Performance information, expectations and satisfaction with public service delivery in the context of co-production initiatives

Abstract

Many studies on public service satisfaction have treated citizen expectations to be exogenous, focusing mainly on how these expectations influence satisfaction. This study examines how performance information shapes predictive and normative expectations in the context of co-production initiatives in Dutch primary education, and in turn examines how updated performance information and expectations jointly determine satisfaction with public services. A survey experiment among 1,307 parents with school-attending children shows that performance expectations are endogenous to prior school performance, but not to co-production initiatives. Our analysis provides evidence that citizens’ expectations strengthen the negative effects of performance decline on satisfaction.