The Handbook of Public Sector Communication

18Citizen Engagement and Public Sector Communication

Paloma Piqueiras, María‐José Canel, and Vilma Luoma‐aho

Introduction

Public sector organizations cannot exist in an environment in which they do not interact with citizens, as they exist to serve the common good. Globally, citizen engagement has become a central aim for public management, based on the assumption that involving those who are served is vital for a thriving society (Bowden, Luoma‐aho, & Naumann, 2016; Carpini 2004; Fung 2015; Tam 1998). Engagement is related to public deliberation (Carpini, Cook, & Jacobs, 2004), and its underlying idea is that public services will improve through collaboration with citizens and (Bowden, Gabbott, & Naumann, 2015; Bowden et al., 2016; Holmes 2011; Steward 2009). There is proof that engagement programs benefit society, and “citizen engagement is no longer hypothetical: it is very real, and public administrators are central to its evolution” (cited in Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015, p. 666). In short, citizen engagement is about listening to citizens (Marlowe 2005), and public engagement is believed to increase citizens' positive behaviors—for example, positive word of mouth—that relate to public organizations (Men & Tsai, 2014).

The traditional approach to citizen engagement involves obtaining citizens' approval for whatever public sector organizations need to do to achieve their goals. In fact, “Whilst the rhetoric of policy makers emphasises the importance of citizen ‘participation’ ...