Designing IT-Support For Citizen Advisory Services: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

Abstract

In public advisory services, the individual's satisfaction depends less on extrinsic factors (e.g., monetary rewards) than on their inner needs fulfillment. Currently used IT-systems supporting citizen advisory services neglect these intrinsic needs of their users, hence insufficiently fostering their satisfaction. In this article, we aim to close this gap by assessing the design requirements needed to develop valueadded IT-systems supporting citizen advisory services. We argue that previous developments of design requirements for correspondent IT-systems neglect the users' motives and focus merely on their actions. We thus refer to self-determination theory as a theoretical lens to analyze current literature on how to design adequate IT-systems fostering users' basic needs. In doing so, we introduce design goals and demonstrate to what extent they are fulfilled when these design requirements are implemented in a realworld IT-system that supports citizen advisory services. We follow a design science approach, in which the previously elaborated requirements are implemented in a software prototype, and are then evaluated qualitatively in two user studies with real-world advisors and citizens to assess their suitability relative to the design goals. Our results show that this approach promises to reveal the design requirements that matter in citizen counseling, signifying an important step toward developing a conceptual IT systems design theory.Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-97302 Accepted Version Originally published at: Giesbrecht, Tobias; Pfister, Joachim; Schwabe, Gerhard (2013). Designing IT-support for citizen advisory services: A self-determination theory perspective. e-Service Journal, 9(1):60-84. DESIGNING IT-SUPPORT FOR CITIZEN ADVISORY SERVICES:A SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY PERSPECTIVE MOTIVATION AND BACKGROUNDIT-enabled work practices are commonly used in public administration's front and back offices, and continue to flourish due to numerous e-government initiatives. Despite all self-service offers put forward by the different governments worldwide, the personal service encounter of citizens with their government represented by public employees is still of immense importance. In this context, appropriate IT-based support has to keep up with the changing needs of the citizens and with the continuous modernization of the public administration.In this article, we focus on face-to-face counseling services, where citizens seek advice from public administration's employees to resolve their government-related issues when they enter a novel life circumstance e.g., expecting a child or moving into a new town. We refer to this face-to-face counseling encounter between a citizen and a public administration's employee as citizen advisory service. Citizens, which call upon these services, aspire to holistically enhance their current social situation, e.g., expecting a child or moving into a new town. They seek advice as they ofte...

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