Citizen satisfaction is a commonly used key performance indicator in the municipal sector and is an important part of the municipal place marketing. For the municipality it´s important to strive for citizen satisfaction as it contribute to the positive image of the municipality, at the same time it makes the municipal activities improve. As there is no uniform to measure and account for goal completion for citizen satisfaction, this is problematic from a comparison standpoint. This study clarifies to what extent and how the municipality accounts for the goals set in regard to citizen satisfaction. The study also clarifies the differences in accounting for citizen satisfaction between the years 2014 and 2016 and if there is an increased popularity in accounting for citizen satisfaction. A model has been developed to describe the different factors that contributes to citizen satisfaction, and that the municipalities should have in mind when they set their goals for citizen satisfaction as to increase the comparability and transparency of the key performance indicators of citizen satisfaction. A content analysis have been performed that show the differences in the accounting for the goals set and the goal completion between different municipalities when it comes to accounting for citizen satisfaction. Citizen satisfaction from a municipality perspective is relatively unexplored topic and more studies should be conducted. Future research should be based on interviews of the persons responsible for choosing which factors should be accounted for when it comes to citizen satisfaction.

There have been various approaches to studying the effectiveness of government performance in public administration. While some have focused on broad organizational factors, others have taken an individual level approach by applying concepts and methods from psychology and behavioral economics. This three-essay dissertation continues this latter approach by examining the role of cognitive mechanisms in explaining citizen attitudes toward government performance as well as collaborative behaviors in the public sector. The first essay explored the role of detailed versus abstract mental construals in understanding the relationship between expectations of public service performance and attitudes toward a government. Type of thinking, when it fit well with the information about either how or why public services were provided, was predicted to produce more positive attitudes toward government than in the absence of fit. However, these predictions were not confirmed. The second essay induced either an abstract or a detailed mode thinking in participants. Because abstract thinkers are more likely to focus on the desirability of outcomes, and detailed thinkers are more likely to focus on the feasibility of outcomes, it was predicted that abstract thinking, compared to detailed thinking, would create higher expectations of public services and lower perceived government performance. The findings were inconclusive. The final essay, combining prospect theory and expectancy-disconfirmation concepts, proposed a new model testing the relationship between citizen attitudes and collaborative behavior. Using a cross-sectional data set of US citizens, the results revealed a predicted non-linear relationship between citizen satisfaction with government performance and co-production.

This study is a deductive quantitative analysis of perceptions of sustainable functions within a cross section of Swedish municipalities. It builds upon the United Nations Human Settlement Program (UN-HABITAT 2013) and their argument that the narrow focus upon economic growth have been given too much attention compared to the social and environmental pillars in the planning and creation and development of sustainable settlements. Therefore this report focuses on the social and environmental pillars of the sustainability concept and finds a clear relationship between the two and how the inhabitants of Swedish municipalities values their locations as places to live in. The study is conducted by a applying a quantitative approach on survey data from Statistics Sweden (2015), by creating variables which correspond to socially and environmentally sustainable urban planning theory and authors such as Healey, Masnavi, Habermas, UN-HABITAT, Brantz, Bramley and Power and many more. What comes out as most important is Citizen Participation***, Public Space***, Diversity*** and Public transportation*** which all increase the level of Municipal citizen satisfaction both with and without controlling for Education possibilities* (which also have a positive significant effect), Large city regions (City 50**) (also significant positive effect) with hinterlands and Unemployment rates*** (with a quite obvious significant negative effect). What stands out in the controlled model is that all coefficients decrease, except for Diversity*** which increase, indicating the importance of local services, shops, culture and recreation when other primary needs are covered. Note: Throughout the thesis:  *, **, ** indicate significance 0.1, 0.05. 0.01.

Kommuner använder platsmarknadsföring för att attrahera och behålla medborgare vilket under senare år blivit mer aktuellt då konkurrensen mellan platser har ökat. Tidigare har städers platsmarknadsföring varit riktad mot att utveckla turism, men idag används strategin framförallt för att framhäva staden som en attraktiv plats för företag, och medborgare att leva i. Då det är viktigt för kommuner att ha en gynnsam befolkningsutveckling för att överleva, samt att få yngre individer att stanna inom kommunen, vilket bidrar till långsiktiga skatteintäkter. För att kommuner ska kunna utföra lyckade marknadsföringsstrategier är det viktigt att förstå medborgarnas behov och spegla det i marknadsföringen. Ovan nämnd fakta bidrog till avsikten med denna uppsats som var att beskriva och till viss del förklara hur platsmarknadsföring kan användas av en kommun för att behålla medborgare av Generation Y. Uppsatsens syfte var att uppnå en djupare förståelse för hur kommuner kan behålla Generation Y, där studiens forskningsfrågor utformades och kopplades till relevanta teorier inom forskningsområdet för att besvara studiens syfte. Genom en kvalitativ fallstudie genomfördes flertalet intervjuer med respondenter från Generation Y, vilket gav insikt till aspekter som Generation Y värdesätter inom en kommun. Studien fann att utbud, variation och tillgänglighet är centrala aspekter för att behålla medborgare. Där aspekterna nattliv, evenemang och offentliga transportförbindelser var mest önskvärda för Generation Y. Även möjligheten till delaktighet, och att kunna påverka beslut var centrala aspekter. Utifrån studiens resultat bör kommuner i större utsträckning sträva efter att skapa en relation med medborgare av Generation Y. Där kommuner involverar medborgarna så att de känner delaktighet och upplever att de kan påverka utvecklingen av kommunen de bor i, vilket ökar möjligheten till att behålla Generation Y. Studiens resultat kombinerat med bakomliggande teorier i ämnet påvisar relevansen av att kommuner behöver kunskap om vad Generation Y värdesätter, detta för att kunna utföra en passande marknadsföringsstrategi som behåller de som medborgare.

有鑑於八０年代新公共管理(NPM)的興起對公共行政帶來重大的影響，其顧客導向的主張，刺激了顧客滿意度調查在公部門廣泛的應用。然而回顧過去公私部門重要的民眾滿意度調查，發現評估指標幾乎都著重在效率、效能面，而公共行政引以為本的公平價值卻少見探討。因此，本研究選取對人民影響最基本但重大的全民健保政策為個案，嘗試建構一個兼顧效率與公平面的民眾滿意度模型，並將焦點置於公民公平觀感與滿意度之間關連性的探討。在資料的蒐集上，採用國家衛生研究院「衛生醫療體系優先順序之制定的研究」於2007年12月1日至12月24日進行的電話訪問調查，經扣除遺漏值後，共有2478份樣本。本研究所建構的民眾滿意度ordered probit模型以「健保滿意度」為結果變項，解釋變項則包含了基本人口社經背景、以及效率效能面和公平面的指標。經實證結果發現，過去一直被強調的效率效能指標對健保滿意度確實產生顯著影響，但民眾對健保政策的主觀公平觀感也被證實與滿意度有顯著關連；換句話說，如果政府進行民眾滿意度調查時，未能含括公平面指標，則其所獲得的資訊將不能完整表達民眾的心聲。但本研究亦發現公民對健保政策以外的公平性態度並未顯著的影響健保滿意度，因此，民眾滿意度調查中測量公平觀感必需具有明確的政策背景。 / In the past three decades, new public management (NPM) has a great impact on the field of public administration. Among the impacts, “customer orientation” is the most influential one. For the purpose of evaluating citizen satisfaction on government services, public agencies begin to utilize the Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS) mainly designed and administrated by business managers. However, after reviewing the content of the CSS questionnaires, we find that the emphasizing values behind the CSS are efficiency and effectiveness rather than equality, which is sometimes the main value behind public service delivery. Whether value of equality will influence citizen’s level of satisfaction is the main research question of this thesis. We take Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) as a case study, and utilize a citizen survey on priority setting of the NHI from the National Health Research Institutes in late 2007 as the secondary data. The dependent variable of our citizen satisfaction ordered probit model is “NHI satisfaction”, and explanatory variables including demographic backgrounds, indexes about efficiency or effectiveness, and indexes about equality. The results show that efficiency and effectiveness have significant association with NHI satisfaction. Most importantly, the citizens’ general evaluation on the equality of NHI also has a significant impact on the NHI satisfaction. According to the results, we suggest that applying CSS into public service evaluation should include index about equality in order to capture the holistic picture of citizen satisfaction.

Facing increasingly complex policy issues and diminishing citizen satisfaction with government and service performance, managing the quality of citizen relationship management has become a main challenge for public managers. Solutions to complex policy problems of service performance and low level of citizen participation often must be developed by encouraging citizens to make their voices heard through the various participation mechanisms. Reflecting on this need, the municipal governments in the U.S. have developed centralized customer systems for citizen relationship management. 311 centralized customer system (named 311 in this study) has the functions of citizen-initiated contact, service-coproduction, and transaction, and many local governments launch 311 to maintain or enhance their relationship with the public. Using 311 is an easy and free technically for citizens, but ensuring some degree of citizen engagement and citizens’ 311 use has been challenging for local public managers of municipalities. Despite calls for the importance of 311 in the service and information delivery process, fair treatment and access to use of governmental information, citizen participation, government responsiveness, and citizen satisfaction, to the best of our understanding, no empirical studies explore citizens’ 311 behaviors in the micro and individual level in the field of public administration. This dissertation provides a comprehensive understanding of the 311 centralized customer system, helps local public managers know citizens’ perceived perspectives toward the operation of 311, and assists these managers to develop an effective 311 system in municipalities. The dissertation’s main purpose is to clarify the importance of 311 to citizen relationship management and provide insights into citizens’ 311 use behaviors. More specifically, this dissertation tries to answers the following questions: a. Why do citizens use 311? Do the various groups of the population access and use 311 in San Francisco equally? If not, what factors influence the citizens’ 311 citizen-initiated contact behaviors? b. Why do citizens choose the 311 digital channel to contact with local governments? c. Why do citizens use 311 frequently? This dissertation will address these questions and draws on data from the 2011 citizen survey of City of San Francisco to explore citizens’ 311 use behaviors by examining them from citizens’ perspectives. The main arguments of each question listed above are: 1. 311 citizen-initiated contact is different from traditional citizen-initiated contact, and exposure to governmental-ICT environment, gender, income, and race are the factors influencing 311 citizen-initiated contact. 2. The digital divide, including the social side of the digital divide and access-side of the digital divide, influences citizens’ 311 channel choice. 3. Citizens’ technology acceptance, citizen satisfaction, and frequent use of public services influence the frequency of citizens’ 311 use.

Trots en markant ökning av vaktpersonal i privat regi under de senaste decennierna finns det inte mycket empirisk forskning om allmänhetens uppfattning av väktare. I detta arbete undersöks malmöbornas tillit till och tillfredställelse med väktare och syftet med studien är att får en inblick i allmänhetens inställning till vaktpersonal. Enkäter delades ut i Malmö med frågor angående upplevd tillit till väktare, tillfredställelse med väktare samt frågor om respondenternas uppfattning av väktares professionalitet, ansvarskyldighet, framställning och artighet. Urvalet bestod av 78 respondenter och resultaten tyder på att den allmänna uppfattningen av vaktpersonal är mer positiv än negativ. Upplevd professionalitet hos väktare påverkade tillit till väktare och upplevd artighet hos väktare påverkade tillfredställelse med väktare. Hur man upplevt väktares beteende vid personlig kontakt visade sig påverka uppfattningen av både tillit till och tillfredställelse med vaktpersonal. Studier om allmänhetens uppfattning av vaktpersonal kan användas i utbildande syfte för vaktbolag för att påverka väktares beteende och agerande mot allmänheten. Ökad kännedom av allmänhetens inställning till vaktpersonal är även relevant för politiker i deras ställningstagande av framtida reglering av den privata säkerhetsindustrin. / Despite the rapid increase in private security guards in recent decades, little is known about citizens’ perception of security guards. In this paper citizens’ trust and satisfaction with security guards is assessed. The aim of the study is to get an insight into citizens’ perception of private security guards in Malmö. Paper and pencil surveys were distributed in Malmö with questions regarding perceived trust and satisfaction with security guards and about security guards’ professionalism, accountability, imagery, and civility. The sample consisted of 78 respondents and the findings suggest that the overall perception of security guards was more positive than negative, however, the results were largely mixed. Perceived professionalism predicted satisfaction with security guards and perceived civility predicted trust in security guards. Also, security guard behavior while interacting with the public was a strong predictor of both trust and satisfaction with security personnel. Results from this study and similar studies can be used by private security organizations to educate staff in order to improve the public perception of security guards. It may also be useful for policy makers in order to make more educated decisions about future regulation of the private security industry.