E-Government and provision of public services: economic, social, and political determinants of citizen complaints

Abstract

Today’s technological advances have created new channels for the collaboration of local governments with citizens, who can perform the role of both partner and customer in public service delivery. This article examines an initiative in Barcelona in which citizens monitor and evaluate public services using a feedback system to register their complaints. Specifically, it analyzes how socioeconomic factors, political activism, and partisan alignment influence citizen complaints about eight urban public services in Barcelona. Using a panel of monthly district-level observations from the city’s feedback system for 2014 to 2019 and fixed-effect estimations, the results show that political participation is related to a higher propensity to complain, while economic status, educational attainment, and partisan alignment do not have a significant association with complaints. These findings are then considered and discussed in relation to a survey of citizen satisfaction with urban public services in Barcelona.