Customer orientation in electronic government: Motives and effects

Electronic government is attested to have the potential to shape public administrations to be more customer oriented. In order to be customer oriented, municipalities need knowledge about customer needs. Which municipalities explore customer needs and what do they change is investigated using data of a nationwide survey about e-government in Switzerland.Results show big differences in exploring customer needs between municipalities. General characteristics of municipalities and support of administrative leaders and politicians can partly explain these differences. Customer orientation shows effects on the availability of usability features on Web sites and on the selection of topics, to which municipalities provide forms or transactions online.