Determinants of Public Service Satisfaction in Smart Governance: The Roles of Transparency, Collaboration, Participation, and Accountability

Nur Afifah (Universitas sumatera utara)
Simson Ginting (Universitas Sumatera Utara)

Publik (Jurnal Ilmu Administrasi)
Vol 15, No 1 (2026): June 2026

The development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has brought changes not only to industrial sectors but also to public services, promising efficiency and effectiveness in their implementation. Entering 2025, Indonesia is at a crucial point in digital transformation, with an estimated 67.66% of the population living in urban areas, creating an urgent need for infrastructure and public services. Smart governance, as a bureaucratic reform, emphasizes the importance of adopting digital technology to streamline public services and ensure transparency for users. This study addresses this gap by investigating the impact of smart governance on public satisfaction, offering novelty through an integrated empirical assessment of these three specific dimensions within Indonesia's digital bureaucracy framework. A descriptive quantitative approach was adopted to provide an objective, scalable measurement of citizen perceptions. Primary data were collected via structured questionnaires distributed to 324 respondents selected to ensure adequate statistical power for complex variable modeling. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling with Analysis of Moment Structures (SEM-AMOS), preceded by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate the measurement model's construct reliability and convergent validity before evaluating structural paths. In alignment with standard reporting guidelines, tabular and graphical models were structured to present standardized path coefficients and fit indices clearly. The results demonstrate that all three constructs exert a statistically significant positive influence on public satisfaction. Accountability emerged as the strongest predictor (CR = 6.426), followed by transparency (CR = 3.821) and collaboration (CR = 3.475), all significantly exceeding the critical threshold of 1.96. In conclusion, these findings confirm that while transparent and collaborative channels enhance public engagement, robust administrative accountability is the primary driver of citizen satisfaction in smart city governance. Policymakers must prioritize anti-corruption mechanisms and real-time service tracking alongside digital interface rollouts to maximize public trust.