Public Service Values and Chatbots in the Public Sector: Reconciling Designer efforts and User Expectations

Abstract

Chatbots are deployed across a wide range of public services, frequently to manage the increased volumes of online service requests. The appropriateness of many chatbot initiatives is often challenged. One reason for this is these initiatives are largely driven by agency centric goals, often neglecting the expectations of other public stakeholders. A public service value perspective – founded on the notion of public value – offers an avenue to represent the views of other public stakeholder groups. We examine the public service values of two key stakeholder groups – designers and users and discuss how they can be reconciled.