Inclusivity in Online Platforms: Recruitment Strategies for Improving Participation of Diverse Sociodemographic Groups

• Published date: 01 November 2020
• Author: Annelieke C. Berg,Sarah N. Giest,Sandra M. Groeneveld,Wessel Kraaij
• Date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13215

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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,

provided the original work is properly cited.

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 80, Iss. 6, pp. 989–1000. © 2020 The

Authors.

Public Administration Review

published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. on behalf

of The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13215.

Annelieke C. van den Berg

Sarah N. Giest

Sandra M. Groeneveld

Wessel Kraaij

Leiden University

Inclusivity in Online Platforms: Recruitment Strategies for

Improving Participation of Diverse Sociodemographic

Groups

Abstract: Governments are increasingly implementing smart and digital approaches to promoting citizen

participation. However, whether online participation platforms are tools that improve inclusivity in citizen

participation remains underexplored. To address this gap, this article focuses on the role of recruitment messages

and their effect on participation in an online participation platform by gender and age. A field experiment with a

neighborhood census sample (N = 6,066) shows that online participation dips for younger and older citizens and is

equal among women and men. For the age groups between 60 and 75, differences in the control and intervention

recruitment messages significantly impacted participation. These findings can help public managers tailor recruitment

strategies to facilitate inclusive participation and represent a first step toward learning what types of messages are

effective for whom.

Evidence for Practice

• We find no difference in participation between women and men in an online participation platform,

indicating that these platforms can be inclusive with regard to gender.

• Age is a predictor of online participation: initially people are more likely to participate as they grow older,

but around age 65, this effect levels out.

• Carefully crafted communication messages can influence the inclusivity of participants.

• Behavioral experiments can be used to find out which messages are effective for particular subgroups of the

population.

When we consider the transformative

potential of smart technology in

government, one of the areas in which

technologies can have a strong impact is citizen

participation (Boudjelida, Mellouli, and Lee 2016).

Through the use of new technologies, citizen

participation can become adaptable, mobile,

and broadcastable at an unprecedented capacity

(Ansell and Miura 2020). These features of online

participation platforms give citizens the opportunity

to participate at their own convenience and from their

own homes, thereby lowering barriers to participation

and possibly improving the inclusivity of citizen

participation (Robbins, Simonsen, and Feldman

2008). Online participation platforms that embody

these features may be able to overcome acknowledged

challenges for citizen participation, such as low

turnout rates and the lack of representativeness of

participants (Ebdon and Franklin 2006).

While there is no denying that technology is and has

been at the center of many changes in government

(Dunleavy et al. 2015), it is important to take

into account that technological advancements are

influenced by the sociotechnical context in which

they are implemented (Meijer and Bolívar 2015).

Meijer, Bolívar, and Gil-Garcia (2018, 5) warn those

public managers who believe that “each citizen wants

to participate when the costs are low enough” that

the logic that online participation lowers transaction

costs and thus will enhance inclusivity in participation

is too simplistic and deterministic. In this article,

we unpack parts of the sociotechnical context to

scrutinize whether technologies indeed facilitate

a culture of inclusive policy decision-making in

online citizen participation. We do so by considering

which citizens participate in online participation

platforms and how governments can adjust their

recruitment strategies for reaching an inclusive group

of participating citizens.

In citizen participation, it is recognized that

participatory processes are often dominated by the

“‘usual suspects,’ people who are easily recruited,

vocal, and reasonably comfortable in public arenas”

(Bryson et al. 2012, 29). To some extent, online

participation may open up the playing field to

less vocal members of society, since the setting

Wessel Kraaij is professor in data

science in the Leiden Institute of Advanced

Computer Science at Leiden University in

the Netherlands and principal scientist at

TNO. Currently, he is director of the Data

Science Research Programme at Leiden

University. His research interests are rooted

in information retrieval, machine learning,

and human-computer interaction, with a

special focus on responsible data science

applications in domains such as public

health and e-government.

Email: w.kraaij@liacs.leidenuniv.nl

Sandra M. Groeneveld is professor

of public management in the Institute of

Public Administration at Leiden University,

the Netherlands. Her research interests

include the structure and management of

public organizations, focusing particularly

on questions of diversity and inclusion,

leadership, and organizational change.

She also has a special interest in the use

and development of quantitative research

methods in the field of public administration.

Email: s.m.groeneveld@fgga.leidenuniv.nl

Sarah N. Giest is assistant professor in

the Institute of Public Administration at

Leiden University in the Netherlands. Her

research interests include public digitization

processes and data use within government.

Her recent work evolves around local

projects and publications on the urban

dimension of digital governance looking at

sustainability policy

Email: s.n.giest@fgga.leidenuniv.nl

Annelieke C. van den Berg is a doctoral

candidate in the Institute of Public

Administration and affiliated with the Data

Science Research Programme at Leiden

University in the Netherlands. Her research

centers on inclusivity in digital government-

citizen interactions, with a particular

focus on the possibilities of (big) data for

promoting inclusive citizen participation at

municipal level.

Email: a.c.van.den.berg@fgga.leidenuniv.nl

Research

Symposium:

Transformation

of Government in

the Era of Smart

Technology