The Role of Psychological Processing and Government-Public Relationship in Managing the Public's Communicative Actions of Problem-Solving

Abstract

This study demonstrates a public governance model, which integrates citizens' communicative actions in problem solving with transparency and trust in government in the condition of public dispute resolution. Drawn from a theoretical application of the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS), this study shows that situational variables such as problem recognition and situational motivation in a given conflict situation affect positive word-of-mouth behaviors of government policy. The results explain when and how citizens facing public disputes display information behaviors and communicative actions in order to make a better policy decision depending upon the quality of government-public relationships (i.e., transparency and trust in government). More specifically, citizens with higher levels of transparency in government are more likely to resolve conflicts and disputes by communicating with their government, thus increasing the intention of policy compliance. It is also found that trust in government moderates the influence of citizens' motivation in their communicative action to resolve public disputes. Taken together, this study proposes a range of public governance strategies and communication interventions for public managers in charge of coping with public disputes and maintaining the quality of relationship with citizens.

Keywords: The situational theory of problem solving (STOPS), communicative action, relationship quality, transparency, trust in government, public dispute