The use of digital public services as a factor of social well-being

Abstract

In recent years, the trend of digitalization of society has led researchers to think about the possible relationship of factors connecting the penetration of information technologies and such social aspects as the quality of life of the population, residents’ satisfaction with the urban environment, and social well-being. The article presents the results of a representative sociological study of the needs for digital services among residents of St. Petersburg, as well as the relationship between satisfaction from using services and the level of social well-being. In St. Petersburg, the priority project “Ecosystem of City Services ‘Digital Petersburg’” is being implemented, which is a model for providing digital services by locating city services in one place. Satisfaction with the lives of citizens is the ultimate goal of the project, and this category is closely related to the subjective judgments of residents who come into contact with everyday practices through an emotional background. The study was conducted using an online survey of 500 city residents, a sample representative of the gender and age of respondents. According to the results of the study, a relationship was identified between the use of digital services and indicators of the social well-being of the population. Among city residents, those who highly value the convenience of digital services demonstrate greater life satisfaction. According to the survey, the social well-being of citizens is influenced by confidence in their own IT skills, a high assessment of the convenience of digital services, trust in interaction with authorities online, and an assessment of the effectiveness of services. The author sees the development of a methodology for multifactorial assessment of social well-being, including the use of data from social media and other open sources, as future research tasks.