Channel integration in governmental service delivery: The effects on citizen behavior and perceptions

Abstract

Governmental agencies continuously work on the improvement of their service delivery through an array of channels. To improve service satisfaction and to reduce the cost of service delivery, channel integration gets more popular with governmental agencies. In a quasi experimental longitudinal field study, we assess how the integration of the telephone channels of three organizations affects citizens' satisfaction with government service delivery. The results show that respondents are more positive about the integration of channels after the integration took place. Further, channel integration has a positive effect on citizens' satisfaction, but does not seem to affect channel usage and channel perceptions. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.