Citizen (Dis)satisfaction: An Experimental Equivalence Framing Study

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Olsen, Asmus Leth
• 署名单位: University of Copenhagen
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.12337
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 469-478
• 关键词: patient satisfaction; NEGATIVITY BIAS; public-sector; performance; INFORMATION; services; QUALITY; perceptions; improvement; PSYCHOLOGY

摘要

This article introduces the importance of equivalence framing for understanding how satisfaction measures affect citizens' evaluation of public services. Does a 90 percent satisfaction rate have a different effect than a logically equivalent 10 percent dissatisfaction rate? Two experiments were conducted on citizens' evaluations of hospital services in a large, nationally representative sample of Danish citizens. Both experiments found that exposing citizens to a patient dissatisfaction measure led to more negative views of public service than exposing them to a logically equivalent satisfaction metric. There is some support for part of the shift in evaluations being caused by a negativity bias: dissatisfaction has a larger negative impact than satisfaction has a positive impact. Both professional experience at a hospital and prior exposure to satisfaction rates reduced the negative response to dissatisfaction rates. The results call for further study of equivalence framing of performance information.