Investigating Trust and Risk Perceptions in a Hybrid Citizen Journey

Abstract

Key public services are increasingly offered digitally due to different government policies. However, many administrations are still in a transition phase from traditional to digital services and the use rates by citizens present a concern. Trust is one crucial factor for adoption. In this paper, we approach the topic of trusting beliefs in relation to risk perceptions and along specific steps of the service delivery process in a hybrid service delivery setting. For this, we utilized a citizen journey as an analytical tool and conducted a qualitative interview study. Two hybrid public services in Germany, residency registration at a city administration and the enrolment at a public university, were investigated with national and international university students. This study delivers a proof of concept for the citizen journey to be used as a participatory analytical tool that can gain insights related to the design of public service delivery. Our results show that trust and risk perceptions are relevant for the citizens’ impressions of public services. Even though the interviewees perceived risks regarding the digital abilities of the administrations to provide secure digital services, they would still prefer to conduct them entirely online. This is due to existing convenience and communication issues, but also due to trusting beliefs in the goodwill and integrity of local German administrations. With this, we contribute to current debates on the citizen-orientation of public service delivery.