Allowing users to pick and choose : a conjoint analysis of citizens’ preferences of public e-services

In recent years, public e-services have become an increasingly important topic on the public agenda. In the course of digitalization processes, public administrations around the world provide a number of services electronically. The decision about which services will be provided electronically is the responsibility of the public administration and therefore often fails to include the preferences of the users, namely the citizens, in the decision processes. The paper examines preferences of 899 citizens in Switzerland regarding public e-services by means of a conjoint analysis. The study is based on a quasi-experimental research design by assigning participants to two different groups of public e-services randomly. Findings yield that participants seem to prefer electronic public services compared to an analogue public service delivery. Concerning the service attributes, data security and price play a crucial role for the assessment of public services. Interestingly, the prevention of a low degree of data security and an increase in the price was found to be of higher relevance for the evaluation of public services as securing a high degree of data security and a decrease in the price. Moreover, results indicate that potential time savings play a subordinate role in the assessment. Data security seems to be of particular importance, if the public service deals with confidential data such as the tax declaration. The findings reveal new insights about factors influencing a successful implementation of public e-services in the context of digital transformation in the public sector for both research and practice.