Public services quality, citizen orientation and austerity programs:

An empirical study of trends and evolving practices within Italian municipalities

Francesca Magno

Università degli Studi di Bergamo, e-mail: francesca.magno@unibg.it

Fabio Cassia

Università degli Studi di Verona, e-mail: fabio.cassia@univr.it

Abstract

Since 1980s private sector managerial practices have spread into traditional public administration,

with the aim of improving service quality and efficiency among public administrations all over the

world. Local governments have been particularly affected by this paradigm evolution, given their

proximity to citizens. Despite these 30-year efforts, public administrations (and, among them, local

governments) are often far from realizing the full potential of the new approach.

More recently, the current crisis and the scarcity of resources have been challenging the processes

aimed to enhance the levels of service quality and citizen-involvement. Given these premises, the

purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether the mentioned processes are still going on or have

slowed down due to the austerity programs. At the same time, this paper intends to investigate how

public officials perceive the current challenges. To answer to these research questions, a study is

presented, based on an analysis on data we collected from a sample of 155 Italian local

municipalities in May and June 2012. These data are also compared with those we collected in a

previous study in 2010, making it possible to adopt a longitudinal perspective. Moreover a

qualitative analysis on the additional large amount of information we collected from Italian local

municipalities in 2012 is presented.

Contrary to common sense, findings show that, on average, austerity programs have had limited

negative effects on service quality and on citizen orientation within Italian local municipalities. On

the other hand, the reduction of resources is stimulating several virtuous reactions, including:

reorganizations and rationalizations, extra-efforts of the municipalities’ employees, the adoption of

some e-government tools, and so on.

From a managerial point of view, these reactions may serve as best practices for other

municipalities. Nonetheless, some final concerns emerge due to the absence of a clear picture for

the next years, making it impossible to plan long-term interventions to improve services quality.

Keywords: citizen orientation, public service quality, austerity programs, communication and

marketing.

1. Introduction

Following the introduction of the “New Public Management” paradigm in the 1980s, public

organizations have been striving to pursue two main objectives: achieving high standards of

services performance and enhancing the level of citizen-customer orientation and responsiveness. In

sum, public organizations aim to provide services that meet the expectations of citizens, while being

efficient and equitable (Boyne and Walker, 2010). In particular, given their proximity to citizens,

local governments have been deeply affected by these new principles, and most available studies

adopt their point of view (e.g., Van Ryzin, Immerwahr and Altman, 2008).

While there is no expectation that this trend will diminish by 2020, the effort and the success in

reaching the mentioned objectives is influenced by many variables and some of them are even

outside the control of public managers. In particular, the level of resources allocated by higher

levels of government is among these “uncontrollable elements” (Boyne and Walker, 2010). In the

current scenario, a reduction in the resources available to deliver public services is registered in

many countries due to the long-term austerity programs to meet debt repayments (Boyne and

Walker, 2010). Hence the adoption process of the “New Public Management” approach may not

necessarily be continuous and incremental.

Hence the purpose of this paper is to investigate the current and the evolving patterns in public

service quality improvement processes and citizen orientation within Italian local municipalities

through an in-depth study. In particular, in this paper we analyze quantitative data collected in May-

June 2012 among Italian municipalities and we compare them with data we collected in 2010 (and

2008) and which served as the base for previous Toulon-Verona conference papers. As a matter of

fact, conducting longitudinal field research approach is fundamental to identify such evolutions

(Pettigrew, 1990). We also analyze a large amount of qualitative material collected in 2012 through

open-ended questions to public administrators.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: first of all literature on public services quality

and citizen orientation in light of the New Public Management reform is reviewed; after that the

methodology and the results of the study are presented and discussed. Conclusions and limitations

complete the paper.

2. The evolving focus on public services quality and citizen orientation

Public services quality and citizen orientation are currently two central and intertwined issues in

local governments, since public services quality can be improved “by involving the people that use

them in their design and delivery” (Powell, Greener, Szmigin, Doheny and Mills, 2010, p.325). This

approach represents a result of the evolution process, which started with the introduction of the

“New Public Management” paradigm in the 1980s.

Before the advent of New Public Management, public administrators were mainly concerned with

internal economy, efficiency and effectiveness of their organizations (Brown and Pyers, 1988),

without a clear citizen orientation. “New Public Management” brought a shift from the traditional

focus on internal efficiency (Brown and Pyers, 1988) to accountability to citizens (Swiss, 1992;

Kelly 2005; Boyne and Walker, 2010). Thanks to this reform movement, public administrators

become concerned with collecting citizens’ services expectations and evaluations, and with

activating a “circular link between services planning, provision and performance, and citizen

feedback” (Cassia and Magno, 2009, p.335).

The role of citizen orientation and involvement has been recently emphasized by the principles of

the service-dominant logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004; 2008) and of the service logic perspective

(Grönroos, 2008). According to these frameworks, “in order for co-production or value co-creation

to be implemented, a pro-active behavior of (local) government officials is necessary because some

tools and resources to support interaction must be made available” (Cassia and Magno, 2009,

p.336).

In sum, on average local governments have been showing an increasing level of attention to public

services quality and citizen orientation. Nonetheless, the diffusion of New Public Management

within local governments is still neither homogeneous nor satisfying (Cassia and Magno, 2012). For

example, Dalehite (2008) found that only one third of local governments have systematically

adopted citizen surveys, which are fundamental for the implementation of New Public

Management.

Moreover, in the last few years, the emphasis on public services quality and citizen orientation has

been challenged by the age of austerity related to the current financial crisis. In this scenario,

citizens are still expecting increased standards in public services quality, despite budget deficits and

reductions (Leslie and Canwell, 2010). Hence local governments are facing a double challenge:

1) On the one side local governments need to introduce changes in their organization to deliver

“more with less” (Leslie and Canwell, 2010). In other terms they need to gain in efficiency

to deliver the same service outputs with lower financial inputs, resulting from a reduction of

financial transfers from central governments to local municipalities. Pursuing such

efficiency gains is risky, because it involves organizational changes (Politt, 2009). An

alternative way out may be a pure reduction in service outputs corresponding to the

reduction in financial inputs (Politt, 2009).

2) On the other side local governments need to preserve their citizen orientation and to

communicate with their citizens to explain the choices and the efforts being made. Such

interaction is also useful to avoid citizens’ over-expectations about services quality and to

reduce the levels of dissatisfaction due to the gap between expected and perceived quality

(Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985). Additionally, while the sense of crisis may be

quite short-lived by citizens, the reduction of resources may imply at least medium-term

interventions and changes in services outputs.

Starting from these premises, to authors’ knowledge, there is a lack of international studies which

evaluate whether the processes of citizen orientation enhancement and public services improvement

(which started with the New Public Management) are currently still going on or have slowed down.

At the same time, it is interesting to understand how public officials perceive the current challenges.

To fill these gaps, we conducted a study, which includes both a quantitative and a qualitative

analysis. As for the quantitative analysis, we collected data from a sample of Italian local

governments in 2012 and we compare them with data we gathered in 2010 (and 2008) to investigate

the existence of significant trends in citizen orientation practices and in public services quality

management. As for the in-depth qualitative analysis, we collected information from a sample of

Italian local governments in 2012 and we analyzed them with the aim of identifying public

officials’ attitudes and current practices regarding citizen orientation and public services quality in

the current scenario.

3. Methodology

To give an answer to the research questions we sent surveys to a sample of 1,500 Italian

municipalities (selected from the entire population of 8,101 Italian municipalities) in May 2012.

When this paper was written, 155 answers had already been received, giving a response rate of

10.33%. The average population of the towns involved in the study was 9,699.

The questionnaire was structured to collect both quantitative and qualitative data to have an in-

depth view of the phenomenon under study. For the purpose of the quantitative study, respondents

were asked to answer to several structured questions about citizen orientation practices and public

service quality and to express their attitudes towards the relation between austerity programs and

services quality in their municipalities. Many of the structured questions included in the

questionnaire, were kept identical to those we used in a study conducted in May and June 2010

(Magno and Cassia, 2011). This choice allowed us to make comparisons and reflections on

emerging trends, adopting a longitudinal point of view.

Also in the 2010 study the questionnaire had been sent to the same sample of 1,500 Italian

municipalities that was used in the 2012 study. In the 2010 study, 204 questionnaires were returned,

giving a response rate of 13.6% and the average population of the towns involved in the study was

9,7491. Finally, it should be observed that (up to now) 57 of the municipalities that participated in

the 2010 survey have sent back their questionnaire in 2012, as well. Data collected were then

analyzed through the SPSS software. Moreover some minor comparisons could be made also with

data we collected from 44 Italian municipalities in 2008 (Cassia and Magno, 2008).

Additionally, in the 2012 survey several open-ended questions and spaces for comments were given

to respondents in the questionnaire. The collected material was then analyzed to identify recurring

themes with the support of the software NVivo10, to enrich the interpretation of the quantitative

data.

4. Results

4.1 Analysis of the collected evidences

In the following pages the results are presented, according to the following order of issues:

-Trends in citizen orientation: adoption of tools to listen to and to communicate with citizens;

-The use of internal performance indicators;

-Impact of austerity programs on public services quality;

-Level of citizens’ understanding about the impact of austerity program on municipalities’ budget;

-The role of technology to maintain high levels of service quality despite resource constraints;

-Comments and experiences about balancing resource reduction and service quality.

After that, a synthetic overview and discussion of the results is provided, as well.

Trends in citizen orientation: adoption of tools to listen to and to communicate with citizens

Citizen orientation implies the adoption of channels for both listening to the citizens and

communicating to them (Cassia and Magno, 2009). Both in the 2012 and in the 2010

questionnaires, participants were asked to indicate the tools they had adopted in the past two years

to understand citizens’ needs and satisfaction. Results are shown in fig. 1, highlighting no

significant difference between 2010 and 2012.

Tools such as consulting hours, citizen observation by local government’s employees, and informal

contacts continue to be the most frequently adopted ones to register citizens’ needs and their level

1 It is reasonable to expect that by the end of June 2012, the 2012 study will reach a similar return rate.

of satisfaction with municipal services. At the same time low levels of adoption of citizen surveys

are registered both in 2012 and in 2010. Considering that citizen surveys are necessary for a

complete implementation of New Public Management, it may be concluded that an important

component of the new approach is still missing in many Italian municipalities. Overall, we found

that in 2012 the average number of tools adopted to gather citizens’ needs and their level of

satisfaction was 6.16 compared to 6.32 in 2010. Nonetheless this difference is not significant from a

statistical point of view.

91.0%

90.3%

81.3%

74.8%

66.5%

64.5%

41.3%

21.3%

16.1%

14.2%

94.6%

93.1%

88.7%

76.5%

62.2%

63.2%

44.6%

22.1%

15.7%

15.2%

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0% 90.0% 100.0%

Consulting hours

Citizen observation (by LG employees)

Informal contacts

E-mail

Public meetings

Analysis of complaints

Discussion groups

Citizen survey about one service

Social networks

Citizen survey about all municipal services

2010

2012

Fig. 1 – Tools adopted by Italian municipalities to register citizens’ needs and satisfaction (% of municipalities

which have adopted each tool).

Similarly respondents were asked to report about the tools they used to communicate and give

information to citizens in the last two years. Results are summarized in fig. 2.

95.5%

84.5%

71.6%

63.9%

49.0%

26.5%

17.4%

91.7%

87.3%

70.1%

72.1%

65.7%

23.5%

18.6%

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0% 100.0% 120.0%

Web site

Outdoor posters

Front-line employees

Brochures

Municipal bulletin

Newsletter

Other

2010

2012

Fig. 2 – Tools adopted by Italian municipalities to communicate and give information to citizens (% of

municipalities which have adopted each tool).

In this case, significant differences emerged between the data collected in 2010 and 2012. In

particular the use of the municipal bulletin dropped from 65.7% in 2010 to 49.0% in 2012 (this

difference is statistically significant, with p<.00). Similarly brochures were used by 63.9% of

municipalities in 2012, while in 2010 a level of 72.1% had been registered (this difference is

statistically significant, with p<.10). To further investigate this issue, in the 2012 survey we

included a question to verify whether the municipality had to reduce the use or cut any of the

communication tools it previously adopted. 57 municipalities (36.8%) reported such reductions and

cuts. Through an open-ended question, it was possible to ascertain that most of the 57

municipalities had cut the number of issues per year of their municipal bulletin and reduced the

investments in brochures and personalized communications to citizens (e.g. letters). Hence the level

of reduction in the use of bulletins and brochures is even higher than the one reported in fig. 1,

which measures only those municipalities that have cut such tools (but not those who have reduced

their use).

At the same time, fig. 2 highlights a slight increase in the adoption of websites (from 91.7% to

95.5%) and newsletters (from 23.5% to 26.5%). These findings may highlight that digital tools are

partially substituting traditional media. This suggestion may be confirmed by the fact that the total

number of tools used to communicate to citizens has remained almost unchanged in 2012 as

compared to 2010 (4.28 vs. 4.22).

Some further insights about the trends in the level of citizen orientation may be derived by

observing the percentage of local municipalities that have created their URP (Ufficio Relazioni con

il Pubblico), an office to be intended as a centralized point of contact between citizens and public

organizations (since 1993 some laws and recommendations have supported its adoption). Moreover

the presence of the URP may be a proxy of the level of citizen orientation and service co-production

(Cassia and Magno, 2009). Data show that in 2012 48.4% of municipalities have activated the URP,

as compared to 31.9% of the 2010 survey and 34.8% of the 2008 survey (even if in this last survey

the sample was composed by only 44 municipalities). Hence we can conclude that significant

advancements have been made on this point.

The use of internal performance indicators

Similarly it is interesting to observe the number of municipalities which have adopted internal

performance indicators, which are fundamental according to New Public Management (Politt,

1988). Following this approach, both external (related to the citizen) and internal performance

indicators are needed. As stated before, only a low percentage of municipalities use institutionalized

surveys to measure external ratings about services performance. On the contrary, data highlight that

in 2012 34.2% of municipalities reported to use internal indicators, as compared to 22.5% in 2010.

Again, a positive evolution can be observed.

Impact of austerity programs on public services quality

In the following section of the 2012 questionnaire, we asked respondents whether the austerity

programs decided by the Italian central governments had affected their municipality’s services

quality. 62 municipalities (40.0%) reported effects on their service quality and performance. We

then asked to all respondents to give comments on this point (the relation between austerity

programs and service quality) and we gather about 1,900 words of comments. We analyzed the

information with the support of NVivo10 and we found that the most recurring words were

service(s) (74 times), employees (34), citizen(s) (31), reduction (27), resources (20) and budget

(15), quality (12). Following these suggestions and through an in-depth content analysis, we

identified two main points of view, both focused on the relation among resources, employees and

service quality.

In particular the first group of respondents underlined that the austerity programs had reduced the

resources for local governments with particular emphasis on the number of employees: as a

consequence it was impossible to reach the usual levels of service quality. Some others state that

they preferred to cut “unnecessary” or “particularistic” services instead of reducing the quality of

those services that are fundamental and are used by most of population.

The second group of respondents stated that the austerity programs had reduced the resources for

local government but that, particularly thanks to extra-efforts of municipalities’ employees, re-

organizations and innovations, it was possible to guarantee (and in some cases even improve) the

usual level of local public services.

Level of citizens’ understanding about the impact of austerity program on municipalities’ budget

We further investigated whether public officials think that their citizens understand that current

austerity programs are reducing resources for public services, as well. This point is fundamental

because such understanding may mitigate citizens’ expectations about the level of service quality.

78 (out of 155) respondents reported that their citizens have understood the complexity of the

current scenario for local governments. Again, we then asked all respondents to give comments on

this point and we gathered about 2,100 words of comments. With the support of NVivo10 we

identified the most recurring themes. Again we found two clear alternative points of view. On the

one side, some participants state that citizens are able to understand the current general conditions

and the constraints for the local governments. According to this perspective, it is necessary to have

day-by-day contacts with citizens (especially in small municipalities) or at least to explain them

clearly the situation. National media support citizens’ awareness about the current scenario, as well.

On the other side, several participants indicated that citizens are unable or unwilling to understand

the particular conditions, under which local governments are forced to operate. This attitude is

related to several factors:

-citizens do not trust national and local governments anymore, due to past inefficiencies and

scandals; moreover they think that all public employees do not put enough efforts to provide high-

quality services;

-citizens do not know the procedures that regulate the functioning of the municipality and they are

just interested in having their particularistic need satisfied;

-citizens take the levels of quality reached in the past for granted and they think that it’s the public

administrators’ fault if those levels are not replicated.

The role of technology to maintain high levels of service quality despite resource constraints

Additionally respondents were asked whether they think that new technologies and e-government

services can represent useful tools to maintain high levels of service quality despite the austerity

programs. 118 participants (76.1%) gave a positive answer. We then asked all respondents to give

comments on this point and we gathered about 1,850 words of comments that we analyzed with the

support of NVivo10. While internet and technologies were two of the most recurring words (37 and

18 times), some other words emerged as significant: information (19), simplification (13), paper

(13), documents (8), elderly people (7), IMU2 (7). In general, a positive view prevails with a high

percentage of respondents thinking that the new technologies can contribute to maintain high

quality standards, despite the reduction of the available resources. These respondents are aware that

e-government services are useful: to enhance the information flow between the municipality and the

citizen, to simplify procedures, to reduce the use of paper documents and, in general, to increase

citizens’ participation. More interestingly, a few respondents reported that their municipality had

experience with several advanced projects of e-government. Among them, we found that some

municipalities in 2012 have created an online service that allows their citizens to calculate the

amount of IMU, a new local tax introduced in 2012, they have to pay. At the same time it emerged

that several municipalities are resistant and critical to the introduction of e-government services for

2 IMU means “Imposta Municipale Unica” and it is a new municipal tax introduced in 2012 as a result of the reform of

a series of previously exiting municipal taxes.

different reasons: the high rate in their population of elderly people that do not own a computer, the

absence of a fast internet connection in their area, the cost to implement the new technological

solutions, the absence of employees with competences to manage online services.

Comments and experiences about balancing resource reduction and service quality

In the last part of the questionnaire we asked respondents to express their comments and

experiences about suitable behaviors to balance resource reduction and service quality. We gather

about 6,500 words of comments. From the analysis of data, a general feeling of respondents’

discomfort emerged due to the absence of a clear view for the next years, caused by the continue

and fragmented interventions of the central government (the existence itself of some local

governments is not guaranteed for the next years). A day-by-day approach is then diffused. Data

show that the reduction of resources due to the numerous austerity programs of the last years has

led public administrators to focus on one or more of the following recurrent practices:

- rationalization of the expenses, to totally cut those costs that are not directly linked to services

provision and to reduce the other costs (for example, several municipalities have adopted energy-

saving solutions);

- reorganization of the processes for services provision, with a particular focus on the role of the

employees of the municipalities and on the contribution of the new technologies;

- new collaborations between municipalities to share the costs of some specific services; in some

cases voluntary organizations and private operators have been involved, as well, in service

provisions;

- increase of the local tax rate (in particular to support the provision of welfare services).

4.2 An overall view and discussion of the results

The results presented above make it possible to find answers to the main research question, namely

whether the processes of citizen orientation and public services improvement are still going on or

have slowed down. They also give a picture of how public officials perceive the current challenges.

In general, the findings demonstrate that, within the municipalities involved in the study, the

process of citizen orientation is still developing, thanks also to several innovations. For example,

while the austerity programs have led many municipalities to cut their traditional tools of

communication (the municipal bulletin above all), a new focus on technologies (web site,

newsletter, e-government, etc.) emerges. Moreover a pronounced increase in the percentage of

municipalities that have adopted a centralized point of contact between citizens and public

organizations, the so-called URP, was found (from 34.8% in 2010 to 48.4% in 2012). Similarly we

registered a significant increase (from 22.5% in 2010 to 34.2% in 2012) of municipalities that have

introduced internal performance measurement, as required by New Public Management.

As regards the level of service quality, austerity programs seem to have stimulated different

reactions among municipalities. While some municipalities have mainly worked on rationalization

and costs cutting, some others have also fostered innovations to increase their efficiency and

efficacy. In particular, several projects have been started to exploit the potential of new technologies

to increase the service quality and enhance the relations with citizens.

Finally the findings underline public officials’ concerns regarding the current challenges. In

particular, the absence of a clear picture for the next years is leading municipalities to adopt day-by-

day interventions and to avoid improvement programs in the medium term. Additionally the

difficulty in maintaining a trust relationship with citizens was signaled.

From a managerial perspective, it would be valuable to create opportunities for the municipalities to

share their experiences and best practices. As a matter of fact, several respondents underlined that

they were interested in receiving the results of this analysis, to get knowledge about the choices

made by similar municipalities to face the current reduction in their resources.

5. Conclusions and limitations

The purpose of this study was to verify the impact of the current austerity programs on citizen

orientation and on the level of service quality within Italian municipalities. Contrary to common

sense, the findings show that only in a few cases there were significant negative impacts on service

quality, and that generally the level of citizen orientation has not negatively been affected.

The results highlight that a great part of the municipalities involved in the study are positively

reacting to the new challenges, through rationalizations, innovations, new technologies adoption,

collaborations, and so on. Such interventions may also serve as best practices for other

municipalities.

At the same time, some extra-efforts are still needed to gain citizens’ trust and collaboration (e.g.

for example in using e-government services).

Several limitations of this study should be underlined, as well. First of all, the results were obtained

from a sample of 155 municipalities, which may be among the most innovative and sensitive to the

issues under investigations. Hence further analyses should be made before generalizing the results.

Additionally, the results should be interpreted in light of the specific Italian context, since they are

influenced by the normative interventions and by the austerity programs of the Italian central

government.

The comparison between the results of the 2010 survey and those of the 2012 survey may be biased

by the different samples involved, as well (up to now, only 57 municipalities have participated to

both the studies, while all other municipalities participated either in 2010 or in 2012).

Finally, future studies may evaluate how municipalities are reacting to austerity programs in other

countries, making it possible to make comparisons with our findings and to identify best practices.

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