Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders
Governments at all levels believe the digitisation of their services and increased interaction with citizens will bring significant advantages in terms of transparency, creation of public value, and improvement of government performance (Al-Hujran, Al-Debei, Chatfield, & Migdadi, 2015). Nonethel...
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doaj-5421c2e75cdb4083a6979e095330efc92020-11-24T21:12:40ZengCogitatioMedia and Communication2183-24392018-12-016414015210.17645/mac.v6i4.1652897Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in FlandersWillemien Laenens0Wendy Van den Broeck1Ilse Mariën2Studies in Media, Innovation and Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, BelgiumStudies in Media, Innovation and Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, BelgiumStudies in Media, Innovation and Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, BelgiumGovernments at all levels believe the digitisation of their services and increased interaction with citizens will bring significant advantages in terms of transparency, creation of public value, and improvement of government performance (Al-Hujran, Al-Debei, Chatfield, & Migdadi, 2015). Nonetheless, this evolution towards more digital services and communication by governments raises questions in terms of inclusivity and accessibility. We conducted focus groups with a heterogeneous panel of over 80 citizens, ranging from non-users of digital technologies to high-level users, to study their choice of channel and their perception towards the evolving digitisation of communication and services, applied to the case of spatial planning in Flanders (Belgium). The results reveal that the most decisive channel choice determinants in spatial planning relate to the channel characteristics themselves, the information, the contextual aspect of the communication flow, and digital inequality mechanisms; meaning that (a) citizens opt for local communication channels when interacting with local, regional, and national governments, (b) citizens prefer to be personally informed when the communicated message has a direct impact on them, and (c) more vulnerable digital profiles consider the transition to digital communication by default as problematic.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/1652channel choicedigital by defaultgovernment communicationgovernment servicesmedia user profilespublic servicesspatial planning |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Willemien Laenens Wendy Van den Broeck Ilse Mariën |
spellingShingle |
Willemien Laenens Wendy Van den Broeck Ilse Mariën Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders Media and Communication channel choice digital by default government communication government services media user profiles public services spatial planning |
author_facet |
Willemien Laenens Wendy Van den Broeck Ilse Mariën |
author_sort |
Willemien Laenens |
title |
Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders |
title_short |
Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders |
title_full |
Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders |
title_fullStr |
Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders |
title_full_unstemmed |
Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders |
title_sort |
channel choice determinants of (digital) government communication: a case study of spatial planning in flanders |
publisher |
Cogitatio |
series |
Media and Communication |
issn |
2183-2439 |
publishDate |
2018-12-01 |
description |
Governments at all levels believe the digitisation of their services and increased interaction with citizens will bring significant advantages in terms of transparency, creation of public value, and improvement of government performance (Al-Hujran, Al-Debei, Chatfield, & Migdadi, 2015). Nonetheless, this evolution towards more digital services and communication by governments raises questions in terms of inclusivity and accessibility. We conducted focus groups with a heterogeneous panel of over 80 citizens, ranging from non-users of digital technologies to high-level users, to study their choice of channel and their perception towards the evolving digitisation of communication and services, applied to the case of spatial planning in Flanders (Belgium). The results reveal that the most decisive channel choice determinants in spatial planning relate to the channel characteristics themselves, the information, the contextual aspect of the communication flow, and digital inequality mechanisms; meaning that (a) citizens opt for local communication channels when interacting with local, regional, and national governments, (b) citizens prefer to be personally informed when the communicated message has a direct impact on them, and (c) more vulnerable digital profiles consider the transition to digital communication by default as problematic. |
topic |
channel choice digital by default government communication government services media user profiles public services spatial planning |
url |
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/1652 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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