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Does performance disclosure affect user satisfaction, voice, and exit? Experimental evidence from service users

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  • Peter Rasmussen Damgaard

    (University of Southern Denmark)

  • Poul A. Nielsen

    (Aarhus University)

Abstract

An emerging literature in behavioral public administration shows that performance information affects the perceptions and choices of citizens vis-a-vis public services and programs. Methodologically, a significant share of these studies relies on hypothetical scenario experiments, or they focus on citizen assessments of broader government entities that citizens have little or no direct interaction with or personal information about. Yet, among actual service users, performance data is only one among many sources of information, potentially limiting its influence. Service users might also engage in motivated reasoning, for instance, by questioning the validity and relevance of inconvenient information about service providers they are otherwise happy with, or whom they are responsible for choosing. In this study, we conducted a survey experiment in the field, offering true performance data to service users, namely parents with children in public schools. We consistently find little or no evidence that performance information affects user satisfaction, intended voice and exit behaviors, incumbency voting, or goal prioritization. These findings question the feasibility of using performance information disclosure to affect the judgments and choices of service users, with potentially important downstream effects on the incentives facing public service providers.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Rasmussen Damgaard & Poul A. Nielsen, 2020. "Does performance disclosure affect user satisfaction, voice, and exit? Experimental evidence from service users," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 3(2).
  • Handle: RePEc:bpd:articl:v:3:y:2020:i:2:jbpa.32.113
    DOI: 10.30636/jbpa.32.113
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keith Dowding & Peter John, 2008. "The Three Exit, Three Voice and Loyalty Framework: A Test with Survey Data on Local Services," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 56, pages 288-311, June.
    2. Keith Dowding & Peter John, 2008. "The Three Exit, Three Voice and Loyalty Framework: A Test with Survey Data on Local Services," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 56(2), pages 288-311, June.
    3. Aaron Deslatte, 2019. "A bayesian approach for behavioral public administration: Citizen assessments of local government sustainability performance," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 2(1).
    4. Étienne Charbonneau & Gregg G. Van Ryzin, 2015. "Benchmarks and Citizen Judgments of Local Government Performance: Findings from a survey experiment," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 288-304, February.
    5. Chingos, Matthew M. & Henderson, Michael & West, Martin R., 2012. "Citizen Perceptions of Government Service Quality: Evidence from Public Schools," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 7(4), pages 411-445, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Performance information; User satisfaction; Voice; Exit; Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Z00 - Other Special Topics - - General - - - General
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

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