Satisfaction and Expectations: Attitudes to public services in deprived areas

Based on outcomes for residents and qualitative studies, it is widely thought that public services meet the needs of residents less well in deprived areas, and that this is due to both the demands placed on services being greater and the services themselves being of a lower quality. This paper looks at the use, importance and satisfaction ratings of a range of services by residents in deprived and other areas, using data from a large national survey, the People's Panel. Overall, there are relatively few services that deprived area residents are less satisfied with than are those elsewhere, and these differences are generally small, particularly when controlled for differences in the profile of residents between areas. Indeed, there are only six services (out of 40 considered) that are rated differently between areas, and for three of these satisfaction is higher in deprived areas. This finding may be at least partly due to the expectations of public services among those in deprived areas being lower than those elsewhere. The analysis attempts to account for this by comparing the ratings of similar 'high resource' groups between areas, as these people are likely to have similar expectations. In this comparison there are more services that perform less well in deprived areas, in particular GPs, the police, leisure centres, swimming pools, British Telecom, refuse collection, street cleaning, and road/pavement maintenance.Satisfaction, public services, deprived neighbourhoods

Britain’s politicians should take note: The ‘grey vote’ is not as grey as we think

A new report from Demos & Ipsos MORI finds that, contrary to popular belief, a large part of the support for pensioner spending comes from voters at the other end of the age spectrum, with those born between 1980 and 2000 three time as likely to choose pensions than unemployment benefits when asked to pick priorities. Duncan O’Leary and Bobby Duffy examine the implications of this and find an underlying principle: The desire for a reciprocal welfare system, which protects people when they need it and encourages the right behaviour in others

Perceptions and reality: Ten things we should know about attitudes to immigration in the UK

Looking at the data on attitudes towards immigration, Bobby Duffy highlights ten significant findings. The data shows deep concern about immigration in general across large parts of the population, while also clearly indicating more nuance in specific views

Changing Politics: Towards a New Democracy

In October 2014 the PSA joint-funded a Consultation event ‘Changing Politics – Towards a New Democracy’ with St. George’s House. The Chair of the PSA, Professor Matthew Flinders, chaired the event which brought together participants from a range of fields (including academics, think tankers and practitioners in several policy areas). Today, St. George’s House has published a report which highlights the main themes emerging from the discussion as well as some conclusions and recommendations. It identifies several areas where changes are urgently needed to reinvigorate democracy. The report concludes that to fully succeed in addressing the growth of political apathy and disengagement, parties and leaders must forget their differences and join citizens, academics, charities and others to address this problem with all available energy and resources

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Business Complaint Management Expectations

This paper is in closed access until 9th Dec 2016.Copyright © Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. This study explores the complaint management expectations of 72 British and 74 German organizational buyers using automated online means-end laddering and a Hierarchical Value Map presentation. It conceptualizes the links between expected complaint resolution attributes by the buyer (i.e., means) and the buyer's value perceptions (i.e., ends). Unlike previous research, we highlight similarities and differences in the drivers behind and attributes of complaint management expectations across two countries (Germany and the United Kingdom). Even in countries appearing to be similar economically and culturally, we find differences in the desired attributes. British buyers, for example, emphasize softer complaint resolution attributes compared to Germans. Our study is the first to present a model of complaint management expectations incorporating the role of culture, and it provides managerial directions on standardization and adaption of complaint resolution attributes. Furthermore, it evaluates justice dimensions (especially interactional justice) and their impact on perceptions of complaint management

Satisfaction and expectations: attitudes to public services in deprived areas

Based on outcomes for residents and qualitative studies, it is widely thought that public services meet the needs of residents less well in deprived areas, and that this is due to both the demands placed on services being greater and the services themselves being of a lower quality. This paper looks at the use, importance and satisfaction ratings of a range of services by residents in deprived and other areas, using data from a large national survey, the People's Panel. Overall, there are relatively few services that deprived area residents are less satisfied with than are those elsewhere, and these differences are generally small, particularly when controlled for differences in the profile of residents between areas. Indeed, there are only six services (out of 40 considered) that are rated differently between areas, and for three of these satisfaction is higher in deprived areas. This finding may be at least partly due to the expectations of public services among those in deprived areas being lower than those elsewhere. The analysis attempts to account for this by comparing the ratings of similar 'high resource' groups between areas, as these people are likely to have similar expectations. In this comparison there are more services that perform less well in deprived areas, in particular GPs, the police, leisure centres, swimming pools, British Telecom, refuse collection, street cleaning, and road/pavement maintenance