Digital First?: Understanding Citizens' Communication Needs in Digital Public Encounters

Two decades of intense digitalisation and automation of public service delivery have introduced new communication channels for the public to interact with the State, in the shape of digital self-services, websites, chats and automated systems. However, for welfare benefit applications, many citizens still prefer to use traditional communication channels to interact with government organisations. We depart from previous research on public encounters and develop a framework that can guide and support the analysis of citizens' continuous channel behaviour throughout the public encounter. We combine and further develop (1) an existing model for analysing digital public encounters and (2) a typology for describing typical communication needs that arise when citizens apply for benefits. We use composite vignettes based on empirical findings from an extensive research project on welfare benefit applications conducted in Scandinavia. The result is an analytical framework that can be used to analyse an application process from the citizen's perspective, break it down into separate actions and illustrate why citizens make contact through various communication channels throughout this process. We thus offer contributions to research on public encounters by presenting an analytical framework that can be applied empirically to capture and analyse citizens' interactions with public organisations throughout a benefit application process. Frameworks and analyses of this kind are important to set realistic expectations on digital self-services and find tools and methods for enhancing citizens' ability to successfully co-produce public service through digital channels.