The Citizen as a Customer : A Qualitative Study of the term Customer in Municipality of Umeå, Municipality of Kalmar and the City of Helsingborg

This essay will explain if and how the term customer is used at the municipal level in Sweden and if the officials in the chosen municipalities thinks the term customer affect the municipality's functions. Lundquist's theoretical perspective on our public ethos has been applied to explain the use of the term customer and its impact. By using a qualitative method based on semi-structured inverviews with officials and text analysis of local government documents, the municipalities of Kalmar, Umeå and the city of Helsingborg have been studied to fulfill this essays purpose. The result of the essay concludes that the term customer is used in different ways within the municipality and externally. According to the interviewed officials the term also has an impact on the municipality's functions and services.