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Central Government, E-Government

Citizen satisfaction with e-government falls in the US

By Robin Hicks | 29 April 2009

Citizen satisfaction with federal government web sites has fallen in the US in the first quarter of this year, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Government Satisfaction Index.

The report, released by the University of Michigan and e-government sponsor ForeSee Results, found that citizen satisfaction had dropped by half a point from last quarter’s all-time high to 73.6 on the ACSI’s 100-point scale.

The decline since last quarter may be attributable to high expectations for e-government in Obama’s first 100 days in office and to a fall in satisfaction with programme sites, which are sites focused on a particular federal government program rather than on an agency or department.

Programme sites overall decline 3 per cent to a score of 74, while agency sites (74) and department sites (73) remain on par with the previous quarter. Program sites may be suffering from a lack of attention, focus, and resources during the transition from one administration to the next.

“The appointment of the nation’s first chief technology officer, chief information officer and chief performance officer should be good news for e-government, as all have said they are dedicated to innovation and breaking through the red tape that hampers technological advancement,” said Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee Results.

“As a candidate, President Barack Obama [pictured] made his campaign accessible to voters, and as President he hopes to do the same for government. Change may have come to Washington, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Despite the drop, citizen satisfaction remains higher than it was at this time last year (72.4). Compared to last year, satisfaction with two of the four major categories of federal government websites, e-commerce/transaction (+3 per cent to 78) and portals/department main sites (+3 per cent to 74) increase and news/information (72) remains the same, while the career/recruitment sites category declines slightly (-1 per cent to 76).

“When e-government is executed well and meets the needs and expectations of the citizenry, it has the opportunity to be a real bright spot in a landscape marred by out-of-control spending and concerns about transparency and accountability,” said Freed.

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