What Makes Citizens Satisfied? : The Influence of Perceived Responsiveness of Local Administration on Satisfaction with Public Administration

Abstract

There is no other institution that people regularly have so much direct contact with as public administration, although people have different experiences with public administration. Some citizens feel comfortable when making contact with bureaucracy; some have rather negative feelings. Besides the factors ‘trust’ and ‘satisfaction’ with public administration, there might be one other relevant factor: ‘responsiveness’. Based on representative population surveys, this paper can show that the perception of administration as responsive is directly related to the user’s satisfaction with it, and that the main factor explaining perceived satisfaction with public administration is the reputation of the local public administration.