Socioeconomic Disparities, Service Equity, and Citizen Satisfaction: Cross-National Evidence

Abstract

The literature on citizen satisfaction has predominantly focused on the key factors of service quality, with scant attention paid to the role of equity. Furthermore, these studies often rely on a single demographic identity within a single country, limiting their scope. This study aims to address these gaps by examining how outcome disparities based on socioeconomic status (SES) affect satisfaction with service providers across countries. Using a cross-national education database, we employ three SES measures—education, income, and occupation—to test how disparities in student performance across SES groups affect parents' satisfaction with schools. Our findings show that parents in less professional occupations express lower satisfaction with schools when their children underperform compared with students whose parents hold more professional jobs. However, this relationship does not exist for education- or income-based disparities. This study advances the understanding of how outcome disparities based on SES are associated with citizen satisfaction.