & Van Deursen, 2016). Furthermore, the idea of the digital divide is being limited by the increasingly extended levels of internet connection and use (Margetts & Dunleavy, 2013), meaning that the digital divide as an argument against the use of e-government is becoming less valid.

Furthermore, certain forms of decision making regarding public services require a high amount of professional knowledge. The trust citizens have in the staff of the public organization is crucial and if the digitalization can not meet the high level of professionalism that is required, the legitimacy of the organization has a downfall as a result (Wihlborg, Larsson & Hedström, 2016). The literature review on the implications of information technologies carried out by Busch and Henriksen (2018) found some interesting results regarding ethical values with digitalization in the public sector. It was found that academic literature on the one hand suggests that traditional ethical values of public administration are supported by the use of digitalized technologies, but that there are new forms of unethical actions that have risen with the digitalization in the public sector. Whether digitalization creates a more ethical public sector or more unethical public sector, is important for the legitimacy of the public sector. Other implications of the implementation of information technologies in the public sector are described by Busch and Henriksen (2018) as a result of their literature review as well. They argue these technologies can help avoid unethical actions, as well as enable fair decision-making. An overview of the problems information technologies can overcome in the public sector are shown in table 2.

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17 Digitalization and transparency and accountability

In increasing amount, evidence shows that trust in institutions depends more on processes than on outcomes (Van Ryzin, 2011). In the study of Van Ryzin, the public sector carrying out the processes correct means that people are treated fairly, without favoritism and corruption. While this is found to be more influential in establishing the level of trust citizens have in the national government than the outcome of the processes, it makes transparency very important. Transparency shows whether the public sector is working without favoritism and corruption and whether it treats people fairly. Furthermore, procedural fairness has been found to correlate with institutional trust (Hibbing & Theiss-Morse, 2001; Grimes, 2006). The benefits of digitalization for the transparency of the public sector can therefore in this way contribute to the level of trust citizens have in the national government.

It is argued that the digitalization of the public service leads to an increase in transparency, as digitalization enables interactions between citizens and public organizations that are simple, secure, rapid and free from corruption (Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann & Melin, 2019). Furthermore, Information Technology can lead to radical new ways of transparency (Bannister & Connolly, 2014). These forms of technology change the form of the public debate and created new possibilities.

The transparency of the interaction makes that public organizations are more accountable. However, digitalization could also limit the accountability of the public sector. Lingren, Madsen, Hofmann & Melin (2019) argue that with digitalization, there are more interaction with programmed systems as an artefact. This means that for citizens, it may be more difficult to assess which decisions are made by a system and which decisions are made by a human. Furthermore, it is argued that digitalization and social media can increase transparency by opening up decision-making through digital technologies as well as enable scrutiny and digital places for citizens to discuss (Bernhard, Norström, Snis, Gråsjö & Gellerstedt, 2018).

Furthermore, on the one hand it is argued that digitalization enhances the accountability by reducing the discretionary power of street-level bureaucrats (Reddick, 2005). On the other hand, it is suggested that this perception is only shared by people in management roles (Pithouse, Broadhurst, Hall, Pechover, Wastell & White, 2012). Additionally, Pithouse et al. (2012) found that the implementation of information technologies in the public sector could lead to more disguised actions, which would hide behind the apparent forms of digital accountability. Moreover, Smit, Noorman and Martin (2010) found that through automation that is complex, responsibility can become more blurred, and therefore limiting the genuine accountability process. This shows that there are some significant challenges digitalization has to overcome in order to provide sufficient accountability. The importance of fairness for trust as discussed by Van Ryzin (2011), Hibbing & Theiss-Morse (2001) and Grimes (2006) suggests that there is a chance for digitalization in the public sector to improve trust by addressing these components of transparency and accountability within digitalized technologies. As discussed by Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann and Melin (2019), Bernhard, Norström, Snis, Gråsjö & Gellerstedt (2018) and Pithouse et al. (2012), digitalization of the public sector could improve the transparency and accountability of the public sector, and therefore lead to more trust of citizens in the national government.

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18 Digitalization and democracy

Trust of citizens in the government is important for the vitality, viability and stability of democracy (Warren, 1999). However, Warren (1999) also argues that there is tension between democracy and trust as a result of the risks of politics. Therefore, protections and assurances that reduce this tension should be implemented in institutions. While digitalization may reduce these tensions, it can be argued that it can help in increasing the level of trust citizens have in the national government. Academic literature on e-government suggests that digitalized technologies can limit the tensions on democracy regarding trust. Citizens can participate more easily, lowering the barrier for citizens to be involved in the democratic process (Marston, 2006; Robbins, Simonsen & Feldman, 2008) as well as that technological advancements have made that citizen can collaborate with the government more easily (Falco & Kleinhans, 2018). Furthermore, it is argued by (Bernhard, Norström, Snis, Gråsjö & Gellerstedt, 2018) that E-government can be used to promote democratic values. The authors stress that it is believed that digitalized participation of citizens has a motivating force as well as a lowering of the barrier for access and engagement of citizens in decision-making. In this way, digitalization and the use of e-government can contribute to democracy, while it is argued that citizen participation enhances the trust of citizens in governments (Milakovich, 2010).

As is stated before, digitalization of the public service is said to be leading to an increase in transparency, while digitalization enables interactions between citizens and public organizations that are simple, secure, rapid and free from corruption (Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann & Melin, 2019). However, the technologies used for digitalization can also limit the access of citizens to public services and can be used for control and surveillance of citizens (Lindgren, Madsen, Hofmann & Melin, 2019). Another problem is that it is argued that citizens do not participate in the democracy offline, as well as online (Bernhard, Norström, Snis, Gråsjö & Gellerstedt, 2018).

Busch and Hendriksen (2018) have analyzed literature on the impact of digitalization in the public sector on democratic values as well. They found that empirical articles have inconclusive findings. While some academics find that digitalization enhances the democratic values in the public sector, other academics find that these technologies weaken democratic values in the public sector. An overview of the solutions digitalization in the public sector can offer for problems regarding the democratic values in the public sector are shown in table 3.

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19 Digitalization and privacy and security

McKnight, Choudhurg & Kacmar (2002) argue that trust is central for consumers of digitalized technologies to diminish the perceptions of insecurity and risk. The authors stress that trust makes that people are willing to share personal information. In their study, the authors analyze the initial trust, which means the trust in someone who the actor does not have any meaningful information about. Here, the trustworthiness of the one receiving the information is important for the actor sharing his or her information. This view on trust makes sure that the security is sufficient, can be aligned with assessing the integrity of the one to be trusted. Consequently, it can be argued that the integrity component of trust is important for the perception citizens have of the security of digitalized technologies.

In the academic literature on e-government and the perception of it of citizens, not a lot is written about the security of the systems, how the citizens perceive the security and what that means for the support of e-government measure. However, a digitalized public sector does have some concerns regarding the safeguarding of the security of the system and data. It is argued that digitalization in the public sector faces challenges on privacy and security (Bertot et al., 2014; Klievink, Romijn, Cunningham & De Bruijn, 2017). Klievink, Romijn, Cunningham & De Bruijn (2017) argue that public organizations should not start with the use of big data unless they are ready for the use and aware of the possibilities and dangers of breaches of privacy and data. This implies that before governments can really implement e-government, especially with automation incorporated, they need to be sure that the systems used are safe.

Digitalization and citizens’ trust

The benefits of digitalization described in the previous section also help to establish a theory on why digitalization might increase the trust of citizens in the national government. In this section, it is shown what digitalization means for different forms of values for public administration and what these values mean for the trust of citizens in the national government. As digitalization has such an increasing effect to a substantial amount of these important values, it must in theory also increase the trust citizens have in the national government.

Additionally, in the mid-zeroes, Welch, Hinnant and Moon (2005) wrote that public trust in government had been declining for four decades. Television campaigning by politicians caused that people felt more distance between themselves and the politicians (Nye, 1997) and this seems to be a substantive element of the decline in trust citizens have in their government (Welch, Hinnant & Moon, 2005). However, fourteen years later, Krøtel (2018) stresses that with the recent quick digitization of public services, the question how these digitizations are perceived by citizens remains unanswered. This implies that the effects digitalization has on trust and satisfaction is not yet entirely clear. It can be argued that successful digitalization of the public sector has a positive effect on the trust citizens have in the national government (Milakovich, 2010), while (Margetts & Dunleavy, 2013), citizens and businesses can directly voice any concerns they have (Lodge & Wegrich, 2015). Furthermore, it has been found that the interaction between satisfaction and trust is recursive, implying that trust leads to satisfaction, and satisfaction leads to trust. This means that people who are satisfied with the digital part of their government are more likely to trust their government and

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people who trust their government are more likely to be satisfied with the digital part of their government (Welch, Hinnant & Moon, 2005; Tolbert & Mossberger, 2006), as well as that the quality of the digital interaction with the government is important for the positive effect on trust in the government (Parent, Vandebeek & Gemino, 2005). The interaction of satisfaction and trust described by Welch, Hinnant and Moon (2005) is shown in figure 1, with the conceptual model they provide in their article.

Figure 1 Conceptual Model satisfaction and trust (Welch, Hinnant & Moon, 2005)

Although digital skill does not predict or have influence on the channel citizens choose, it does predict whether citizens are satisfied with the digital public service (Ebbers, Jansen & Van Deursen, 2016). It was found that the more digitally skilled citizens are, the more they are satisfied with the online public services. Gauld, Goldfinch & Horsburgh (2010) found that older people and less educated people are less likely to support e-government and ICT in the public sector. However, they also found that income level and gender were both not significant for predicting the support of e-government. Kolsaker & Lee-Kelly (2008) have argued that the amount of use of e-governments influences the satisfaction with these technologies. Gauld, Goldfinch & Horsburgh (2010) found in line with this argument that the amount of use of e-government measures does make that people find that information is easier to find. However, additionally they found that it was not perceived to be easier for citizens to communicate with the public organizations what their views are. Furthermore, it was found that people who use e-government more often, are more supportive of e-government in general, and the spending of public money of e-governments.

However, the trust citizens have in public organizations is what Welch, Hinnant and Moon (2005) describe as fiduciary trust. This means there is an information asymmetry and, an idea based on the principal agent theory. Citizens trust that bureaucrats are acting in their best interest. The authors argue that if the citizens are able to comprehend what the bureaucrat is doing, the fiduciary trust is enhanced. As is discussed before, digitalization limits the discretion of the bureaucrats. This could lead to a reduction of the fiduciary trust (Welch, Hinnant & Moon, 2005). Furthermore, it is important to note that it is also argued that the trust citizens have in the government is reinforced by the digital interaction they have with the government (Parent, Vandebeek & Gemino, 2005). This means that

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people who trust the government, trust the government gradually more with an increase of digital interaction. On the contrary, people who distrust the government have a decrease in trust in the government the more they interact with their government digitally. Parent, Vandebeek and Gemino (2005) stress therefore that if politicians want to increase their trust with the citizens, they should do it in non-digitalized manners.

Furthermore, rising expectations of citizens is amongst one of the drivers of digitalization in the public sector. In order to keep citizens satisfied, governments thrive to make public service more consumer-like, have service excellence and accountability and invest in public-private partnerships to enable internet access and access to digitalized services increasingly (Acco Tives Leão & Canedo, 2018). Moreover, a study on the implication of digitalization on trust suggests that there are five problems which are linked to building trust regarding digitalization (Nelson, 1997). These are the security and reliability of the cyberspace, the identity and authentication, its confidentiality, the verification and the jurisdiction of the digitalized technologies.

Relationships related to the digital public services

Based on the review of the literature on digitalization and e-government as described in the previous section, a large amount of interactions that have a role in the relationship between e-government and the level of trust in the national government can be identified. As is stated in the previous section, academic literature on the benefits of digitalization in the public sector, and e-government in particular, is quite mixed in its conclusions. In order to lay out all relevant forces related to e-government and trust in the national e-government, several factors need to be taken in mind. These factors have to do with what are the relevant relationships between variables, as the relationship is at this moment. It has to be noted that technologies and their implementation are developing very quickly, which could mean that ideas and theories that are formed today, might be obsolete in the near future.

It has been found that the satisfaction with the national government is increased by the amount of e-government that is used (Welch, Hinnant & Moon, 2005). This implies that the level of development of digital components of public service and the level of open data in the member state lead to more trust in the national government. Based on the conceptual model shown in figure 1, it can be argued that states with a high amount of e-government use, have more satisfaction and trust of the citizens in the national government. The important thing in this relationship is that it is focused on how the government is perceived as a result of the use of e-government. This does not mean that the government is actually performing better, nor has it a normative implication on whether the use of e-government is good or bad for public administration, e-governments and citizens. It merely reflects the perceptions citizens have on the national government as a result of the use of e-government. Furthermore, the academic literature suggests that the convenience for citizens will be increased by more digitalization in the public sector. This implies that more possibilities in the use of e-government will lead to a higher level of trust in the national government. Lastly, it was also discussed in academic literature what the importance is of transparency through digitalization in the public sector.

It should be noted that in the previous sections, it was found that the use of e-government and the satisfaction of e-government are likely influenced by education, age, access to internet, digital skill and income. This makes that the relations between e-government and the level of trust in the national

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government are complex relations. A set of different factors, indicators and perceptions influence the use of e-government, the satisfaction with e-government and the level of trust in the national government. In this thesis, most of the factors that can influence the use of e-government and the trust citizens have in the national government as a result of digitalization in the public sector are left out. This is in order to make the analysis narrowed down and to be able to make a contribution to the system in play with e-government and the trust in the national government. To encompass all factors on e-government that have a possible influence in the trust of citizens in the national government is beyond the scope of this thesis.

The ability of the public sector in providing digital public services

Based on the academic literature on e-government, it can be stressed that the citizens are pivotal in the application of e-government and the successes of the implementation. When the e-government measures are not beneficial for citizens, it is not contributing to society. In this line, it can be argued that good e-government leads to more trust in the national government. There are several forces behind this hypothesized relationship.

First, the better e-government, the more it is likely to be used. The study of Welch, Hinnant & Moon (2005) showed that the use of government is positively correlated with the satisfaction of e-government, and the satisfaction of e-government positively correlated with the trust citizens have in the government. This makes that better and more available e-government leads to more trust in the national government.

As is stated by Porumbescu (2016), one of the components of citizens’ trust in the national government is ability. The user centricity indicators of the eGovernment Benchmark (Capgemini, 2017) can be used to map the ability of governments on the capabilities of governments on their digital public services. The availability, usability and mobile friendliness of digital public services indicate whether public organizations are sufficient in providing digital public services to their citizens in a manner that fits the current day.

Increased use of the internet

To emphasize the importance of good user centricity with digital public services, the increased use of different forms of internet needs to be clarified. In the last twenty years, the use of internet and more recently the use of mobile internet has been increasing steadily. The Digital Scoreboard of the European Commission (n.d.-a) shows the increase of the percentage of regular internet users (figure 2), frequent internet users (figure 3) and mobile internet users (figure 4) in the last fifteen years.

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Figure 2 Regular internet users (European Commission, n.d.-b)

Figure 3 Frequent internet users (European Commission, n.d.-b)

Figure 2 and figure 3 show that the use of internet, both regularly and frequently, have increased since 2006 from respectively 54,1% and 38,4% of the individuals to 92% and 86,5% (European Commission, n.d.-b). Although this increase in the use of internet is shown EU wide, the same trend can be seen in

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every member state of the European Union. The use of internet became more important over the recent years. In 2010, the Digital Agenda for Europe was published (European Union, 2010). The digital agenda was created in order to make sure that citizens and businesses have good access to digital goods and services in Europe, that digital networks have the right conditions and the growth potential of the digital economy is maximized.

Figure 4 Use of mobile phone for internet (European Commission, n.d.-b)

In addition to the increased use of the internet in general, the use of mobile internet has been increasing even more, albeit as a result of the implementations of new techniques. The data in figure 4 shows that in 2006, 1,75% of the internet users accessed the internet through a mobile phone. In 2017, the percentage of people accessing the internet through a mobile phone was 61,2%. The graph in figure 5 shows that this percentage has been increasing every year since 2006. This implies that mobile internet is still becoming more important every year. Providing digital public service is therefore not only a matter of accessibility and usability, but the ability of digital public services to be provided on mobile devices as well.

In order to ensure a sufficient digital transformation of government in the European Union, the European Commission issues the EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 in 2016 (European Commission, 2016). In this plan, the European Commission stresses amongst others for the provision of digital public services by default and digital public services that are accessible and trustworthy. Among the priorities noted in the action plan, is the modernization of public administration through digitalization. Public administrations should transform towards user centric and lean provision of public services. Furthermore, digital interaction should be facilitated, leading to high-quality public services. Digital public services should be available in line with what citizens need.

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Hypothesis

The previous sections have laid out several important findings on which the hypothesis of this thesis is build. The first is that the ability to carry out their function of public organizations is important component of trust citizens have in their government. Another important finding of the previous section is the increased use of internet in general and mobile internet, and how the internet has become increasingly important for citizens. It can be argued that the availability, usability and mobile friendliness of digital public services are important indicators of the national government being able to provide digital public services that are sufficient in current days. Therefore, these factors should make that citizens have more trust in the national government. This would make that the availability, usability and mobile friendliness of digital public services lead to more trust citizens have in their national government.

The argument given in the previous paragraph finds it foundation in the theoretical framework of this thesis. It is discussed that, although it also has its disadvantages, digitalization of the public sector has some substantial benefits for the citizens and society.

The hypothesis of this thesis is therefore:

H1: The trust citizens have in their national government is increased by the availability, usability and mobile friendliness of digital public services.

Figure 5 shows the conceptual model that gives an overview of the theory behind the hypothesis. The hypothesis correlates with the presumed relationship between the availability, usability and mobile friendliness of digital public services and the perception of the ability the government has to carry out their task well, which leads to more trust in the national government.

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Research design

In order to determine what the influence of user centric characteristics of e-government is on the trust of citizens have in the national government, a quantitative analysis based with data from the Eurobarometer (Eurobarometer, 2018) and the European Digital Agenda Key Indicators (European Commission, n.d.-a) has been carried out. Through a quantitative analysis, it can be found whether there is a correlation between the variables used in this thesis. In this section, the conceptualization, operationalization and research methods will be discussed.

In this thesis, the influence of four different components of e-government are used to find out what the influence is of e-government on the trust citizens have in their national government. These three components are derived from the Digital Agenda Key Indicators of the European Union. As is discussed in the theoretical framework, several characteristics of digitalization are important for the public sector, as well for citizens. The user centricity of the digital public services make that the digitalized technologies are sufficient for citizens or not. This makes the user centricity important for e-government measures. Therefore, the following concepts are interesting to analyze:

1. Online availability of e-government 2. Usability of e-government

3. Mobile friendliness of e-government

Multiple factors have influence on both the level of trust in the national government, and citizens’ perception of e-government. The analysis in this thesis will control for a set of indicators that are important according to the academic literature. The control variables in this thesis are the average age in the member state, average level of education in the member state, accessibility to internet, digital skill and average income of citizens in the member state.

Conceptualization

The first step of laying out the research design is the description of what the conceptualization in this thesis is. The meaning of the important concepts used for the relationships that will be analyzed, are described. The importance of this section, is to make clear what the definitions of the concepts used in this thesis are. The following conceptualizations are as described by the European Commission (2019a; 2019b).

As was shown in the theoretical framework, e-government is a way of exchanging information between the public sector and citizens (Hofmann, Räckers and Becker, 2012; Porumbescu, 2016). The concepts analyzed in this thesis make up for different parts of the broad concept of e-government. Here, the use of e-government is focused on the dissemination of information by citizens towards the government, as well as the provision of information and support by the government towards citizens. The usability of the digital public services focusses on the ease of the interactions and the convenience for citizens.

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These concepts are derived from the Digital Scoreboard of the European Commission. The descriptions are quoted from the list of dimensions used for the Digital Scoreboard. The source of the data is the eGovernment Benchmarking Report (2012-2017), which are yearly studies carried out by Capgemini for the European Commission. Furthermore, the concepts have some addition supported with academic literature to describe the concepts more clearly.

 User Centricity: “The extent to which (information about) a public service is provided online, how the online journey is supported and if public websites are mobile friendly.” The user centricity indicates whether digital public services focus on the user, and are needs-based. The user centricity measures to what extent digital public services meet the expectations of citizens. It consists of three components. These are the availability, usability and mobile friendliness of the digital public services (Capgemini, 2017).

 Online availability: “The extent to which a Public Service or information concerning the public service is provided online, and via a portal”. The Availability of digital public services focusses on the supply and extent to which public services are online (Capgemini, 2017).

 Usability: “Indicates if support, help and (interactive) feedback functionalities for the online public service are available”. The usability of digital public services measures whether there is support, help and feedback functionalities available online for the digital public services (Capgemini, 2017).

 Mobile friendliness: “The ability to provide public services through a mobile-friendly interface; an interface that is ‘adapted’ to the mobile device. The data collection for this indicator is done via an automated tool”. The mobile friendliness is an indicator for how many digital public services can be access through a mobile device (Capgemini, 2017).

Trust in the national government:

This is an important concept for this thesis. Trust in the national government can imply and encompass multiple dimensions. For the conceptualization of trust in the national government, the description of Porumbescu (2016), as described in the theoretical framework, is used. Trust in in the national government is therefore seen as the perception of citizens that ability, benevolence and honesty are present with the national government.

Operationalization

After the conceptualization, the variables need to be operationalized in order to make them measurable. Therefore, the operationalization is an important part of the research carried out in this thesis. Concepts can be operationalized in different ways, leading to different results. The operationalization of the concepts in this thesis is briefly discussed in this section.

Concepts used in the eGovernment Benchmark:

While the concepts on the components and use of e-government in this thesis are derived from the index of the European Commission on the digitalization in the member state, the operationalization will be derived from the Egovernment Benchmark carried out by Capgemini (2017) as well. In the report, it is stated that the benchmarking is carried out through ‘mystery shopping’. This means that people are being trained and instructed to observe, experience and measure the process of the digital

The influence of user centricity in digital public services on citizens’ trust in the national government