Master’s thesis Managing citizen inquiries A qualitative study in a citizen e-reporting context Henny Bruhn-Möller (102799) Eline Christoffersen (103432) MSc Business Administration & Information Systems – Digitalization Copenhagen Business School Supervisor: Prof. Torkil Clemmensen Date: 12. May 2020 No. of characters: 225 860 (105 pages) Abstract This master’s thesis aims to explore and answer the intriguing research question, how are citizen inquiries managed in a citizen e-reporting context? The interest in citizen e-reporting stems from the recognition that citizens make up an essential cornerstone of cities, and how information and communication technologies have enabled citizens to contribute with information to the government. To narrow down the scope of the topic of interest and answer the stated research question, an exploratory and inductive way of reasoning as well as qualitative data- collection and analysis techniques are adopted. To begin with, the scope of the thesis is narrowed down based on a thematic analysis of user feedback comments about citizen e-reporting applications in Scandinavia posted on digital distribution platforms. This first stage of the analysis reveals what is further interesting to explore, namely managing citizen inquiries, and lays the foundation for formulating the research question. To answer the research question, a multiple case study strategy is adopted, investigating eight hosts of Scandinavian citizen e-reporting mobile applications. Based on in-depth interviews, a thematic analysis of the empirical data is conducted. The analysis results in the formulation of a conceptual model. The conceptual model of managing citizen inquiries in a context of citizen e-reporting (for short, the conceptual model) captures the answer to the research question. It is built upon four main components that represent the key activities of how citizen inquiries are managed. The main components are further broken down into more detailed activities, referred to as units. The research further finds, from interpreting the conceptual model using a business process framework, that the conceptual model shares characteristics with traditional processes. The developed conceptual model is unique, as it captures the process of managing citizen inquiries in a context of citizen e-reporting, which has never been studied before. Therefore, the conceptual model of managing citizen inquiries in a context of citizen e-reporting is considered the answer to the research question as well as contributing new knowledge, which may inspire future research to build upon it. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 The reader’s handbook ...............................................................................................................5 1.2.1 Structure of this report ...........................................................................................................................5 1.2.2 Clarification of terminology ..................................................................................................................7 2. Literature review ................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 Methodology of literature review ...............................................................................................9 2.2 The role of the citizens in smart cities .....................................................................................10 2.3 Zooming in on the citizens-to-government relationship ........................................................12 2.3.1 Linders’ (2012) citizen sourcing typology is based on the service life cycle......................................13 2.3.2 Nam (2012) group citizen sourcing based on four main strategies .....................................................14 2.3.3 Vianna, Peinado and Graeml (2019) categorize based on citizen activities ........................................14 2.3.4 Simonofski et al.’s (2018) three categories of citizen participation ....................................................15 2.3.5 The varying lenses can be used as a tool to evaluate, compare and govern ........................................15 2.4 Citizen e-participation ..............................................................................................................16 2.4.1 Varieties of research about citizen participation .................................................................................17 2.4.2 Methodology of the research that studies citizen e-participation cases...............................................18 2.4.3 Mapping the initiatives to the Governance and Public Value Grid .....................................................18 2.5 The narrowed down scope: citizen e-reporting........................................................................20 3. Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 21 3.1 Methodological path ..................................................................................................................21 3.2 Methodological foundation .......................................................................................................22 3.2.1 Interpretivist philosophical foundation ................................................................................................22 3.2.2 The research is exploratory and driven by progressive narrowing down ............................................23 3.2.3 An inductive way of reasoning supports exploration ..........................................................................23 3.2.4 Qualitative methods are used for collecting and analyzing data .........................................................24 3.2.5 A case study research strategy is adopted ...........................................................................................24 3.4 Data collection and analysis......................................................................................................25 3.4.1 Data collection and filtering of Analysis Stage 1 ................................................................................25 3.4.2 Data analysis of Analysis Stage 1 .......................................................................................................26 3.4.2.1 The first layer of coding: negative and positive ..........................................................................27 3.4.2.2 The second layer of coding: twelve bottom-up determined thematic categories ........................27 3.4.2.3 The third layer of coding: bottom-up determined thematic sub-categories .................................28 3.4.3 Sampling and data collection for Analysis Stage 2 .............................................................................28 3.4.3.1 Sampling strategy ........................................................................................................................29 3.4.3.3 Description of cases .....................................................................................................................30 3.4.3.4 In-depth interviews were conducted ............................................................................................32 3.4.4 Data analysis of Analysis Stage 2 .......................................................................................................33 4. Analysis Stage 1 ................................................................................................................ 35 4.1 Data filtering ..............................................................................................................................35 4.2 Introducing the layers of categorization .................................................................................36 4.2.1 First layer categorization of user feedback comments ........................................................................36 4.2.1.1 Users express more negative than positive opinions ...................................................................37 4.2.2 Based on common themes, twelve second layer categories are defined .............................................38 4.2.3 The third layer categories break down the second layer categories ....................................................40 4.3 Analysis of the separate second layer categories ....................................................................41 4.3.1 Action is proved to be an interesting aspect to study further ...............................................................42 4.3.2 Negative opinions about the picture requirement and functionality....................................................43 4.3.3 Somewhat contradictory opinions about the categorization ................................................................44 4.3.4 Trade-off between more characters for commenting and processing time .........................................45 4.3.5 General attitudes are positive towards the idea but not the execution.................................................46 4.3.6 General functionality is perceived both positively and negatively .....................................................47 4.3.7 Dissatisfaction with the map requirements ..........................................................................................48 4.3.8 For the remaining categories more