Public Sector Management, Trust, Performance, and Participation: A citizens Survey and national assessment in the united State

This paper is part of an international project assessing the quality of public sector management and public sector performance as well as public trust and satisfaction with the public sector and the degree to which the public is involved in decision making in the public sector. The results are based on an initial and exploratory sample of 1,104 citizens who represent to a great (though not comprehensive) degree the adult population of the United States. The analysis and discussion focus on three main aspects: (1) satisfaction with public services, (2) trust in various public organizations, agencies and their employees, and (3) various attitudes and perceptions of the public sector and its employees. The paper demonstrates the fundamental problems of the American public sector in its relations with citizens. The level of satisfaction with many organizations is relatively low and so is the level of trust in these organizations. Specifically, organizations and agencies related to the political representative system mostly suffer a trust problem, and so do organizations related to the management of the financial system. At the same time, organizations and agencies related to homeland security and national defense enjoy high levels of satisfaction and trust. These indications are consistent to a large extent with findings in other Western countries.