Assessing and Comparing E-Mail Responsiveness in the Bavarian Public Sector

E-mail is the most important electronic communication medium for governments with their constituents. While there are a lot of maturity models and benchmarking studies focusing on the technological and organizational integration of information technology in governments, the “customer side” of e-government maturity has been often neglected. Replicating studies from Australia, New Zealand, Slovenia and Denmark, this study explores the responsiveness concerning customer-government e-mail correspondence for the Bavarian Public Sector. Our study assesses the response rate and quality of 375 e-mails send to public administrations in Bavaria. Our results show that the Bavarian Public Administration has a poor responsiveness compared to other countries in terms of both quantity and quality. Based on our results, we provide recommendations for future research and practice.