Comparing measures of citizen trust and user satisfaction as indicators of 'good governance': difficulties in linking trust and satisfaction indicators
Comparing measures of citizen trust and user satisfaction as indicators of 'good governance': difficulties in linking trust and satisfaction indicators
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DOI：
10.1177/0020852303693003
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发表时间：
2003-09-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Van de Walle, S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bouckaert, G;Van de Walle, S
直到最近，公共行政主要使用资源和产出等所谓的“硬指标”来监测绩效。对问责制以及影响和结果问题的日益关注刺激了“软”指标的引入 - 例如公民和用户满意度目标。此外，对与整个“治理”相关的绩效信息的需求不断增加，包括“生活质量”指标。政治家、记者和公民越来越多地表达了他们对政府信任度下降及其对政府和社会凝聚力产生的有害影响的担忧——他们似乎认为更多的信任和更多的满意度等于更好的治理。因此，提高治理质量也将使公民更加满意、更加信任。本文表明，当前衡量政府信任和满意度的尝试如果声称出于两个原因衡量良好治理，那么就会产生误导。首先，满意度很难衡量，而且与服务相关。其次，对政府的信任更容易衡量，但其与良好治理的联系还远不清楚。即使可以衡量对政府的信任，也根本不清楚信任水平的变化是否实际上受到政府相关因素的影响。最后，我们提出这样的假设：信任可能是不够的，但它必然是一组指标的一部分，这些指标对于良好的治理来说是不必要的但足够的。
Until recently, public administration mainly used so-called 'hard indicators', such as resources and outputs, to monitor performance. Increased attention on accountability and issues around impacts and outcomes have stimulated the introduction of 'soft' indicators - e.g. citizen and user satisfaction targets. Moreover, there is increased demand for information on performance in relation to 'governance' as a whole, including 'quality of life' indicators. Politicians, journalists and citizens increasingly express their worries about a decreasing level of trust in government and the detrimental effects this has on government and on the cohesion of society - they appear to assume that more trust and more satisfaction equal better governance. Increasing the quality of governance will thus also lead to citizens who are more satisfied and more trusting. This article shows that current attempts to measure trust and satisfaction in government are misleading if they claim to be measuring good governance for two reasons. First, satisfaction is difficult to measure and very service-specific. Second, trust in government is easier to measure but its linkages with good governance are far from clear. Even when trust in government can be measured, it is not at all clear whether changes in the level of trust are actually influenced by government-related factors. We suggest, finally, the hypothesis that trust could be insufficient but necessarily part of a set of indicators which are unnecessary but sufficient for good governance.