How responsive are government agencies when contacted by email? Findings from a longitudinal study in Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

This article reports on findings from a longitudinal study of e-government responsiveness. Of course, a key expectation is that e-government will improve responsiveness. The article presents data collected at three intervals from 2006 to 2013 in a simple exercise that involved emailing government agencies in Australia and New Zealand asking for basic information. A total of 790 Australian and 115 New Zealand agencies were ranked according to whether they responded to the email and, if so, the quality of the response. Performances over time were relatively consistent in both countries, but highlighted some concerns for policy makers, especially in Australia around the responsiveness of their state and federal agencies. In a perhaps worrying trend, the quality of responses declined amongst both Australian and New Zealand local government agencies. This study offers an important lens on public sector performance, raising questions of responsiveness that every taxpayer whose money is being invested in e-government services ought to be concerned about.