Does citizen coproduction lead to better urban services in smart cities projects? An empirical study on e-participation in a mobile big data platform

Abstract

With contemporary development of digital technology and smart cities initiatives, citizen co-production has created a new government-citizen interface. However, it remains inconclusive whether such citizen-government collaboration has achieved the fundamental goal of improving service quality for citizens. In this research, we tested the relationship between e-participation as a form of co-production and service performance, using multiple large longitudinal datasets from a smart city mobile platform. The results of the analysis show that citizen e-participation, in providing service feedback, is positively associated with the clearance rate of urban service requests in subdistrict service units, after controlling for various factors. We also found that the effect size of e-participation on service performance varies between different types of city services. E-participation has a stronger relative influence on complex problems that may involve multiple agencies, than with simple routine services.

Digital Public Services in Smart Cities – an Empirical Analysis of Lead User Preferences

“…The survey adds provision of an extensive set of full-featured smart urban services, responsiveness and transparency of the services, and maintenance of data security and privacy as additional factors being crucial to SC success. Astonishingly, the respondents deem participatory elements of little importance for SC implementation contradicting the statements of Allen et al (2020) and Cardullo and Kitchin (2019).…”

“…With regard to the expected benefits, the study finds that cost, time and savings in C2G interaction are the most important motivation for citizens whereas unconstrained access to public service usage, immediate feedback concerning queries as well as multichannel interaction and interoperability also provide important benefits. Since it remains unclear how citizen engagement may improve public smart services in SCs, Allen et al (2020) show that the frequency of feedback provided by the users induced a higher clearance rate of public service inquiries in subdistrinct service units in general. Finally, in order to clarify the value created by ICT-based public services, El-Haddadeh et al (2019) surveyed 313 citizens in the United Kingdom.…”

The Challenges of Using Citizen Reporting to Improve Public Services: A Field Experiment on Solid Waste Services in Uganda

“…The results of our study also contrast with the tentative conclusions of observational studies about citizen reporting and the coproduction of services. Both Sjoberg, Mellon and Peixoto (2017) and Allen et al (2019) find evidence that some cities have made real efforts to respond to citizen reporting. While it is clear that many governments are attempting such approaches, the aggregate results of our study point to the importance of establishing clear counterfactual designs for research about impacts.…”

Two-Way Risk Communication, Public Value Consensus, and Citizens’ Policy Compliance Willingness About COVID-19: Multilevel Analysis Based on a Nudge View

“…Its advantage lies in helping citizens overcome cognitive limitations via interactions (Palenchar & Heath, 2007). Compared with single linear risk communication, TWRC emphasizes engagement, feedback, interaction, and cooperation (Allen et al, 2020). It allows citizens to digest policy goals and prospects via diversified interactions and dialogues (Weaver, 2014).…”