Obstacles to implementing citizen surveys in Local Government: an empirical analysis

The diffusion of the new “customer oriented” perspective in local government strongly relies on the use of citizen surveys. Despite a developed academic literature about the importance and the design of these instruments, only a limited number of local governments has adopted them so far. The aim of this paper is to investigate conceptual and practical obstacles to the successful introduction of structured citizen surveys. An empirical analysis was performed and data were collected through questionnaires sent to a sample of Italian town majors. 52 answers were returned and statistically analysed. Results particularly emphasise competencies and financial constraints, as well as conceptual misunderstanding about the nature and the goals of citizen surveys. More importantly findings disconfirm one of the most common assumption, which states that surveys are not conducted because they are not believed to be reliable, as compared to more objective indicators. Finally results are discussed and managerial implications are drawn. Some suggestions in order to overcome the emerged obstacles are added, as well