The Handbook of Public Sector Communication

20Public Sector Communication and Citizen Expectations and Satisfaction

Vilma Luoma‐aho, Laura Olkkonen, and María‐José Canel

Introduction

Citizen expectations change as society changes. As technology enables increased interaction and politics emphasize citizen activity, the myth of the passive citizen is giving way to citizens who ideally are “an active part of a common solution to social problems, bringing experiential expertise and local knowledge” (Durose, Justice, & Skelcher, 2015, p. 139). Though not all citizens are active, they all have expectations and experiences that frame their interactions, attitudes, and behavior directed at public sector organizations (Morgeson, 2012). In fact, citizen experiences are formed when events are assessed against citizens' expectations, a process that gives the tacit, subconscious cues that we call “expectations” a central role in shaping the way in which individual citizens perceive public organizations' actions and communication (Castelo et al., 2015; Dolan, Hallsworth, Halpern, King, & Vlaev, 2010). Expectations also contribute to citizens' perceptions about public service quality, and thus expectations that are too high may actually backfire as citizens experience lower levels of satisfaction (Font & Navarro, 2013; Poister & Thomas, 2011) or a loss of trust, while the organization experiences a loss of reputational capital (Luoma‐aho, 2007).

Currently, traditional forms of mediatization and bureaucratic organization (Fredriksson, ...