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Surfacing the Submerged State: Operational Transparency Increases Trust in and Engagement with Government

Author

Listed:
  • Ryan W. Buell

    (Harvard Business School, Technology and Operations Management Unit)

  • Ethan Porter

    (George Washington University)

  • Michael I. Norton

    (Harvard Business School, Marketing Unit)

Abstract

As trust in government reaches historic lows, frustration with government performance approaches record highs. We propose that peoples' perceptions of government and their levels of engagement with it can be reshaped and enhanced by increasing government's operational transparency - that is, by designing service interactions so that citizens can see the often-hidden work that government performs. Across three studies, we find that revealing the "submerged state" through operational transparency impacts citizens' attitudes and behavior. In Study 1, viewing a five-minute computer simulation highlighting the work performed by the government of an archetypal town increased trust in government and support for government services. In Study 2, residents of Boston, Massachusetts who interacted with a website that visualized service requests (e.g., potholes and broken street lamps), and efforts by the city's government to address them became 14% more trusting and 12% more supportive of government. Moreover, residents who additionally received transparency into the growing backlog of service requests that government was failing to fulfill were no less trusting and supportive of government than residents who received no transparency at all. Study 3 leveraged proprietary data from a mobile phone application developed by the city of Boston through which residents can submit service requests; the city's goal was to increase engagement with the app. Users who received photos of government meeting their service requests submitted 60% more requests and in 40% more categories over the ensuing 13 months than users who did not receive such photos. These significant gains in engagement persisted for 11 months following users' initial exposure to operational transparency, and were highest for users who previously had experienced government to be moderately effective in responding to their service requests. Taken together, our results suggest that revealing the submerged state through operational transparency can shape both attitudes and behavior - results with potential implications for a broad array of service domains where operations are hidden and levels of consumer trust and engagement are faltering.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryan W. Buell & Ethan Porter & Michael I. Norton, 2013. "Surfacing the Submerged State: Operational Transparency Increases Trust in and Engagement with Government," Harvard Business School Working Papers 14-034, Harvard Business School, revised Aug 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:hbs:wpaper:14-034
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ryan W. Buell & Tami Kim & Chia-Jung Tsay, 2014. "Creating Reciprocal Value Through Operational Transparency," Harvard Business School Working Papers 14-115, Harvard Business School, revised Sep 2015.

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    Keywords

    Government services; behavioral operations; operational transparency; trust;
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