How to improve e-government use: an empirical examination of multichannel marketing instruments

Citizens interact with government agencies through a variety of channels, e.g., front desk, telephone, website and e-mail. Regardless of these possibilities, they prefer the traditional channels like the front desk. Government agencies strive for a balance between service delivery resulting in customer satisfaction and cost efficiency in their operations. Through better use of the online services by citizens, they can achieve a balance between these aspects. So, government agencies should strive to change citizens' enduring preference for the traditional channels. These preferences can be altered through the use of multichannel marketing (MCM) instruments. In order to use these instruments successfully, not only knowledge on citizen multichannel behavior is required but also on the effects of these instruments. Questions such as how do citizens perceive the various instruments and to what extent are the instruments associated with each other rise up. Based on qualitative depth interviews we formulate constructs to measure citizens' perceptions on the MCM instruments. Subsequently, we empirically test the constructs with a quantitative survey amongst almost 2,000 citizens. As a result, this research increases the knowledge on government MCM and the possibilities to influence enduring citizen channel preferences.