Public Sector Communication Closing Gaps Between Citizens and Public Organizations

A comprehensive guide to future-proofing public sector communication and increasing citizen satisfaction

How to communicate with the citizens of the future? Why does public sector communication often fail? Public Sector Communication combines practical examples from around the world with the latest theoretical insights to show how communication can help bridge gaps that exist between public sector organizations and the individual citizens they serve. The authors—two experts in the field with experience from the public sector—explain how public entities, be they cities, governments, foundations, agencies, authorities, municipalities, regulators, military, or government monopolies and state owned businesses can build their intangible assets to future-proof themselves in a volatile environment.

The book examines how the recent digitalization has increased citizen expectations and why one-way communication leaves public sector organizations fragile. To explain how to make public sector communication antifragile, the authors map contributions from a wide variety of fields combined with illustrative examples from around the world. The authors propose a research-based framework of different intangible assets that can directly improve communication in the public sector.

This important resource:

• Helps explain the sector-specific conditions and why communication is often challenging in the public sector
• Summarizes all relevant literature on the topic across disciplines and includes the most popular management ideals of the recent decades
• Explores how public sector organizations can increase citizen satisfaction with effective communication
• Presents new approaches to both the study and practice of communication in the public sector 
• Provides international examples of successful public sector communication 
• Offers realistic guides to building intangible assets in practice

Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, as well as public managers and leaders, Public Sector Communication offers an illustrative, research-based guide to improving communication and engaging citizens of today and the future.

Part I 1

1 What Is Changing in Public Sector Communication? 3

1.1 The Change: Identifying the Gaps with   Citizens 3

1.1.1 What Is Changing? 3

1.1.1.1 Change in Everyday Practice 3

1.1.1.2 Answering the Most Important Question 4

1.1.1.3 Changing Values? 5

1.1.2 Changes in Individuals: Citizens, Stakeholders, Customers, and Partners 5

1.1.2.1 Changes in Citizens’ Demands and Expectations 6

1.1.2.2 Citizen Communication Practices 6

1.1.2.3 Citizen Diversity 6

1.1.2.4 Changing Citizen Roles 7

1.1.3 The Traditional Gaps that Citizens Perceive When Assessing the Public Sector 7

1.1.3.1 Citizens Are from Venus, Public Authorities Are from   Mars? 7

1.1.3.2 Gap 1: Speed: Bureaucracy versus Postbureaucracy 8

1.1.3.3 Gap 2: Privacy: Public versus Private Communication 8

1.1.3.4 Gap 3: Viewpoints: Process versus Answers 8

1.1.3.5 Gap 4: Context: Single Events versus General Attitude 9

1.1.3.6 Gap 5: Perceptions: Perception versus Performance 9

1.1.3.7 Gap 6: Roles: Obligations versus Rights 10

1.1.3.8 Gap 7: Media Use: Controlled versus Real Time 10

1.2 Framework for the Book 11

1.2.1 What Has Been Done on Public Sector Communication? 11

1.2.1.1 Earliest Works 11

1.2.1.2 Little Development despite the Relevance of the Topic 11

1.2.1.3 Nomenclature 12

1.2.1.4 Mapping Contributions from Different Fields to the Study of Public Sector Communication 12

1.2.2 The Three Pillars of this Book 16

1.2.2.1 The Intangible Nature of Public Sector Management 16

1.2.2.2 Knowledge for Practice, Practice for Knowledge 17

 1.2.2.3 Considering Public Sector Communication from an International Perspective 17

1.2.3 Plan of the Book 17

References   18

2 What Is So Special about Public Sector Communication? 25

2.1 What Is the Public Sector? 25

2.1.1 Initial Basic Definitions 25

2.1.2 Is This Public or Private? 26

2.1.3 Scholarly Approaches to Establishing Criteria of   Publicness 27

2.1.4 The Rings of Publicness 28

2.1.5 The Publicness Fan 28

2.2 Defining Public Sector Communication 30

2.2.1 Mapping Scholarly Definitions 30

2.2.2 Some Insights from Practice 32

2.2.3 Our Definition of Public Sector Communication 33

2.3 Looking at Public Sector Communication from the Publicness Fan 33

2.3.1 Different Communication? 33

2.3.2 How Public Is This and Hence How Should Intangibles and Communication be Managed? 35

2.3.2.1 Funding and Profit 36

2.3.2.2 “Ownership” and “Employees” 37

2.3.2.3 Control and Accountability 38

2.3.2.4 Purpose and Values 39

References   40

3 Fragile Public Sector Organizations 45

3.1 A Brief History of Public Sector Organizations’ Development 45

3.2 Global Trends in Public Sector Management: An   Overview 46

3.3 Is There a Need for Intangible Assets? 47

3.3.1 From New Public Management to New Public Service 47

3.3.2 From Management to Public Value 48

3.4 The Fragility of Public Sector Organizations 50

3.4.1 Distrust 50

3.4.2 Services and Experiences 51

3.4.3 Bureaucracy 52

3.4.4 The Political Dimension 52

3.4.5 A Tactical Approach 53

3.5 Expectations as a Cause for Public Sector Fragility 54

3.5.1 How Citizen Expectations Are Changing 54

3.5.2 Expectations through Experiences 56

3.5.3 Unmet Expectations 56

References   57

4 Antifragile Communication: Closing the Gap through Intangible Assets 65

4.1 Defining “Intangible Asset” 65

4.1.1 What Is an Intangible Asset   About? 65

 4.1.2 Pinning Down Intangibility 66

4.1.3 The Features of an Intangible Asset 67

4.2 Types of Intangibles 67

4.2.1 Accounting Categorizations 67

4.2.2 Relationships and Perceptions as the Basis for Intangible Assets that Aim to Build Competitive Advantage 69

4.3 Why Are Intangibles Different in the Public   Sector? 70

4.3.1 What Is the Value of Intangibility in the Public Sector? 72

4.3.2 Building Intangible Assets: Is It Possible? 73

4.4 Different Intangible Assets in the Public Sector 74

4.5 Avoiding Fragility through Intangible Assets 74

4.5.1 Antifragile Communication: Taking the Citizen Point of   View 75

4.5.2 The Steps toward Antifragility 76

4.6 Intangible Assets in this Book 77

4.6.1 Definition of Intangible Asset in the Public Sector 77

4.6.2 Different Intangible Assets and the Relationships between Them 78

References   79

Part II 83

5 Satisfaction 85

5.1 What Is Satisfaction? 85

5.2 Experiences and Satisfaction 86

5.3 Why Should Public Organizations Care About Citizen Satisfaction? 87

5.4 Communication and Satisfaction 88

5.5 Measuring Citizen Satisfaction 89

5.5.1 The Purpose of Measuring 89

5.5.2 Do Measurement Tools from the Private Sector Suit the Public Sector? 91

5.6 Summary of Citizen Satisfaction 92

5.7 Case Study on Citizen Satisfaction 93

5.8 Route Guide to Building Citizen Satisfaction 96

References   97

6 Organizational Culture 101

6.1 Organizations’ Invisible Cultures 101

6.2 Defining Organizational Culture 103

6.3 What Benefit Does Organizational Culture   Bring? 104

6.4 Public Sector Organizational Culture 105

6.5 Subcultures 106

6.6 Communication and Public Sector Culture 107

6.6.1 Gaps that Public Sector Culture Can   Fix 107

6.6.2 What to Measure in Practice? 110

6.7 Changing Organizational Culture 110

6.8 Criticism of Organizational Culture 112

6.9 Summary of Organizational Culture 112

6.10 Case Study on Organizational Culture 113

 6.11 Route Guide to Changing Organizational Culture 116

References   117

7 Reputation 121

7.1 What Is the Logic behind Organizational Reputation? 121

7.2 How the Digital Environment Shapes Reputation 122

7.3 Organizational Reputation Defined 124

7.4 The Benefits of a Good Reputation 125

7.5 Public Sector Organizations and Reputation 126

7.5.1 Reputation in a Context of Lower   Competition 126

7.5.2 Neutral Reputation as Ideal for Public Sector   Organizations 127

7.6 Measuring Public Sector Reputation 128

7.7 Two Examples of Measuring Reputation 131

7.8 Summary of Public Sector Reputation 133

7.9 Route Guide to Building Organizational Reputation 135

References   136

8 Legitimacy 139

8.1 Conferring Legitimacy upon Public Sector Organizations: What Does It Mean? 139

8.2 The Legitimacy Judgment: What Confers Organizational Legitimacy in the Public Sector? 141

8.2.1 Achievements versus Procedures 141

8.2.2 Typologies of Legitimacy 141

8.2.3 Moral Legitimacy 142

8.3 Resources Generated by Legitimacy 143

8.4 Communication and Legitimacy Building 144

8.4.1 Being Acknowledged as Legitimate 145

8.4.2 Legitimacy Building as Sense Making 145

8.5 How Legitimacy Typologies Help Legitimacy Builders 146

8.6 Building Legitimacy 147

8.7 Critical Issues and Further Research 149

8.8 Summary of Legitimacy 151

8.9 Case Study on Legitimacy 151

8.10 Route Guide to Building Legitimacy 154

References   155

9 Intellectual Capital 159

9.1 What Intellectual Capital Is About 159

9.1.1 Definition 159

9.1.2 What Has Been Done So Far on Intellectual Capital in the Public Sector? 160

9.2 Why is Intellectual Capital Needed? 161

9.3 What Resources Does Intellectual Capital Generate? Measuring Intellectual Capital 163

9.3.1 What Does Intellectual Capital Tell Us About? The Dimensions of IC 163

9.3.2 Measuring Intellectual Capital in the Public Sector 164

9.4 Communicating Intellectual  Capital 166

9.4.1 Does Communication Play a Role in the Acknowledgement of Intellectual Capital? 166

9.4.2 Intellectual Capital Management and Communication Management 167

9.5 Critical Issues, Unanswered Questions, and Future Research 168

9.6 Summary of Intellectual Capital 169

9.7 Case Study on Intellectual Capital 170

9.8 Route Guide to Building Intellectual Capital 174

References   175

10 Engagement 179

10.1 What Citizen Engagement Is About 179

10.1.1 Looking at Engagement from the Citizen   Side 179

10.1.2 Engagement from the Organization Side: The Role of Public Administrations in Engaging Citizens 180

10.2 Going Deeper into Public Sector Engagement 181

10.2.1 Governmental Efforts to Involve Citizens 182

10.2.2 Deepening Engagement: The Coproduction Perspective 182

10.3 Why Is Engagement Needed? 185

10.3.1 The Context for an Increasing Concern with and Practice of Citizen Engagement 185

10.3.2 What Specific Gaps Does Engagement Help to   Bridge? 185

10.4 Outcomes of Engagement: Calibrating Its Value as an Intangible Asset 186

10.4.1 A General Positive Assessment of the Impact of Engagement 186

10.4.2 More Mixed Evidence that Cannot Be Disregarded 187

10.4.3 Engagement Effects for the Organization: The Managerial Side 188

10.4.4 Benefit for Both Sides: The Cobenefit of Coproduction 188

10.5 Building and Communicating Engagement 189

10.6 Summary of Engagement 190

10.7 Case Study on Public Sector Engagement 191

10.8 Route Guide to Building Engagement 196

References   197

11 Social Capital 201

11.1 Theory of Social Capital 201

11.2 What Kind of Value Does Social Capital Produce? 203

11.3 What Kind of Gaps Does Social Capital Help to Bridge? 205

11.4 Communicating Social Capital 206

11.5 What Does This Mean for Public Sector Organizations’ Communication Management? 207

11.6 Measuring Social Capital 209

11.7 Are All Networks Real? 210

11.8 Closing the Gap through Social Capital 211

11.9 Future Research on Social Capital 212

11.10 Summary of Social Capital 213

11.11 Case Study on Social Capital in the Public Sector 213

11.12 Route Guide to Building Social Capital 216

References   216

12 Trust 221

12.1 Why Does Trust Matter? The Intangible and Tangible Value of Trust 221

12.2 What Is Trust? 223

12.2.1 What is Trust About? 223

12.2.2 Can There Be Trust in Public Sector Organizations? 224

12.3 Trust in the Public Sector 224

12.3.1 Political Trust, Public Trust, and Trust in Government 225

12.3.2 Trust in Public Administration 226

12.3.3 Going Beyond the Public Administration: Trust in the Public Sector 226

12.4 Sources of Trust: What Generates Trust in the Public Sector? 227

12.4.1 Demographics 228

12.4.2 Political Attitudes as Explainers of Trust 228

12.4.3 The Influence of Events Management 228

12.4.4 Performance as a Source of   Trust 228

12.5 Other Intangible Assets as Causes of Trust 229

12.6 Trust and Communication: Building Trust 232

12.7 Critical Issues and Further Research 233

12.7.1 Is There a Trend of Decreasing Trust in Public Sector Organizations? 233

12.7.2 Debated Issues about Measuring Trust 235

12.8 Summary of Trust 236

References   237

13 Closing the Gaps 243

13.1 How Can We Close the Gap between Citizens and Public Sector Organizations? 243

13.1.1 Closing Gap 1: Speed: Bureaucracy versus Postbureaucracy 246

13.1.2 Closing Gap 2: Privacy: Public versus Private Communication 246

13.1.3 Closing Gap 3: Viewpoints: Process versus Answers 246

13.1.4 Closing Gap 4: Context: Single Events versus General   Attitude 247

13.1.5 Closing Gap 5: Perceptions: Perception versus Performance 247

13.1.6 Closing Gap 6: Roles: Obligations versus Rights 247

13.1.7 Closing Gap 7: Media Use: Controlled versus Real Time 248

13.2 Expectations Management to Build Intangibles that Bridge Gaps 248

13.2.1 Concluding Remarks 252

References   253

Index 255

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