E-Government Use, Perceived Transparency, Public Knowledge of Government Performance, and Satisfaction with Government: An Analysis of Mediating, Moderating, and Framing Mechanisms Based on the COVID-19 Outbreak Control Survey Data from China

According to the existing literature on public management, many factors affect popular satisfaction with the government (referred to as “government satisfaction”), one of which is the use of e-government. Particularly, many e-government proponents regard increasing government transparency as an important way to improve government satisfaction. To test the validity of this assertion, this paper uses an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model to analyze survey data on individuals’ e-government usage frequencies in China and their satisfaction with the local government during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that people can rationally and consciously evaluate governments and make decisions by using the government performance information that they know about. This conscious and rational process is also mixed with the impact of some irrational and emotional factors, which is consistent with the concept of the “framing effect.” This paper identifies local government transparency as the mediating variable in the relationship between the use of e-government and government satisfaction and public knowledge of local government performance in COVID-19 outbreak control as the moderating variable in the relationship between local government transparency and government satisfaction. Since the mediating effect of local government transparency is significantly different from those of overall and central government transparency, government transparency at different levels plays a role of the above-mentioned “frame.”