Citizen Relationship Management: A Study of CRM in Government

Description

This study explores Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in government. Based on an interdisciplinary literature review and multiple-case study design, a model of Citizen Relationship Management (CiRM) is developed and discussed. The case studies explore the perceptions of CRM/CiRM by administrators, elected officials and consultants as well as its implementation and impact on the municipal level and in a multijurisdictional environment in the United States. Although the explorative part of the study focuses broadly on a theoretical conceptualization of CiRM, the immediate empirical referent of research are the 311 initiatives in the City of Baltimore, the City of Chicago, the City of New York and Miami-Dade County. Thus, the results help administrators and researchers to convey the idea and challenges of 311 well. The study shows that CRM is to a certain extent only partly able to make novel contributions to currently active reform movements in government. In addition, the study’s findings support the idea that CiRM provides the means to a different kind of public participation. Cover Table of Contents List of Figures XV List of Tables XVII List of Abbreviations XIX 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background and scope of the problem 2 1.2 Definition of terms 4 1.3 Orientation of the research 5 1.4 Significance of the Study 5 1.5 The empirical referent of the study 7 1.6 Organisation of the dissertation 7 2 From Customer Relationship Management towards citizen-oriented government 9 2.1 Customer Relationship Management 9 2.1.1 Customer satisfaction 13 2.1.2 Differentiating customers 14 2.1.3 Customer relationships 15 2.1.4 Customer proximity 17 2.1.5 CRM processes 18 2.1.6 Customer interaction 19 2.1.7 CRM systems 20 2.1.8 CRM in private enterprises 21 2.1.9 CRM in government 23 2.2 Citizen-oriented reforms in public administration 26 2.2.1 New Public Management 27 2.2.2 Critical remarks on NPM 30 2.2.3 Total Quality Management 32 2.2.3.1 Critical remarks on TQM 35 2.2.3.2 TQM in government 36 2.2.4 Electronic Government 39 2.2.4.1 Central elements of ICT 42 2.2.4.2 Enacting technology in government 44 2.2.4.3 Citizen-orientation and eGovernment 47 2.3 The Citizen Public Administration Relationship 49 2.3.1 Citizen as customer/consumer 52 2.3.2 Critical remarks on the citizen as customer/consumer 55 2.3.3 Citizens’ preferences and expectations of public services and administration 59 2.3.4 Administrative contacting as public participation 62 2.4 Summary 65 3 Methodology and Data Analysis 67 3.1 Research method 67 3.2 Data collection and data sources 70 3.2.1 City of Chicago 73 3.2.2 City of Baltimore 74 3.2.3 City of New York 74 3.2.4 Miami-Dade County 75 3.3 Data analysis 75 3.4 Limitations to the data collection and analysis 77 4 Results 79 4.1 CiRM in Baltimore 79 4.1.1 Implementing CiRM 79 4.1.2 Impact of CiRM 82 4.1.3 Understanding of CiRM 84 4.2 CiRM in Chicago 84 4.2.1 Implementing CiRM 84 4.2.2 Impact of CiRM 89 4.2.3 Understanding of CiRM 90 4.3 CiRM in New York City 93 4.3.1 Implementing CiRM 93 4.3.2 Impact of CiRM 100 4.3.3 Understanding of CiRM 102 4.4 CiRM in Miami-Dade County 104 4.4.1 Implementing CiRM 104 4.4.2 Impact of CiRM 112 4.4.3 Understanding of CiRM 114 5 Citizen Relationship Management 119 5.1 Old wine in new bottles? Comparing CRM with TQM and eGovernment 119 5.2 Implementing CiRM 124 5.3 Impact of CiRM 130 5.4 Understanding of CiRM 134 5.5 Toward a model of CiRM 136 5.6 CiRM and public participation 139 5.7 Potential issues of CiRM 142 6 Conclusion 145 6.1 Limitations of this research 149 6.2 Implications for Theory and Research 150 6.3 Implications for Policy and Public Management 152 Appendix A – Case study planning 155 Appendix B - Coding 167 Appendix C - TQM 171 Appendix D – Case data 173 References 195 Index 240