Abstract
In public administration research, understanding citizens’ experiences, perceptions, and behaviors in using public services has been a research theme of vital importance. With the increasing penetration of digitalization reforms underway in the public sector, the traditional citizen-state public service encounters have undergone fundamental changes, calling for more studies to delve into the intricacies of citizens’ experiences and attitudes in the digital public service context. This dissertation makes an attempt in this vein by conducting three independent studies that focus on citizens’ tolerance of digital administrative burden, satisfaction perception, and willingness to engage in digital co-production, respectively.The first study aims to establish an individual-level explanatory framework for citizens’ digital burden tolerance. The specific research question it addresses is how the Big Five personality traits, digital literacy, and trust in technology affect citizens’ tolerance of digital administrative burden. By administering a survey among 904 Chinese citizens, we find that citizens who are extraverted, less open to experience, and score high on digital literacy and trust in technology are more tolerant of digital administrative burdens.
The second study explores how citizens’ satisfaction evaluation is impacted by the transparency of AI-made decisions and the service outcome they receive at the end of public service delivery. By virtue of a randomized between-subject survey experiment among 575 Chinese citizens, the second study unravels the link between two types of decision transparency (i.e., rationale transparency and process transparency), two kinds of service outcome (i.e., positive outcome and negative outcome), and citizen satisfaction with digital public services. Our results show that rationale transparency significantly increases citizens’ satisfaction ratings, while process transparency undermines citizen satisfaction. Besides, obtaining positive outcomes from digital public service delivery can discernably improve citizen satisfaction.
The third study answers the crucial question of what motivates citizens to contribute to digital co-production. Utilizing a survey experiment among 503 Chinese citizens, the third study examines how extrinsic monetary and reputational rewards and intrinsic public service motivation (PSM) independently and interactively influence citizens’ willingness to digitally co-produce public services. The study finds that extrinsic rewards negatively affect citizens’ co-production willingness. PSM has a positive effect on prompting digital co-production when acting individually, but this effect turns insignificant and even negative when extrinsic rewards and their interaction items come into play.
On the whole, this dissertation makes the following contributions. First, this dissertation pioneers the extension of the burden tolerance concept to the digital setting and deepens scholarly understanding of the individual-specific antecedents of citizens’ tolerance of digital administrative burdens. Second, it advances citizen satisfaction and AI transparency literature and decodes the critical role of rationale transparency and positive service outcome in affecting citizens’ satisfaction evaluation. Third, informative experimental evidence is offered to shed light on not only the motivational basis of citizens’ engagement in digital co-production but also the interactive effects of different sources of motivators. Finally, the empirical findings identified in this dissertation provide helpful pointers for public practitioners on how to optimize the design and implementation of digital public services to better cater to citizens’ needs and improve citizens’ satisfaction and engagement.
| Date of Award | 2 Sept 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Tat Kei Alfred HO (Supervisor) & Bo WEN (Supervisor) |