The e-Citizen Charter as a Tool for Measuring Citizen Satisfaction on the Basis of Life Events

Abstract: Assuming that citizen satisfaction is more dependent on solving citizens' problems than on delivery of specific public services as such, measurement should be focussed on the delivery chain. That's why in The Netherlands a surveying method has been developed which measures citizen satisfaction about the handling of life events, taking the quality requirements of the e-Citizen Charter as the criterion. The first survey, carried out in 2008 counts as the baseline. The general conclusions can be summarised as follows. The survey proved the value of the charter for satisfaction measurement purposes. The average satisfaction score for the service delivery chain is 6.7 (i.e. below the political target of 7.0). The main reason is an experienced lack of communication and cooperation between the government organisations involved. To remedy this, organisations have to jointly redesign their service delivery processes. As of 2009 the survey will be repeated annually. This paper describes the methodology used for the survey, results, follow up and conclusions. 1