Uncovering the “Secret Box” of Local Civil Servants’ Responsiveness: Qualitative Analysis of the 1999 Citizen Hotline in Six Taiwan Cities
Zhou-Peng Liao*, Don-Yun Chen**, Hsin-Chung Liao***
Abstract
With the democratic consolidation in Taiwan, “listening and responding to people” has become the core value of governments at all levels. In order to improve the government-citizen relationship, many local governments of Taiwan use the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a means to listen and respond to public opinions, such as the early Mayor’s Mailbox and the recent 1999 Citizen Hotline for city residents. However, even if government uses ICTs, public opinion still needs to be responded by civil service system. Because the civil servants exercise discretion with their professional preference, there may be a gap between civil servants’ response and citizens’ preference. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the “secret box” (bureaucratic responsiveness). In order to understand the “secret box”, this paper uses the 1999 Citizen Hotline of Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taichung City, Tainan City, Kaohsiung City and Taoyuan County as sample cases, to explore “how do the local civil servants respond to the public?” To answer this question, this study adopts the qualitative grounded theory method. The authors interviewed twelve local civil servants who dealt with the calls of 1999 Citizen Hotline in the six cities and county, and summarize their opinions to explore the theoretical framework of local civil servants’ responsiveness, as well as the key factors which would influence their responsive process.
Keywords:responsive government, administrative discretion, 1999 citizen hotline, citizen relationship management
*Corresponding Author, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Public Administration, National Open University, Taiwan.
**Professor, Dept. of Public Administration, National Chengchi University, Taiwan.
***Assistant Professor, Dept. of Public Policy and Management, Shih Hsin University, Taiwan.
http://www.exam.gov.tw/public/Attachment/32814505697.pdf