Testing Citizen Satisfaction in the Local Government: Focusing on the Vision 2020 Umurenge Program in Rwanda
Abstract
Public administration scholars and practitioners need to understand how citizens form judgments regarding programs implemented at the local government level. The expectancy disconfirmation model of citizen satisfaction (EDM) focuses on comparing performance and expectations and was found important to understand that. This study tests the application of the expectancy disconfirmation model of citizen satisfaction in the local government of Rwanda focusing on the Vision 2020 Umurenge Program (VUP), which is a flagship of the social protection programs in Rwanda since 2008. It predicts that satisfaction with the program may increase the level of citizen participation. Data was collected from 379 VUP beneficiaries of the program in the Gicumbi district of Rwanda using an online survey questionnaire. We applied the Structural Equation Model and correlation analysis to analyze the data. The results found EDM applicable to how citizen forms a judgment about satisfaction with VUP where there is a positive relationship between expectations and actual performance of the program (positive disconfirmation) and positive influence of EDM with VUP to citizen participation. The study suggests that the governments should take into consideration the citizens’ feedback so as to meet their expectations and their satisfaction which may increase the level of citizen participation.
Downloads
References
Amenta, E., Caren, N., & Stobaugh, J. E. (2012). Political reform and the historical trajectories of US social movements in the twentieth century. Social Forces, 90(4), 1073-1100.
Barkan, E. R. (Ed.). (2013). Immigrants in American history: Arrival, adaptation, and integration (Vol. 1). Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
Campbell, A. (1981). The sense of well-being in America: Recent patterns and trends. New York: McGraw-Hill.
DiClemente, R. J., Crosby, R. A., & Kegler, M. C. (Eds.). (2009). Emerging theories in health promotion practice and research. John Wiley & Sons.
Erevelles, S., & Leavitt, C. (1992). A comparison of current models of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Journal of consumer satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and complaining behaviour, 5(10), 104-114.
Greasley, S., & John, P. (2011). Does stronger political leadership have a performance payoff? Citizen satisfaction in the reform of subcentral governments in England. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21(2), 239-256.
Henríquez-Coronel, P., Bravo-Loor, J., Díaz-Barrera, E., & Vélez-Romero, Y. (2018, January). Open Government and Citizen Participation in the Web Portals of Ecuador GADM. In International Conference on Information Theoretic Security (pp. 1146-1155). Springer, Cham.
LODA. (2016). Vision Umurenge 2020 Programme (VUP): accelerating sustainable graduation from extreme poverty and fostering inclusive national development. Kigali-Rwanda: Local Development Agency
McGarry, A. (2017). Romaphobia: the last acceptable form of racism. Zed Books Ltd.
Morgan, L. S. (2013). Handbook of Causal Analysis for Social Research. Ithaca: Springer
Oliver, R. L. (1980). A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions. Journal of marketing research, 17(4), 460-469.
Oliver, R. L. (1997). Satisfaction: a behavioural perspective on the consumer. New York: Irwin McGraw-Hill.
Ongaro, E., Massey, A., Holzer, M., & Wayenberg, E. (Eds.). (2011). Policy, Performance, and Management in Governance and Intergovernmental Relations. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Pitkin, H. F. (1999). Fortune Is a Woman: Gender and Politics in the Thought of Niccolo Machiavelli. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Protik, A. E., Nichols-Barrer, I., Berman, J., & Sloan, M. (2018). Bridging the information gap between citizens and local governments: Evidence from civic participation strengthening program in Rwanda. World Development, 108, 145-156.
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling along: the collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon and Schuster.
RGB. (2013). The Rwanda Citizen Report Card 2013 – Citizen Voice on service delivery. Kigali: Rwanda Governance Board.
RGB. (2016). The Rwanda Citizen Report Card 2016 - Citizen Voice on service delivery. Kigali: Rwanda Governance Board.
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health psychology, 4(3), 219.
Van Ryzin, G. G. (2004). Expectations, performance, and citizen satisfaction with urban services. Journal of policy analysis and management, 23(3), 433-448.
Van Ryzin, G. G. (2005). Testing the expectancy disconfirmation model of citizen satisfaction with local government. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 16(4), 599-611.
Van Ryzin, G. G. (2013). An experimental test of the expectancy‐disconfirmation theory of citizen satisfaction. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 32(3), 597-614.
Van Ryzin, G. G., Muzzio, D., Immerwahr, S., Gulick, L., & Martinez, E. (2004). Drivers and consequences of citizen satisfaction: An application of the American customer satisfaction index model to New York City. Public Administration Review, 64(3), 331-341.
Wu, W. N., & Jung, K. (2016). A missing link between citizen participation, satisfaction, and public performance: evidence from the city and county of San Francisco. International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 2(4), 392-410.
Copyright (c) 2020 Pierre Celestin Bimenyimana, Moon-Gi Jeong, PhD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
