Public opinion and the measurement of consumer satisfaction with government services

Abstract: This paper measures Canadian consumer satisfaction with six government services in two time periods, 1983 and 1988. A taxonomy of government services is developed based on heterogeneity of consumer needs and extent of consumer experience with government services. This framework is used to organize the analysis of regional and demographic differences between satisfied and dissatisfied individuals. Results of the study indicate that the majority of people are very satisfied with all six government services in both time periods. Variation does exist across types of services, and several regional and demographic variables are found to be significantly different across satisfied and dissatisfied respondents within each service. Sommaire: Ce rapport kvalue la satisfaction du consommateur canadien à I'égard de six services gouvernementaux à deux époques: en 1983 et en 1988. Il élabore une taxonomie des services gouvernementaux en se fondant sur I'héterogéneité des besoins des consommateurs et I'étendue de leur expérience avec les services gouvernementaux. Ce cadre sert à structurer I'analyse des différences régionales et démographiques entre les personnes satisfaites et celles qui ne le sont pas. Les résultats de I'étude montrent que la plupart des consomrnateurs sont trés satisfaits des six services en question au cours des deux époques étudiées. Il existe des variations selon le type de service et des différences marquées dans plusieurs variables régionales et démographiques entre les répondants satisfaits et insatisfaits a I'égard de chaque service. Many liberal political theorists maintain that “the will of the people” is highest authority in a democracy, and should be directly reflected in policy initiatives sponsored by the government of the day. It is important to understand the fundamental principles which underpin western liberal democracies when studying consumer satisfaction with government services. Given the exalted position granted public opinion in these countries, one can hardly dispute the premise that reference to the wishes of the people is correct. Summary and Conclusions Contrary to past studies, this study found no massive dissatisfaction with government services. Differences in satisfaction do exist and these can be explained primarily by experience levels and heterogeneity of consumer needs. In particular, a strong interaction between experience and needs indicate that services with high experiencelheterogeneous needs receive a low evaluation. Also, satisfaction evaluations remain relatively stable over time but vary greatly across regions. Demographic differences in satisfaction are generally consistent with heterogeneity of needs and experience levels. The relatively high levels of satisfaction found in the study would, prima facie, imply that the government need not be too concerned about improving public services. But two characteristics, heterogeneity of consumer needs and extent of consumer experience, are useful for the categorization of government services on likelihood of dissatisfaction. Public services must be monitored, and monitored differently, depending on the average consumer's experience and need. It is evident that, in the short run, lower-quality services provided to high experience/heterogeneous needs consumers are most likely to generate dissatisfaction and complaints and thus put pressure on governments. A more serious, long-run problem may, however, exist with services provided to low experience/homogeneous needs consumers. It is possible that these services may deteriorate very badly before consumers complain and hence corrective action is taken. On the other hand, perhaps this is the essence of government service supply strategy.     

Locating the Issue Public: The Multi-Dimensional Nature of Engagement with Health Care Reform

This research examines in detail the structure of the issue public for health care reform, drawing from extensive, nationally representative survey data tapping general attentiveness to news and public affairs, specific interests in health care issues, and motivations (e.g., personal health and financial conditions) to follow health care reform issues. We furthermore adopt a multi-dimensional approach to defining the contours of the issue public for health care policy, separately studying its cognitive, affective, and behavioral underpinnings. Results indicate only weak interconnections across these dimensions—measured through health care knowledge, holding strong opinions on health care issues, and participation in health-related political activities, respectively—and somewhat different structural and motivational patterns underlying each. Theoretical, conceptual and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.Vincent Price and Joseph N. Cappella are Professors in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, where Clarissa David, Brian Goldthorpe, and Marci McCoy Roth are doctoral students. Gathering of the data reported here was supported by grants to Vincent Price and Joseph N. Cappella from The National Science Foundation (Grant EIA-0306801) and the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Views expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect opinions of the sponsoring agencies.     

Resource allocation and voter calculus in?a?multicandidate election

This paper links campaign resources and voter calculus through a microeconomic optimization framework. I assume that candidate policy positions are fixed while personal valence scores and the salience of issue dimensions are malleable. Low valence candidates with many proximate competitors in the policy space will focus on building valence. High valence candidates who are relatively ??unclustered?? in the policy space will focus on manipulating issue salience. Resources devoted to diminishing others?? valence scores will increase as the number of viable candidates decreases. The model??s results are tested, where feasible, using data from the Democratic Party primary of 2004.     

Information Shocks and the Take‐Up of Social Programs

The causes of participation in social programs have been studied extensively, with prominent roles found for program rules and benefits. A lack of information about these programs has been suggested as a cause of low participation rates among certain groups, but it is often difficult to distinguish between the role of information sharing and other features of a neighborhood, such as factors that are common to people of the same ethnicities or socioeconomic opportunities, or uniquely local methods of program implementation. We seek to gain new insight into the potential role of information flows by investigating what happens when information is disrupted. We exploit rich microdata from Florida vital records and program participation files to explore declines in Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) participation during pregnancy among foreign‐born Hispanics in the “information shock” period surrounding welfare reform. We identify how the size of these reductions is affected by having a high density of neighbors from the same place of origin. Specifically, we compare changes in WIC participation among Hispanic immigrants living in neighborhoods with a larger concentration of own‐origin immigrants to those with a smaller concentration of own‐origin immigrants, holding constant the size of the immigrant population and the share of immigrants in the neighborhood who are Hispanic. We find strong evidence that having a denser network of own‐origin immigrants mediated the information shock faced by immigrant women in the wake of welfare reform.