Beyond Substantive Goals: A Framework for Understanding Citizens’ Needs and Goals in Bureaucratic Encounters

Abstract

This paper contributes to e-government research by presenting a conceptual framework of citizens’ needs and goals, with regards to bureaucratic encounters and applying this framework to empirical data. The framework identifies four needs (process security, relational security, discretion, and efficiency/effectiveness) and three goals (substantive outcome, identity-related outcome, and justice- and fairness-related outcome). These needs and goals guide citizens’ approach to bureaucratic encounters. The degree to which they are met may impact the efficiency of service delivery, as well as citizens’ satisfaction with the authorities involved. The framework may be used to analyse citizens’ strategies for bureaucratic encounters and their use of self-service systems, as well as to assess self-service systems, multi-channel strategies, and service designs to determine how they serve citizens’ needs and goals.