E-mail inquiries to the public sector: Response, impacts and importance

We witness that digital government has received much attention, and that provision of online information and services has increased tremendously during the last decade. In this regard, the Scandinavian countries have great ambitions and aims about being international leaders in the provision of online information and services. User satisfaction is allocated as one on the main contributors to success, among those aspects that are perceived as important for website users. The Scandinavian countries are emphasised in this paper as they, to a large extent, replace paper-based forms with electronic communication and online services. In order to highlight digitalisation within the public sector, this paper discusses responsiveness with reference to e-mail inquiries from citizens/businesses. This paper concludes that the public sector, in general, provides a great response to e-mails from users, although we find some room for improvements. Therefore, actionable and practical recommendations are given in connection with this increasing level of digitalisation and great ambitions within the sector.