Citizens' attitudes towards the digitalisation of public services in contemporary Russia

Abstract

A digital government is relevant topic. It is associated with hopes for improving the institutions of public policy and administration. Russia has adopted programs for the development of the digital economy. So that, there is planned the transition to digital government in Russia. The transition to digital government is accompanied by several challenges such as control, centralization, excessive control, etc. An important factor in the success of responding to these challenges is the attitude of citizens to the digitalization of public services. This article presents empirical materials from a sociological study conducted in two regions of the Russian Federation: St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. The sample size was 300 respondents. The study is the empirical basis for a multistage study conducted by the author as part of the research team of St. Petersburg State University in the period from 2017 to 2020. The article presents the empirical material of the study and analysis on its basis of the attitudes of Russian citizens in relation to the implementation of new management models in a transforming social, economic and political environment. Since the article is based primarily on original empirical material, the presented references to other theoretical and practical works are informative.