ublic service quality and customer satisfaction at yen bai department of planning and investment

U P P SA L A l M V K R SI I ÉT & UPPSALA UNIVERSITET VNl! U N IV K R SIT Y OF K CONOM K s & BUSINESS £ VNU-UEB *** MASTER THES1S OF MPPM PUBLIC SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT YENBAI DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND INVESTMENT A u th tìr : N C U \ KN N( ; ( K A M I Su p ervisor: PROK i.ARS-TORSTEN KRIKSSON S u p erviso r: [)R PHAN C HI ANH Class : VI PPM Intakc Hanoi, lanuary - Ư PPSA L A U N IV E R SIT É T UPPSALA UNIVERSITET VNU U N I V E R S n Y OF E C O N O M IC S & BUSINESS VNU-UEB ACKNOW LEDGEMENT After few months of working intensivc, it is time my master thcsis completed vvhich investigate the relationship betvveen the public Service quality and customer satisíaction Firstly, would like to exprcss my gratiíudc to my supcrvisor Prof Lars-Torstcn Erikkson and Dr Phan Chi Anh for the meaningful comments, remarks and engagement through the lcaming process of this master thesis Furthermore, vvould like to thank the participants in my survey, who have willingly to share their precioưs time during the process o f intervievving Finally, I like to thank my beloved classmate, who have supportcd mc throughout entire process, both by giving me useful comments to complete my master thesis and motivating me during wording my master thesis Respectíully, Nguyên Ngoe Anh ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship betwcen public Service quality and the customcr satisíaction bascd on qucstionnairc survey Adopting SKRVPERK modcl (Parasuraman, et al, 1988) this study applies statistical tools to analyze the data collected at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment in 2014 The rcsults o f this study indicatc and the signiíicant íầctors f'or customcr satisíầction in public Service o f Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment Based on those results, the suggestions and recommendations to improve puhlic Service qưality at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment are mađe Topic: “Public Service Quality and Customer Satisĩaction at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investnient” Level o H h e sis: Master o f Public Management Authors: NịỊuyen Ngoe Anh Instructors: Prof Lars-Torstcn Erikkson and Dr Phan Chi Anh Master deĩense day: December 5,h, 2014 Aim: The purposes o f this study are to asscss the public Service quality based on opinions o f customers making transactions at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Invcstmcnt; to study on the rclationship and factors alTecting customer satisfaction; to givc suggcstions and rccommendations to improve public scrvicc quality at Ycnbai Department o f Planning and Investment IMethod: By combining SERVỌUAL scale o f Parasuraman, this stutiy wi 11 asscss public Service quality through dimcnsions: ' T ransp aren cy (T R ) I I _ , I _ _ I! A dm inistrutivc p ro c cd u rcs (PR) I _ I I I Attitudc o f sta íìs (A T ) C o m p e te n c y of staíís (C O ) ' - * - —— - J E m p ath y o f staíỉs (CM ) : -777'." - I ' ỉnírastructures (IN F R ) Result & Conclusions: lu summary, researching on custom er satisíầction about public Service at the Reception and Returning Result for Business Registration Scction o f Yenbai Department f Planning and Investment is one o f factors for leaders o f city and dcpartmcnts to determinc the current situation o f providing public services and aims to complcte in the future This is one o f thc solutions to shorten timc to enter market o f entcrpriscs On the basis o f application o f the scale measuring components o f Service quality (SERVPERF), the relationship betvveen Service quality and custoincr satisfaction and customer satisfaction modcl o f Parasuraman and Spreng - Mackoy so that the thesis has identiíìed ĩactors affecting customer satisfaction, quantifies the impact o f each factor on customer satisfaction, and develop the fírst modcl on customer satisfaction about public services at the Department o f Planning and Investment o f Yenbai city The research results show that the components o f public Service and affecting customcr satisíầction including empathy, competcncy ot' staffs, iníVastructurcs, procedures, transparency and attitude o f staffs Expectations and desires o f the customers about public services arc basically shown through rcsearch results It is consistent vvith the results ot' customer surveys before data analysis With public scrvices, particularly in thc ríelcl o f public administration scrviccs, customer desiretl to rcccivc polite attitudc, courtcous, reliablc o f staffs, as well as transparency o f process, proccdurcs, mcthod of payment, fees, and timc to provide Service Contribution of the thesis: ()n the basic o f this research results, the thcsis proposcd a Iiinnbcr of solutions and rccommendations to enhance customer satisiầction bascd on the actual perception o f the positive aspects and limitations in providing puhlic Service, through íaetors illustrating the systcmatic and gencrali/ed charactcristics o f thc rcscarch model The Department should registration for intcllcctual property o f Logo and Slogan; better implement issued quality policy aims to shorten the time to enter the market o f enterpriscs IV The Department o f Planning and Investment Yenbai shoulci organize to apply rescarching on c u sto m er satisfaction with public scrviccs in thc City, to rcspect the indcpendence o f research implemcntation Thesis liniitations: Time and íìnancial budgct limit Small samples, so that the author could not usc more technique to investigate (such as S E M ) Suggestions for future research: Collecting more sam plc Using SEM (Structural equation modeling) technique to analyze the rclationship betvveen Service quality and C ustom er Satisfaction Key vvords: Public Service quality, customer SERV Ọ U A L V satisíaction, SERVPERP, C O N T liN T S I INT R O D U C T IO N 1.1 1.1.1 B ackground I Introduction about establisliment process ot the Proccdure Reception and Result Retum for Business Rcgistration Section 1.1.2 Functions, tasks o f the Division o f Reception and Return o f Business Registration 1.1.3 Results at the Reception and Returning Result for Business Registration Section o f Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment from 2008 to 1.2 Research q u e s tio n 1.3 Research purpose and speciíìc objectives 1.4 Subjects and scope o f the s t u d y II FRAM E OF R E K E R E N C E 2.1 Five gaps Service quality m o d e l 2.2 IVIeasuring Service quality: SE R V Q U A L s c a l c .9 2.3 The studies applying SER V Q U A L and S E R V P E R F 2.4 Kactors affecting public Service q u a l i t y 1 III RESEARCH M ET H O D O L O G Y 13 3.1 Research m o d c l 13 3.2 Discuss relevance of research modcl ĨIIpublic s ec to r 14 3.3 M eth o d o lo g y 15 3.3.! Research m cth o d o lo g y 15 3.3.2 Research process 15 3.4 Preliminary rescarch (q ualitatỉve) 16 3.4 i Research p u rp o s e s 16 3.4.2 Im plem entation 17 3.4.3 Rcsults 17 3.5 Pormal rescarch (quantitative) 18 3.5.1 Analytical ữamevvork: .18 3.5.2 Scale 18 VI 3.6 Data analysis p r o c e s s 20 3.6.1 Reliability analysis hy C ronbach’s a lp h a 21 3.6.2 Exploratory factor analysis .22 3.6.3 Regression analysis 23 IV DATA AN AI-V S I S 24 4.1 Data d escrip tio n 24 4.1.1 G end er 24 4.1.2 A g e 25 4.1.3 Education le v e l 26 4.1.4 Sources o f Iníb rm atio n 26 4.1.5 Service u s e d 27 4.2 Reliability a n a ly sis 28 4.2.1 Reliability o f Transparency s c a le 28 4.2.2 Reliability o f Procedure scale 28 4.2.3 Reliability o f Attitude scale 29 4.2.4 Reliability o f Competency scale 30 4.2.5 Reliability o f Empathy scale 30 4.2.6 Reliability o f Inữastructure s c a le 31 4.2.7 Reliability o f C U STO M ER SA TISK A C H O N scale 33 4.3 Kactor analvsis 34 4.3.1 l;actor analysis 1'or Transparcncy scale 34 4.3.2 Factor analysis for Procedure s c a le 35 4.3.3 Factor analysis for Attitudc s c a l e 36 4.3.4 Kactor analysis for Competency s c a le 38 4.3.5 Pactor analysis for Empathy s c a le 39 4.3.6 Pactor analysis for Inữastructure scale 40 4.3.7 Pactor analysis o f customer satisfaction sca le 41 4.4 Evaluation H v p oth eses 42 4.4.1 Evaluating customer feelings o f Service quality p e rfo m ia n c e 42 4.4.2 Correlation A n alysis 44 4.4.3 Regression analysis 45 vii V R EFLEC TIO N AND C O N C L U S IO N 47 5.1 Summary of rcsearch íindinịỊS 47 5.2 S o lu tio n 48 5.2.1 T ran sp a ren c y 48 5.2.2 Procedures 48 5.2.3 A ttitu d e 51 5.2.4 Competency o f the o fficials 53 5.2.5 Empathy o f the o ff ic ia ls 53 5.2.6 Inữastructures .54 5.3 Concỉusion 56 VI LEARNING E X P E R IE N C E S T H R O U G H RESEA RC H 57 R E F E R E N C E S 58 A PP E N D IX 61 VIII L IS T O F T A B L E S Table Rcsults at the Reception and Returning Rcsult for Business Registration Scction o f Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investm ent Table SERV PER F s c a l e .10 Tablc Observed variables used to identif'y components aỉTecting customer satisỉầction with public scrviccs at Ycnbai Department ot' Planning and Investm ent 19 Table Cronhach alpha valucs and intemal consistency (George & Mallery, 2003) 21 Table Reliability statistics o f Transparency s c a l e 28 Table Reliability statistics o f Proccdurc s c a lc 28 Tablc Reliability statistics o f Attitude s c a le .29 Table Reliability statistics o f Competency s c a le 30 Table Reliability statistics o f Empathy scale 30 Table 10 Reliability statistics ofInfrastructure s c a l e 31 Table 11 Pinal Reliability statistics o f Inữastructure s c a le 32 Table 12 Reliability statistics o f Customer satisíaction s c a l e 33 Tablc I Exploratory faclor analysis for transparency scale KMO and Bartlett's T e s t 34 Table 14 Procetlure scale factor analysis KMO and Bartlctt's T e s t 35 Table 15 Atlitude scale factor an aly sis .36 Tablc 16 Com pctcncy scalc tầctor analysis KMO and Bartlctt's T c s t 3 our queslionm ùn’! Best \\ ishes for health, happiness and succcss!!! 65 A PPEN D IX 2: O U T LĨN E OF THE G R O U P DISCUSSIONS (For thc departmcnt of internal quality managcmcnt and staff who receiving and returninỊỊ documents rcceive and process applications) Hcllo Sir/Madam! My namc is Nguyen Ngoe Anh, a student o f master program in Public Management, Uppsala University, Swcden Currently I am conducting a rcscarch on "Public Service quality and customcr satisfaction at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment" I desire to examine what ĩactors have great iníluence on customcr satisfaction tovvards public services at Yenbai City The focus o f the discussion today is to explore and analyze important factors considerably affccting customer satisíaction with public services in Yenbai city The gathered information supports me to accumulate o f knowledge and complete the research Then, we can together suggest the elements aíTecting thc improvement o f customer satisfaction with public scrviccs So that I am looking forward to your straightforward and sincere opinions from you declare that thc iníormation provided hy you will be o nly used for this scicntitìc research In your opinion, thc customer satisiaction towards public serviccs is exprcsscd through vvhich íactors? Why? In addition to the íactors that you stated above, vvhcther the following tầctors impact on customer satisfaction vvith public serviccs or not? (The intcrvicwcr introduce factors in the scalc to mcasure Service quality w h ich arc not m entioned hy the rcspondents) In your opinion whether Service quality components ( faci 1itics, staff com petency, serving attitude, reliability, w orking env iron m en t ) in the model o f this study are suitahle for customcr satisfaction towards current puhlic scrvices or not? (Discuss all Service quality components) Among the above íầctors, which one is the most important íầctor? (Making priority list) 66 In your opinion, which criteria would affcct thc abovc iactors (analy/c criteria bascd on all íầctors mentioncd as abovc)? In the interaction with customer, which factor, you think, is customer most interested in? What difficulties you have to face when the handling documents is miss deadline or documents are lost? W hat is the lesson and experience from such situations? How dơ you handle the situation when customers ask you more functions than in regulation o f an administrative agency at the department level? What lessons wcrc learned from this situation? In your opinion, how to eíTectively guide people when thcy participate adniinistrative services? 10 In your opinion, how to improve custom er satisfaction with public scrviccs? 11 Are you willing to participate when leaders o f the city implement administrativc rcforms o f the organi/ation? 12 In your opinion, which part, section or contcnts need to takc priority? Why? Pcrhaps GUI' discussion vvill stop here, thank you for taking the timc and interest in providing us this valuablc intbrmation Oncc again, sincerely thank you! The discussion results Question I : The satisfaction o f custom er \vith public Service is exprcsscd through íollovving íactors: - Proeedures and process to handle works - Serving o f staffs - Access to services - Receiving and Processing fccdbacks from customers - Conditions when welcome and scrve custom ers - Supporting equipments for providing services Question 3: Whcthcr thc Service com ponents (inírastructures, staff competence, staíYs’ attitude, reliability, working cnvironment ) in research inodel are suitable for customer satisíaction with current public services or not? 67 Question 4: Among the above components, tho most important factor will bc ranked as followcd: - Competency o f staíTs - Working cnvironment - Serving attitude - Reliability - Inữastructurcs Question 5: The criteria will impact the abovc íactors are: - Knoxvledge, skills o f staíTs - Inírastructures Question 6: Pactors that peoplc are interested in: Rcsults, schedule to handle the work Question 7: When the documents are late or lost, customers may be angry or strongly rcact Thus, staíTs need to keep calm, explain, persuade and make reasonable and acccptablc argumcnts to pcrsuadc citizens Question 8: When people require more than regulated tunctions of adniinistration agency at the department level, íìrstly it is necessary to explain for citizens to uiìderstand and then may ask cxperts in that tìcld for advicc The lcsson is: need always training, improve professional skills and handling iníormation skill Ọ ucstion 9: 11 ordcr to e ffe c tiv ely guidc citizens to participate in public serviccs, Ít IS necessary to: - D i ss em in ate in tb r m a t io n on the m a s s m cd ia s uc h as radio, TV - Publish iníbrmation in the receiving and retuming document areas Qucstion 10: To improvc customer satisfaction with public scrvices, administrative agency at Yenbai city havc to carrv out the following tasks: - Enhancc thc proiessional skills o f staíls who participate in handling administrative proccdures - Interest in and invested in equipments and íacilitics - Application o f information technology in supporting handling administrative procedures 68 Ọucstion 11: Ready Ọuestion 12: Pcrsonal opinion: Stage o f reíbrming administrative procedures and cnhancing the professional skills o f the staffs Rcducing cumbersome proccdurcs, rcducing travcl timc, vvaiting timc for customers StaíTs have to dceply understand vvorking processes to handle proccdures quickly and Aexibly 69 A PPEN D IX 3: O U T LIN E OF THE BILATERAL DISC U SSIO N S (For leaders and hcads of departments) Hello Sir/Madam! My name is Nguyen Ngoe Anh, a student o f master program in Public Management, Uppsala ưnivcrsity, Sweden Currcntly l'm conducting a rcsearch on "Public scrvicc quality and customcr satisfaction at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment" I desire to examine vvhat íactors have great iníluence on customer satisíaction towards public services at Yenbai city The focus o f the discussion today is to explorc and analyze important factors considerably affecting customer satisfaction \vith public services in Yenbai city The gathered iníormation supports me to accumulate o f knowledge and complete the research Then, wc can togethcr suggest the elements affecting the improvement o f customcr satisfaction with public serviccs So, I am looking forward to your straightforward and sincere opinions from you declare that the information provided by you vvill bc only uscd for this scicntitlc rcsearch I The role o f a managcr, what is your assessmcnt o f the documcnt percentage hcing processed in reccnt ycars after applying ISO standards? III your opinion, what tầctors have impact ơn customer satisíaction with puhlic admmistration serviccs at Yenbai City? Hased on the discussed íactors inipacting on the quality o f public serviccs follo\vinỵ ISO standards, eompared with the currcnt situation o f your department, vvhal you think about these factors? How they impact on customer satisfaction? In addition to the mentioned íầctors, is thcre any other íầctors? (The intcrviewer introduces the íactors in the devcloped measurement scale that the interviewee did nơt mention) Analysis o f the impact o f each individual factor: You based on the following factors: 70 Based 1111 'rastructures, on the above compctency of factors staíYs, you mentioned attitude of (repcat staffs, each reliability, factor: \vorking environment, proccdures) the critcria mcasures the abovc factors? (Suggest criteria on the basis o f previous studies and the prcvious discussion results) What you think about factors "prơccdurcs" vvhen the administrative agcncy at the departmcnt lcvel is a unit following law enforcement? In your opinion, which standards arc ncccssary for front staffs? With the role o f a leacỉcr, are you willing to invcst more to improve pcople's satisfaction vvith public services at Yenbai city? Perhaps our discussion will stop here, thank you for taking the time and interest in providing us this valuable iníbrmation Once again, sincerely thank you! The discussion results: Question 1: the document percentage being processed in recent ycars after applying ISO standards has a very positive change, the number o f documents beitig proccsscd next ycar is highcr than last ycar (o f the annual pcrccntage is about 95 %) Ọuestion 2: Pactors affecting customer satisíaction vvith public services at Yenbai City: Publicity and transparency about administrative procedures; Procedures is clcar, atlequate and in detail; time for handling udministrativc procedures; attitude o f staffs vvlicn serving citi/.ens Ụueslion 3: factors impacting on the quality o f public services following ISO standards: - Professional competency o f staffs: is the critical íactor in delivering public scrvices It staffs’ competency is good, the handling o f administrative proccdures will be quick, timely and more efficient As a rcsult, the quality o f public administration serviccs will incrcase - The serving attitude o f statTs is a subịective íactor strongly affecting the handling document process and customcr satisfaction when they making administrative procedures Because the current regulation in the administrative proccdures are still general and not speciiìc details for each location, thus, serving attitude has great iníluence on working outcomes 71 and custom er satisfaction Thereíbre, politc attitude o f staffs is an important íactor to improve the quality o f scrvices; - The system o f rules ahout working proccss and proccdures: The rulcs o f working process and procedure are prescribed simply, clearly, and in detailed The guidelines should be concise, comprehensible by using ordinary languagc; - The inírastructurcs o f thc officcs: Ọuality o f offices, computers, desks, equipments scrving thc working conditions o f staffs and serving customcrs vvhen thcy are waiting for making administrative proccdures; Transparency: Helping custom ers undcrstand more clearly about administrative procedures such as documcnt list, fees, schedule to handle procedures, names o f staíĩs who are in chargc o f handling documents Ọuestion 4: In addition to the above factors, there are some other factors atiectinu quality in public services: - Monitoring mechanism, comments: Contributing to increase quality o f public scrviccs, throuiìh monitoring mcchanisms and coinmcnts, staffs collect fcedbacks and coniments tìom citizens about existing procedures, attitudes vvhen serving citizens, transparcncy; proíessional capability on handling \vorks o f staffs; the level o f fees and chargcs; - The lcvel o f ỉces and charges: Ọuality o f public scrvices also depends on lactors as tccs and charges o f pcrtbrming administrative procedurcs Whether thc fce and charge lcvel are suitablc for íìnancial ability o f citizens or not, and publishcd at thc olTice or not Ọucstiơn 5: Kactors affecting the quality o f public scrvices: - Spirit, attitudc to serve the peoplc and organizations; - Pưblicity and transparency o f administrative procedures; - Time to handle administrative procedurcs Qucstion 6: The State authorities at departm cnt level is a State agency lbllovving law enforccmcnt, the agency shall comply with the regulated procedures Procedures are only changed in the process o f receiving and handling administrative procedures for citizcns and organi/ations State agencies at department level rcceive fecdbacks from custorners about the procedures which help promulgating procedures more completely 72 Ọuestion 7: Standards o f stalĩs in the work o f serving citi/cns at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investmcnt: - Professional capacity o f staffs; - Polite and enthusiasm attitudc o f the staffs Question 8: Willingness to invest in training staff who participate in the settlcment o f administrative procedures; invcst in modcrn inírastructurcs; application o f information tcchnology to bettcr providing administrativc proccdurcs in ordcr to enhance customer satisfaction with public services at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investmcnt Tliank you for taking the time and interest in helping leaders and heads o f departments to provide information Once again, sincere thanks! 73 ... study Public Service quality, customer satislaction vvhen using puhlic Services at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment, and íactors ìccting customer satisfaction about public services... customer satisíaction level about public Service quality at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Invcslmcnt? What are suggestions for improving public Service quality and increasing customer satisíầction... in public Service, customer and customer satisfaction to have an overview on this issuc Collect and analyze survey data from customers using public services at Ycnbai Department o f Planning and