Do government performance signals affect citizen satisfaction?

Previous studies have confirmed the causal effect of performance information on citizen satisfaction, but they were primarily conducted in survey experimental settings that featured hypothetical and abstract scenarios and primed respondents to look at certain aspects of performance information. Whether the causal effects hold in the real world, which is a much more complex information environment, is questionable. We address the gaps by employing a regression discontinuity design to identify the impact of public schools’ performance grades on parents’ satisfaction with teachers and overall education in New York City. We find that performance signals have independent and lasting effects on citizens’ satisfaction. However, the effects are nonlinear, depending on the levels of performance signals. Parents’ responses are muted at the A/B performance grade cutoff, but their satisfaction increases significantly at the B/C and C/D cutoffs if their schools earn relatively higher grades.