E-government and citizen-state relations: Evidence from a randomized information campaign with the Botswana Unified Revenue Service

E-government services are often heralded as a silver bullet for governments willing to engage more meaningfully with citizens. Evidence on the effectiveness of these measures for improving citizen-state relations is scarce, however. Most studies examining e-government focus on efficiency considerations; few consider potential effects on citizen-state relations. The present study analyses the effect of an information treatment about the availability of e-government services on citizen perceptions of government responsiveness. We conducted an experiment in cooperation with the Botswana Unified Revenue Service that randomly assigned registered taxpayers to receive a short message on their mobile phones. Our results indicate that the treatment has a significant, positive effect on the perception that the government addresses citizen needs, and more so for respondents with lower income. The findings suggest that, by affecting how citizens assess political realities, e-government can play an important role in shaping citizen-state relations.