Assessing E-Governance Service Responsiveness and Challenges in Khulna City Corporation: Insights from Service Providers and Citizens
TL;DR
Perceived response speed, timely updates, and information clarity were highly correlated with citizen satisfaction, while service delay was significantly correlated with intention to recommend.
Abstract
Effective e-governance is essential to providing citizens with accessible, timely, transparent, and citizen-focused public services, little empirical research exists on service providers' and citizens' experiences with municipal digital services in Bangladesh. This study examines responsiveness, effectiveness, and implementation challenges in e-governance services in Khulna City Corporation, considering institutional perceptions and citizens' actual service experiences. The survey included 425 purposively selected respondents, 400 service recipients and 25 e-governance service providers, and used a quantitative cross-sectional design. The data have been analyzed using frequencies, percentages, mean scores, Spearman rank correlation, chi-square tests, and Kruskal–Wallis tests. The results show a gap between providers' positive perceptions and citizens' experiences. 88% of providers rated the response as good, 66% of citizens reported slow service, 57.8% rated the response speed as slow or very slow, and 55.3% reported technical problems. However, 82.5% said e-governance enhanced access to government information, and 64.5% said they were willing to recommend e-governance services. Perceived response speed, timely updates, and information clarity were highly correlated with citizen satisfaction, while service delay was significantly correlated with intention to recommend. The study recommends improving service quality by setting maximum processing time limits, automating processing-status notifications, training staff regularly, strengthening technical monitoring, and building citizens' digital literacy.