Evaluating websites from a public value perspective: A review of Turkish local government websites

• A survey of website evaluation literature is conducted.
• Websites are evaluated from conventional and public values perspectives.
• A framework for measuring public values is developed.
• Websites vary in content and functionality provision.
• Public value creation is largely neglected.

Government website evaluations do not always reflect the websites’ aims. Often, only aspects such as content and quality are considered, whereas the primary goal of these websites is to deliver public value. In this paper we introduce the public value perspective for website evaluation. A meta-analysis of website evaluation literature is presented, the findings being that there is no uniform or comprehensive set of website evaluation metrics and that the public value perspective is largely neglected in the website evaluation literature. Next, we describe how we integrated web evaluation and public value literature in order to develop a set of criteria used for evaluating the websites of sixteen Turkish local governments. The websites performed relatively well on traditional indicators, but less well on public values measures. In particular, we found that the websites are good at supporting requests, categorization and usability, but not satisfactory at providing platforms for citizen engagement, responsiveness and dialog. Finally, we argue that the public value perspective should be incorporated in the evaluations of websites and other public efforts.