Assessing the Quality of Public Services: A Conceptual Model

One of the major challenges faced by Public Administration is how to create more value for both citizens and firms, mainly because of the increasing budgetary constraints and challenging demands from society. In fact, over the past two decades there has been a general movement of public reform in most developed countries, and for this reason it is essential to understand how users assess the quality of public services. The aim of this paper is to clarify the determinants of public service quality. Due to the nature of the research problem, we have adopted a case-study methodology. The research involved extensive qualitative and quantitative data collection with managers, citizens and front and back-office public servants by means of interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. The paper presents the case of Public Service Citizens’ Shops (Loja do Cidadão) in Portugal, a recent and innovative channel for the delivery of public services. Firstly, it explores the kind of relationships that develop during the public service encounter between the citizen, the public organization and society. Secondly, citizen satisfaction and dissatisfaction with public services are both investigated. The basic premise is that these two concepts are not opposite but have different determinants. Furthermore, the paper also explores the nature of tolerance and emphasizes the importance of managing emotions in the public service encounter. Finally, it also considers how the quality assessment of public services should also take into account implications regarding value to society.public services; quality determinants; satisfaction; dissatisfaction; zone of tolerance; emotions; citizens’ shops

Innovative Public Service Delivery: How to assess the new relationship between public agencies and society?

One of the major challenges faced by the Public Administration is how to create more value for both citizens and firms, mainly because of the increasing budgetary constraints and challenging demands from society. In fact, over the past two decades there has been a general movement of public reform in most developed countries, and for this reason it is essential to understand how users assess public services’ quality. This paper aims at understanding the determinants of public services’ quality. Due to the nature of the research problem, we have adopted a case-study methodology. The research involved an extensive qualitative and quantitative data collection with managers, citizens and front and back-office public servants, by means of interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. The paper presents the case of Citizen Shops in Portugal, a recent and innovative channel of public services’ delivery, within a strong relationship perspective. Firstly, it explores the kind of relationships that are developed during the public service encounter between the citizen, the public organization and society. Secondly, both citizen’s satisfaction and dissatisfaction with public services are investigated. The basic premise is that these two concepts are not opposite but have different determinants instead. Furthermore, the paper also explores the existence of a zone of tolerance and emphasizes the importance of managing emotions in the public service encounter. Finally, it is discussed that public services’ quality assessment should also take into consideration the implications on the value to society.Public services; citizen shops; quality determinants; satisfaction; dissatisfaction

Technology and Service Quality in the Banking Industry: An Empirical Study of Various Factors in Electronic Banking Services

Technology-based self service has greatly changed the way that service Firms and consumers interact and are raising a host of research and practice issues relating to the delivery of e-service which has become increasingly important not only in determining the success or failure of electronic commerce but also in providing consumers with a superior experience with respect to the interactive flow of information. The purpose of this research study was to establish the relationship between technology and service quality in the banking industry in Nigeria. The research was carried out through a cross sectional smvey design which questioned respondents one e-banking services. The population of study mainly constituted of customers of Oceanic bank within Lagos metropolis and its environs. The respondents of the study were customers of banks using e-banking services (internet banking, mobile banking and AIM). The sample in this study consisted of 120 respondents who are users of thee-banking services. The data collected was analyzed by use of frequency, percentage, means and correlation analysis. The findings revealed that secure services as the most important dimension, followed by convenient location of AIM, efficiency (not need to wait, ability to set up accounts so that the customer can perform transactions immediately, accurately of records, user friendly, ease of user, complaint satisfaction, accurate transactions and operation in 24 h)

Exploring the Zone of Tolerance for Internal Customers in IT-Enabled Call Centers

Today, call center employees’ service encounters with external customers are extensively supported with modern information technology (IT). However, prior research on service quality and zone of tolerance (ZOT) focuses primarily on external customers with little attention paid to how internal customers (e.g., service employees) respond to services provided by internal functions, particularly IT function that supports employees’ IT use. Drawing on theory of administrative behavior and IT success literature, we conducted a study at a call center of a telecommunications firm and found that the impact of internal IT service quality (ITSQ) on employees’ service quality (ESQ) to external customers, as well as on their satisfaction with and use of the deployed technology, exhibits a positive diminishing pattern as ITSQ increases from below to within and to above the ZOT. We also found that ITSQ’s impact on ESQ employees\u27 satisfaction with technology changes more dramatically around adequate service level than desired service level. Finally, we show that call center employees’ satisfaction with technology partially mediates ITSQ’s impact on ESQ. Besides adding to the service and IT literature, our findings suggest that managers should understand internal customers’ different levels of expectations toward internal IT service and the differential performance impacts of those levels

Intermittent Continuance of Smart Health Devices: A Zone-of-Tolerance Perspective

Smart health and wearable devices have recently received widespread attention from practitioners and scholars. However, intermittent continuance behavior of users is considered to be one of the most important reasons hindering the development of smart health. To address this issue, the current study employs the zone-of-tolerance theory to explore the mechanisms through which intermittent continuance is evoked. In particular, this study develops two new constructs (i.e., performance superiority and performance adequacy), and proposes that they affect intermittent continuance via satisfaction and neutral satisfaction, respectively. Results demonstrated that the effects of the two new variables on intermittent continuance of smart health devices had been fully mediated. This study concludes with theoretical and practical implications

Information Systems Service Quality Measurement: The Evolution of The SERVQUAL Instrument

Due to the increasing service component of information technology, service quality measurement has become increasingly important as IS practitioners attempt to increase service quality to customers. The measurement of service quality in IS evolved from the research done in the marketing literature. The SERVQUAL instrument has evolved to become the most commonly used measurement instrument in both IS and marketing. Although commonly used, the SERVQUAL instrument is not without criticism. This paper describes the SERVQUAL instrument, its criticisms and support, and finally the SERVPERF instrument, a variation of the SERVQUAL instrument which is an attempt at improving upon the SERVQUAL instrument

linioj-maition Systems Service Quality Measurement: The Evolution of The SERVQUAL Instrument

Due to the increasing service component of information technology, service quality measurement has become increasingly important as IS practitioners attempt to increase service quality to customers. The measurement of service quality in IS evolved from the research done in marketing literature. The SERVQUAL instrument has evolved to become the most commonly used measurement instrument in both IS and marketing. Although commonly used, SERVQUAL instrument is not without criticism. This paper describes the SERVQUAL instrument, its criticisms and support, and finally the SERVPERF instrument, a variation of the SERVQUAL instrument which is an attempt at improving upon the SERVQUAL instrument