The role of external indicators in measuring the service performance of local governments: an Italian case study

This chapter discusses the role, adoption, and application of external performance indicators within local government. These indicators measure citizens’ satisfaction with offline and online public services and allow administrators to collect timely knowledge about their “customers.” In other words, they play the same role as customer satisfaction research in private companies’ marketing activities. Despite their relevance, external indicators are often overlooked and criticized by both professionals and researchers. This chapter will also review and challenge the main criticisms of external indicators, which state that external indicators are useless and unreliable. Through the analysis of a case study within Italian local governments, the discussion will demonstrate that these indicators have a significant role in public administrators’ decision making, provided that local government embraces a citizen-oriented culture.