Articles

Service Quality, Citizen Satisfaction, and Citizen Participation: Evidence from Independent (PBPU) Members of Indonesia’s National Health Insurance Program

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Universal health coverage schemes in developing countries face a recurring sustainability problem: keeping voluntarily enrolled members active once they have joined. This study investigates how the five dimensions of service quality proposed in the SERVQUAL framework, namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, shape the satisfaction of independent participants (Pekerja Bukan Penerima Upah/PBPU) of Indonesia’s Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional (JKN) programme administered by BPJS Kesehatan, and whether this satisfaction subsequently drives citizen participation. Data were obtained from 180 PBPU participants who had used BPJS Kesehatan services at least twice, selected through purposive sampling, and analyzed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS. All five service-quality dimensions were found to exert a significant positive effect on citizen satisfaction, with responsiveness and empathy showing the strongest influence, while citizen satisfaction in turn had a strong positive effect on citizen participation and fully mediated the link between each service-quality dimension and participatory behavior. The measurement model satisfied established criteria for convergent and discriminant validity, and the structural model showed adequate explanatory and predictive relevance. The findings extend the SERVQUAL framework and expectation confirmation theory into the domain of participatory behavior and provide BPJS Kesehatan with practical direction for strengthening service delivery to sustain long-term member engagement.

Digital Integration and Institutional Trust: The Mediating Role of E-Government Transparency in Enhancing Citizen Satisfaction

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: Digital transformation in local governance has increasingly been positioned as a catalyst for building public trust and enhancing citizen satisfaction. However, empirical evidence on how digital integration translates into trust-based outcomes through transparency mechanisms remains underexplored, particularly in developing-country contexts. This study examines the mediating roles of e-government transparency and institutional trust in linking digital integration to citizen satisfaction within decentralized governance structures.

Using data from 280 active users of integrated digital services in Malang City, Indonesia, collected between August and September 2025, this research employs Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test a sequential mediation model. Findings reveal that digital integration significantly enhances e-government transparency (β = 0.51, p < 0.001), which in turn fosters institutional trust (β = 0.48, p < 0.001). Institutional trust emerges as the strongest predictor of citizen satisfaction (β = 0.62, p < 0.001), with full mediation confirmed via bootstrapping.

The study contributes to digital government literature by demonstrating that technology-enabled transparency functions as a trust-building mechanism rather than merely an information disclosure tool. Theoretically, the research extends trust-based governance frameworks by positioning e-government transparency as an interactive accountability interface that bridges technological capability and citizen confidence. Practically, the findings suggest that local governments should prioritize digital platforms that enable real-time monitoring, two-way communication, and responsive feedback systems to cultivate sustained institutional trust.