See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/337086191

Service Delivery and Customer Satisfaction in the Public Service Sector: An

Ethiopian Experience

Article  in  Public Policy and Administration · November 2019

CITATIONS READS

2 9,846

2 authors:

Alemseged gerezgiher Hailu Hailay Shifare

Addis Ababa University Huazhong University of Science and Technology
1 PUBLICATION   2 CITATIONS    5 PUBLICATIONS   2 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Assessment of Human Resource Training and Development (HRD) Practices in Public Services of Ethiopia (Survey of Selected Federal Public Service organizations) View
project

All content following this page was uploaded by Hailay Shifare on 07 November 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

Service Delivery and Customer Satisfaction in the Public Service

Sector:An Ethiopian Experience
Alemseged Gerezgiher Hailu
Center for Rural Development, Addis Ababa University

Hailay Gebretsadik Shifare

Ethiopian Management Institute, P.O.Box 26205, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract
The purpose of the study is to assess the existing service delivery and customer satisfaction of selected federal
ministries/organizations in Ethiopia. The data collecting instruments employed in the study were questionnaires
and key informant interview guides. Primary data was collected using self-administered, structured questionnaire
from respondents (165 employees and 423 customers).The data obtained from the above sources were organized,
presented and analyzed by using both qualitative and quantitative methods of research analysis. The result shows
customers of public service organizations perceived positively that they are satisfied by the overall service
delivery of the organizations. However, there were service delivery differences within different sections of every
selected public service organizations and among each selected organization, which is statistically significant. The
main challenges of public service delivery were lack of accountability, willingness to provide service as per
request, sense of belongingness, inconsistencies of rules and regulations, and lack of integration problem among
different government service providers. The public service organizations should introduce appropriate and
realistic accountability measures; and work together in preparation of their rules, regulations, and procedure
consistently so that they would have better integration, which enable them to provide good service delivery to
their customers.
Keywords: Public service, Service delivery, SERVQUAL, Customer satisfaction, Ethiopia
DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/9-9-04
Publication date:September 30th 2019

1. Introduction
The service industry plays a great and important role in the economy of countries in the world. In the 21st century,
which is characterized by high competition and business dynamism among others, providing quality service to
customers is considered as essential strategy for survival and sustainable growth (Vijayakanth et al., 2014). In
the global world, providing quality service is crucial for the accomplishment and continuous existence
(Parasuraman et al., 1985; Reichhld & Sasser, 1990; Zeithaml et al., 1990). All over the world, public service
institutions have responsibility for providing sufficient service to clients/citizens as per their request (Benjamin,
2012). The public sector has responsibility and accountability for delivering efficient and effective services to
communities and societies as a customer. Though public service institutions, now days, have an ever-increasing
demands to deliver best services and improve efficiency relatively compared to previous times, demands are
changing in their quality requirements in government and private sector.
Despite the fact that the incumbent Ethiopian Government introduced different reform programs to increase
service delivery and customer satisfaction, there are many challenges and problems in the public sector. Several
research studies on the issue indicated that the service performance of the sectors is not up to the satisfaction
level of the public (Emnet & Habtamu, 2011), poor integration and sequential approach (Mesfin, 2009). Thus,
the purpose of the study is to assess service quality and customers' satisfaction in public sector selected federal
organizations in Ethiopia.
Service quality is an overall result similar to attitude towards the service and generally accepted as a
predecessor of overall customer satisfaction (Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996). Customers are the corner stone’s of
service provider in that without customer it is difficult to assure sustainable continuity and growth of
organizations. Hence, the Ethiopian public service organizations have the responsibility to provide efficient
service to clients and achieve the goals of their mission. To this end, government has been introducing various
reforms to bring about a remarkable change that ensures expectations of the customers. For this very reason,
public sector organizations put boldly the services they provided and express their willingness to implement
effective and efficient service practically on the ground. It is vividly observed that there are complains in service
provision and the satisfaction of customers when looking it vis-à-vis the status of service provision by
organizations and perceptions’ of customers (Emnet & Habtamu, 2011).
Many studies have been done in relation to this topic; For example, a descriptive study conducted by Fariba
Azizzadeb, Kahalili, Iraj Soltani (2013) on service quality measurement in the public sector using SERVQUAL
model have found that there is a difference between customer expectation and present service delivery in terms

24
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

of tangibility, reliability, empathy and guarantee. Similarly, Ilhaamie (2010) has also studied the quality of
service provision in Malaysian public sector and expectation of external customers using SERVQUAL
instrument. The result shows that the overall service delivery was good in the public sector however, this study
focused only the external customer side without including the internal customers/employee side/.
Furthermore, a survey study on the comparison of private and public service organizations in terms of
customer Satisfaction through Service Quality across Karnataka (India) was done with specific focus on the
investigation of how closely customer expectations of service and front line employees’ perceptions of customer
expectations match. The result of this survey indicated that employees and customers do not have significant
differences in opinions in terms of the gaps between their perceptions and expectations of government and
private organization (Urs, Harirao & Kumar, 2014).
However, the literature tells us that the studies done on the subject of service quality and customer
satisfaction appear to be mostly focusing on private sector. Nevertheless, if we take the context of developing
countries like Ghana the public sectors is mainly the dominant player in service delivery (Benjamin, 2012) which
requires research attention and the context of Ethiopia is not different from this fact.
In Ethiopia different studies have been done on customer satisfaction in the public organizations (e.g. A
survey on the assessment of customer satisfaction on Ethiopian Telecom (Potluri & Mangnale, 2010), A research
note on Clients and clinician satisfaction with laboratory services at selected government hospitals in eastern
Ethiopia (Zelalem Teklemariam, Abiyu Mekonnen, Haji Kedir and Getachew Kabew, 2013).
Therefore, the conceptual challenges identified in this research are bad record track and pick-drop culture of
reform tools, the top-down approach or lack of adequate consultation of stakeholders and lack of implementation
capacity. However, the assessment of service quality and customers’ satisfaction on the specified federal
organizations is not yet studied.
A research conducted by Jenet (2011) with a methodology SERVQUAL MODEL come up with the idea
that service quality and customer satisfaction are different in their dimensions. However, the study was unable to
incorporate views of employees while they are providing service to their customers. Hence, the here researchers
are interested to address; has the service delivery in the selected organizations in Ethiopia lived up to the
customers’ satisfaction in respect of bringing about predicted quality services? How about the employees? Do
they know clearly whether the services they provide are as per quality or not? Therefore, this research focuses on
service quality and customers’ satisfaction in the selected governmental organizations in Ethiopia.

2. Research Objectives
The general objective of the paper is to assess service quality and customers’ satisfaction of public sector in
selected governmental ministry/institution/office of Ethiopia.
Specific Objectives
1. To describe service delivery status in the public service sector of Ethiopia.
2. To investigate the determinants of customer satisfaction in the selected public service organizations.
3. To identify the challenges of selected public service delivery in public service sector of Ethiopia.

3. Service Delivery and Customer Satisfaction: a Nexus

Customers are the corner stone of any organization. And, therefore, customer satisfaction remains at the heart of
the decisions and actions of organizations of all type. Parasuraman et al. (1985) conceptualized service
excellence as the gap between customers’ hope and their awareness of the service practice. Based on their
conceptualization of service quality, an instrument of measuring customer satisfaction against service delivery
was developed basically for private organizations. The instrument is commonly called as service quality
(SERVQUAL) and has five dimensions (Nyeck et al., 2002). These are tangibility, reliability, responsiveness,
assurance, and empathy (van Iwaarden et al., 2003). Specifically, public sector organizations, especially in
developing countries, face particular difficulties in measuring service quality.
This is so because the tradition of measuring customer satisfaction against service delivery was confined to
private organizations long time now. However, in recent times clients of public service organizations demand for
prompt and quality service has significantly grown. This is an issue of worry to the public since they are the
taxpayers, and it is their taxes that are used to finance these public sector organizations, and therefore, they
expect that good services are provided to clients in return (Abdullah, 2006). Likewise, revenue is not the last
purpose of these public organizations as they play unlike responsibility such as catalyst, pacemaker and socio-
economic developer (Arawati, Barker and Kandampully, 2007). Thus, in an attempt to solve their difficulties
scholars to adopt models developed in the private sector to the public service sector. Such models try to link
service delivery and quality with customer satisfaction (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1988, and 1994). For example,
some notable researchers such as Iihaamie (2010) studied service quality as an important dimension of
organizational performance in the public sector.

25
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

As the main output of most public sector organizations is service delivery, Brysland and Curry (2001) stated
that the literature clearly supported the use of SERVQUAL in the public sector. And, Gowan et al. (2001),
highlighted that service provision is more complex in the public sector because it is not simply a matter of
meeting expressed needs, but of finding out unexpressed needs, setting priorities, allocating resources and
publicly justifying and accounting for what has been done) were undertaken in the public service sector and they
establish the relationship between service delivery and customer satisfaction.
To this end, the conceptual framework and hypotheses to analyze the nexus between service delivery and
customer satisfaction in the public service sector of Ethiopia are depicted below.

Source: Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research (2010)

The following hypotheses are set based on the above conceptual review and are tested in the results and
discussions part.
H1: Service quality dimensions do affect customer satisfaction in the public service institutions.
H1: Service providing employees characteristics do affect customer satisfaction in the public service institutions.
H1: The type and characteristics of the public service institution affects customer satisfaction.

4. Research Methodology
Description of the study area
The study area, Addis Ababa-Ethiopia, was purposively selected as it fits for the purpose of the study. This is so
because Addis Ababa is the capital city and seat of all Federal ministries and/or institutions in Ethiopia. Among
the various public service organizations, DARO, EMI, MoGCA and MoCT were selected for the study. The
institutions/ministries were selected purposely through the following criteria.
One is capacity-building, communication/PR, great /opportunity/ concern for the country, has more
customers with different background. Hence, EMI is engaged in capacity building and it has more than 264
Federal and Regional clients. DARO is also a Federal Document Authentication and Registration Agency and
has more than 1 million customers each year. MoCT is a Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the country give
due attention to exploit its tourism resources and benefited from the industry by establishing tourism
transformation council lead by prime minister. MoGCA- is government communications affair office served as a
bridge between the government and peoples at large.
Research Design and Strategy
This research employ a mixed methodology as it uses both qualitative and quantitative data. As Creswell (2003)
stated, using only qualitative or quantitative research methodology has its own limitations.
However, mixed methods make the research process & its findings more valuable by offsetting the
limitation of each research approach. Therefore, the researcher applied a mix of descriptive and exploratory
survey research design and mixed methodology in data collection in order to answer the gap identified in the
research process.
Data Type and Sources
The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative data types. Both primary and secondary source of data were
employed. The primary sources of data were collected from users, administrators and key informants of five
federal ministries/organizations DARO, EMI, MoGCA and MoCT.
Secondary source of data were collected from relevant sources such as report of the institutions/ministries,
organizations’ citizens’ charter and document review of all the selected ministries report and customers’
suggestions boxes.
Sample Design
The target population of the study consists of customers and employees of four selected federal
ministries/institutions, DARO, EMI, MoGCA and MoCT and these organizations are the unit of analysis.

26
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

Sample Size Determination

The researchers employed proportional purposive sampling method. i.e., proportional selections of respondents
were made with respective of size of each sampling units in the study area. The benefits of using this process
includes representativeness with respect to variables used as the basis of categorizing and increased chances of
being able to make comparisons between the units. Lack of information on proportion of the population in each
category and faulty classification may be listed as disadvantages of this method. The sampling size
determination formula for employees is derived from. Kothari stated that in case of finite population the
sampling size determination formula is as follows;
z2.p.q.N
n= e . (N-1)+z2.p.q
2

Where,
N = size of population
n = size of sample
e = acceptable error
p = sample proportion of successes, q = 1 – p;
z = the value of the standard variate at a given confidence level
The size of the total population is around 985 where p is 0.5 because at this p value n was the maximum and the
sample yield at least the desired precision.
The z value at 95% of confidence level is 1.96.
(1.96)2. (0.5)(0.5).945.99
Sample= (0.05) . (985-1) + (1.96) 2. (0.5)(0.5)
2

Therefore, sample size = 276

Table 1: Proportional Allocation
S.N. Name of organization NO. Employee Proportional Sample
allocation size
2 Document Authentication and Registration 150 0.15 24
Agency
3 Ethiopian Management Institute 281 0.27 79
4 Ministry of Culture and Tourism 326 0.33 113
5 Ministry of Government Communication 228 0.25 60
Affairs
Source: Data collected from the study organizations, 2017
Therefore, the sample size of the population is 276.
Data were collected from the selected civil service organizations according to the given formula. Consequently,
276 questionnaires were distributed to employees and 165 were collected. Furthermore, there was also one focus
group discussion for each institutions/ministries citizen’s wing representatives.
Table 2: Proportional Allocation
S.N. Name of organization NO. customers Proportional Sample
allocation size
1 Document Authentication and Registration 1,297,169 0.70 385
Agency
2 Ethiopian Management Institute 261 0.08 44
3 Ministry of Culture and Tourism 60 0.02 11
4 Ministry of Government Communication 175 0.05 28
Affairs
Source: Data collected from the study organizations, 2017
Many literatures (Andrian Furnham, K.V.Petrides, Chris J.Jackson, Tim Cotter, 1999) confirm that if the number
of total population is greater than 100,000, it is recommended to take 383 samples. But to be more representative
the researchers took 500 samples.
Data Collection and Instrument
In order to know the overall picture of the customer satisfaction and service quality of the selected federal
ministries/institutions which was included in the study area as mentioned earlier, primary data was collected
using SERVQUAL questionnaire and interview and focus group discussion.
Open-ended and close-ended questionnaire were used for the selected four institutions/ministries customers.
Because the purpose of descriptive survey is gathering the respondent’s answer using descriptive method
concluding about large population by taking representative sample, (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005).
Close-ended questionnaire was applied to understand how the institutions provide services as per the

27
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

interest of customers, information regarding conducive environment and system in service provision, awareness
of civil servant in providing quality service, how they treat customers, expectations of customers. The researcher
preferred this technique, because close-ended questionnaires require less time, and are easier for the respondent
to answer.
In order to triangulate the data collected through questionnaire, the researchers were also utilized tools such
as interview for clients and employees of the selected institutions’ customer service and focus groups for
customers in each organization.
The time of data collection and conducting the study were about three months, and four enumerators (who
are first-degree holders) and the researcher himself did this. Before the data collections were made, one-day
training was given to the enumerators about the objectives of the study. In addition, before the full-fledge study
is underway; a pilot study was carried out by the researcher on few selected ministries/institutions.
After the pilot study, some necessary adjustments were made to the questionnaire to accommodate the
loopholes identified during the pilot study.
The interview questions were analysed and processed using the qualitative method. The analysis part was
focusing on five SERVQUAL model such as reliability, responsiveness, tangibles, empathy, assurance. Since
gaps are created when the perception of the delivered service is not as per the expectations of the customers and
therefore it is crucially vital to probe this gap with respect to factors affecting satisfaction of customers.
Data Processing and Analysis
The collected data were analysed using quantitative and qualitative approach and entered into spreadsheet SPSS
software version 20. The close-ended questions were analysed quantitatively that is by using descriptive
statistics, inferential statistics and regression models. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages,
mean, standard deviation and range were used to run univariate analysis on each main variable. Furthermore,
inferential statistics like correlations, chi-square, two-sample t-test, one way ANOVA, are used to identify
associations, differences and significances of these associations and differences. Importantly, linear regression
was employed to investigate determinants of service quality and customer satisfaction.

5. Results and Discussions

5.1 Pre- Analysis test
In order to know the overall picture of the customer satisfaction and service quality of the selected federal
ministries, institutions and offices which are included in the study area as mentioned earlier, primary data was
collected using SERVQUAL questionnaire and interview and focus group discussion. Therefore, before the full
data collection takes place, the researchers conduct pre-test to assure the reliability and validity of the
instruments.
Validity: refers to the problem of whether the data collected reflects the true picture of what is being studied.
So regarding the service delivery and customer satisfaction the collected data from customers, employees, and
secondary data from the organizations tells sound solution for the problem.
Table 3: Over all Expectation
Reliability Statistics of SERVQUAL Dimensions for Expectations
Construct No. of Items Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized
Items
Tangibles 4 .752 .768
Reliability 5 .832 .831
Responsiveness 4 .661 .696
Assurance 4 .531 .620
Empathy 5 .573 .664
Overall 0.615
Source: Own Survey, 2017
The reliability of overall expectation consists of 22 scale items is 0.615. So in reliability test if Cronbach’s
Alpha result lies 0.6-0.89, it is accepted. Therefore, our instrument is reliable.

28
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

Table 4: Over all Perception

Reliability Statistics of SERVQUAL Dimensions for Perceptions
Construct No. of Items Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized
Items
Tangibles 4 .686 .683
Reliability 5 .787 .779
Responsiveness 4 .844 .844
Assurance 4 .678 .717
Empathy 5 .848 .851
Overall 0.774
Source: Own Survey, 2017
The reliability of overall expectation consists of 22 scale items is 0.774. So in reliability test if Cronbach’s
Alpha result lies 0.6-0.89, it is accepted. Therefore, our instrument is reliable.
Table 5: General Biography of Customer Respondents
Organization Name
EMI DARO MoCT MoGCA Total
Count Column % CountColumn %CountColumn % Count Column
N%
Male 19 48.7 264 75.0 2 33.3 19 95.0 304
Sex1
Female 20 51.3 88 25.0 4 66.7 1 5.0 113
Total 39 100 352 100 6 100 20 100
18-25 11 27.5 65 18.5 1 16.7 1 4.5 78
26-33 11 27.5 158 44.9 5 83.3 4 18.2 178
Age2 34-41 10 25.0 89 25.3 0 0.0 13 59.1 112
42-49 7 17.5 31 8.8 0 0.0 4 18.2 42
>=50 1 2.5 9 2.6 0 0.0 0 0.0 15.1
Total 40 100 352 100 6 100 22 100
Read and write 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0
Elementary school 0 0.0 24 6.6 1 14.3 2 9.1 57
Educational
complete
Level
Secondary school 4 9.5 133 36.6 1 14.3 3 13.6 141
1st Degree and Above 38 90.5 206 56.7 5 71.4 17 77.3 266
Total 42 100 363 100 7 100 22 100
Jobless 0 0.0 17 4.8 0 0.0 0 0.0 17
Private job 0 0.0 193 54.8 3 42.9 0 0.0 196
Civil servant 42 100.0 74 21.0 0 0.0 21 95.5 137
Job Private organization 0 0.0 60 17.0 4 57.1 1 4.5 65
employee
NGO employee 0 0.0 6 1.7 0 0.0 0 0.0 6
Retired 0 0.0 2 0.6 0 0.0 0 0.0 2
Total 42 100 352 100 7 100 22 100
Source: Own Survey, 2017
The above table 5.3 shows that profile of the respondents participated in this study are customers’ of EMI
(48.7%), DARO (75%), MoCT (33.3%), and MoGCA (95%) respectively. Moreover, the participation of males
in DARO and MoCGA is high. On the other hand, female respondents are EMI (51.3%), DARO (25%), MoCT
(66.7%), and MoGCA (5%) respectively. Therefore, this implies the actual workplace females participation in
EMI and MoCT is high.
Furthermore, with regard to respondents job profile, EMI customers are almost all civil servants where as
DARO’s customers are from different job categories. Hence, this study’s coverage is all-inclusive customers
(civil servants, any ordinary citizens, different educational background, and varied age group).

29
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

Table 6: General Biography of Employee Respondents

Organization Name
EMI DARO MoCT MoGCA
Count Count Count Count
601- Educational Read and Sex Male 0 0 0 0
3200 Level write Female 0 0 0 0
Elementary Sex Male 0 0 1 0
school Female 2 3 0 0
complete
Secondary Sex Male 4 0 1 5
school Female 5 1 6 0
Monthly 1st Degree Sex Male 2 1 6 4
Income and Above Female 1 4 5 1
3201- Educational Read and Sex Male 0 0 0 0
7800 Level write Female 0 0 0 0
Elementary Sex Male 0 2 0 0
school Female 0 1 0 0
complete
Secondary Sex Male 5 2 2 1
school Female 7 1 5 1
1st Degree Sex Male 18 7 8 24
and Above Female 10 6 11 4
78001- Educational Read and Sex Male 0 0 0 0
10900 Level write Female 0 0 0 0
Elementary Sex Male 0 0 0 0
school Female 0 0 0 0
complete
Secondary Sex Male 0 0 0 0
school Female 0 0 0 0
1st Degree Sex Male 0 0 0 0
and Above Female 0 0 0 0
Total 54 28 45 38
Source: Own Survey, 2017
The above table 5.4 indicates that majority of employees of the civil service organizations educational
background is1st degree and their salary lies in the range of 3,200-7,800 birr. In addition, employees of the civil
service organizations either are educated by themselves or support of their organizations.
Table 7: Biography of Respondents: Statistical Difference in Sex, Age, Educational Level And Job
Pearson Chi-Square Tests
Organization Name
Chi-square 22.030
Sex1 Df 3
Sig. .000*,b
Chi-square 28.193
Age2 Df 12
Sig. .005*,b,c
Chi-square 23.681
Educational Level Df 6
Sig. .001*,b,c
Chi-square 159.527
Job Df 15
Sig. .000*,b,c
Source: Own Survey, 2017
Table 5.5 shows that there is statistically significant difference between/among the selected institutions in
terms of gender, age, educational background and job.

5.2 Service Delivery in the Study Organizations

Service delivery is more complicated in public institutions because it is not simply meeting expressed needs but

30
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

also finding and satisfying the unexpressed needs (Gowan, 2001). Currently, public service organizations have
come under increasing pressure to deliver quality services (Randall and Senior, 1994, and enhanced efficiency
(Robinson, 2003). Quality service in public service organizations is slow, and is aggravating by difficulties in
measuring outcomes, greater analysis from public and press be deficient in freedom to account in an arbitrary
fashion (Teicher et al., 2002).
According to Parasuraman (1985) service quality is the difference between customers’ expectation of
services and their perceived services.
Table 8: Significant Difference Within and Between Organizations
ANOVA
Sum of Df Mean Square F Sig.
Squares
Between Groups 13.717 21 .653 2.365 .001
Organization Within Groups 113.225 410 .276
Total 126.942 431
Between Groups 1166.371 21 55.541 6.917 .000
Age Within Groups 3019.340 376 8.030
Total 4185.711 397
Between Groups 433.786 20 21.689 2.842 .000
Educational Level Within Groups 2968.789 389 7.632
Total 3402.576 409
Between Groups 26.335 21 1.254 1.708 .027
Job Within Groups 277.543 378 .734
Total 303.878 399
Source: Own survey, 2017
Table 5.6 indicates that there is statistically significance difference within organizations (in terms of age,
education and job) and between organizations (EMI, DARO, MoClT and MoGCA).
Table 9: SERVQUAL Dimensions (Expectations, Perception and Gap)
Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
TangExp 407 1.00 5.00 3.8342 .82942
RelibExp 421 1.20 5.00 4.0285 .90498
RespExp 421 1.00 5.00 4.0814 .85499
AssurExp 425 1.00 5.00 4.0671 .82322
EmpaExp 432 1.00 5.00 3.7995 .86279
TangPer 419 1.00 5.00 3.9218 .81166
ReliaPer 421 1.20 5.00 4.0285 .90498
RespPer 430 1.00 5.00 3.9924 .86439
AssuPer 434 1.00 5.00 4.0415 .86169
EmpatPer 421 1.00 5.00 3.7306 .89652
TangGAP 383 -2.75 3.25 .0692 .70161
ReliaGAP 421 .00 .00 .0000 .00000
RespGAP 406 -2.75 3.00 -.1010 .66779
AssurGAP 415 -2.75 1.50 -.0398 .65149
EmpathyGAP 416 -2.80 2.00 -.0793 .62937
Valid N (listwise) 351
Source: Own survey, 2017
All customers questionnaires response were negative except tangible were positive gap, this indicates that
there is a gap between expectation and perception. Therefore, the public service organizations have to work to
satisfy the needs of their client/customers. Other studies conducted on similar areas confirms that quality service
delivery of public service is not a privileged in a modern society rather it is genuine expectation (Amanfijnr.,
2012). Hence, this finding is consistent with the above empirical evidence.
The summary scores for each SERVQUAL dimensions; shown in the above table 5.7, with the average
scores per dimension have been totaled to get the overall SERVQUAL score. As you can understand from the
above table, responsiveness, empathy and assurance gap have the highest negative score, which means the
organizations have little willingness to provide prompt service, poor competency of employees, low
understanding to customers, insufficient facilities, and their employees are not capable of doing their assigned
task.

31
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

Hence, the current service deliveries of organizations are not compatible with the expected service of the
selected public service organizations. So, this result is consistent with Parasuraman (1988) theory about public
service organizations and their client’s expectation.
However, customers respond negatively/their expectation is greater than their perception/. This implies that
the organizations service delivery is low, because result of key informant interview also shows similar poor
performance. However, DARO customers respond good service delivery and they were happy. Some of the
main justifications were good service delivery, responsive, improved work procedure in its overall service
provision.
On the other side, tangible gap have positive value. It was assumed that for this reason, customers have
weighted this dimension highest and we can understand that the organizations the necessary facilities and
equipment, and personnel and written materials resources are almost the maters of budget. Hence, the
government allocates appropriate budget to run the day today operational activity and to provide service to
clients.
Service has five distinctive dimensions that were expected by service users (van Iwaarden et al., 2003). The
importance of the dimensions varies from sector to sector and even from organization to organization within a
sector (Har, 2008). For instance, service quality dimensions expected in banks may not be equally required in
public service organizations. Clients’ perception of service quality results from a comparison of their before-
service expectations with their actual service practice.
Service quality was considered as excellent, if perception exceed expectations; it was viewed as adequate, if
it only equals the expectations, if it does not meet them, poor (Vazquez et al., 2001). There is also a strong
association presented in literature between perceive quality, dedication, devotion, reflection and loyalty
(Veloutsou et al.2004).
Hence, the reason behind why responsiveness is highly demanded by the clients; customers need quick
response to their request, positive personal attitudes, care about their interest and immediate responsive to their
inquiries. Furthermore, the reason behind why assurance is highly demanded by the clients were they give more
focus to knowledge and courtesy and service providers ability to inspire trust. Other study conducted by Sriyam
(2010), found that assurance dimension demanded high in their expectations whereas tangibility scores high
perception.
The reason behind why reliability is highly demanded by the clients is citizens highly need to get service as
per promise of the public service organizations. Other studies confirm that reliability is just a matter of keeping
word of the organization and delivered as pr its promises (Zeithaml et al., 2006).
Similar to the result on the expected service quality dimensions, the clients perceived high assurance,
responsiveness, and reliability. However, the clients relatively respond low result tangible. The low importance
of tangibles could be attributable to the fact that customers are aware of the financial constraints which are
typical in the public service authority funding context, and simply do not expect much when it comes to
aesthetics; instead, they attach more importance to the delivery aspects of the service.
Accordingly, the result of this study indicates that responsiveness, assurance and reliability are the most
demanded service quality dimensions in the surveyed public service organizations. Because customers of the
selected organizations are highly demand, immediate services to their request, positive and collaborative
attitudes of employees, quick service with accuracy. Studies also showed that customers give great concern for
speed of response to their complaints(responsiveness), attitudes of staff, employees concern for customers and
security for transactions (assurance), speed of services, accuracy of transactions (reliability) (Naik, Gantasala,
Prabhakar, 2010).
Generally, the gap between perceived and expected service delivery dimensions, three of them have
negative gap in their perceived experience that is lower than expectation of clients. Hence, this implies that
customers were not satisfied in the studied public service organizations in responsiveness, assurance and
empathy dimensions.

5.3 Investigating the Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in the Study Organizations

A discussion on customer satisfaction and customer expectations cannot be complete without discussing the
disconfirmation theory. The disconfirmation theory stands out as the primary foundation for satisfaction models
in marketing literature (Churchill and Surprenant, 1982; Oliver, 1980). According to this theory, satisfaction is
determined by the discrepancy between perceived performance and cognitive standards such as expectations and
desires (Khalifa and Liu, 2003). Customer’s expectations can be defined as customer’s partial beliefs about a
product or service (Mckinney et al, 2002).
One service quality measurement model that has been extensively applied is the SERVQUAL model
developed by (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1986). Public service institutions thrive to satisfy their customers
(Jenet Manyi Agbor, 2011). For instance, several reforms have been made to improve service delivery and keep
their customers satisfied. In this study, customers’ satisfactions were measured in terms of six perception

32
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

statements of Likert scale nature.

Table 10: Measuring Customer Satisfaction
S.N Perception statements N Min Max Mean Std.
Deviation
1 I am satisfied with organization’s complete range of services 4321.00 5.00 4.2778 .91224
2 I am satisfied with performance of the employee’s of the 4321.00 5.00 4.3380 .81269
organization
3 I am happy being a client of the organization 432 1.00 5.00 4.3403 .85487
4 I am satisfied with the organizations employees professional 432 1.00 5.00 4.2176 .79957
competency
5 I am satisfied with the prompt service of the organization 432 1.00 5.00 4.2894 .92758
6 I am satisfied with the respectful behavior of employees of the 432 1.00 5.00 4.3241 .85981
organization
Overall Customer Satisfaction432 1.00 5.00 4.2978 .73308
Source: Own Survey, 2017
Table 5.8 shows that customer satisfaction of the public organizations; generally, the above result shows
that the customers of the selected public service organizations perceived positively they are satisfied by the
overall service delivery of organizations. However, the respondents respond that there were service delivery
differences within and between the selected public service organizations.
Table 11: ANOVA
ANOVA
Measuring customer satisfaction
Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 41.865 3 13.955 31.476 .000
Within Groups 189.757 428 .443
Total 231.622 431
Source: Own Survey, 2017
Measuring customer satisfaction, there is statistically significance difference between public service
organizations and within organization. The post hoc test in Annex1 shows that MoGCA customers are less
satisfied than EMI, DARO and MoCT. The main reason for the difference were EMI as it is the source of reform
tools and change agent institution in federal level, it can relatively practice good change in their job to improve
its service delivery.
MoCT and DARO from the recent time have begun to increase their service delivery because of introducing
different reform tools. For instance, Ministry of Culture and Tourism has begun to improve its service delivery
and achieve its strategic mission push to establish National Tourism Transformation Council lead by prime
minister of FDRE; Document Authentication and Registration Agency also introduced best system in service
delivery and process in the recent times. MoGCA customers are not satisfied compared to the other organizations.
So, MoGCA office is expected to work more to improve its service delivery and to assure that whether
customers are satisfied or not. Furthermore, the office should make ready clients waiting room until they get the
concerned official. Key informant interview result also confirmed that some of the limitations of the office were
insufficient/lack of waiting room of customers and documentation. Hence, the hypothesis that service providing
employees’ characteristics do affect customer satisfaction in the public service institutions is accepted.

33
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

Table 12: Modeling Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in Public Service Organizations

R Square = 0.511
Adjusted R Square = 0.496
F (11) = 35.083
P-value = 0.0000
Variables Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients T Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) 2.144*** .196 10.921 .000
TangExp -.022 .055 -.024 -.399 .690
RespExp .136* .070 .156 1.939 .053
AssurExp -.102 .072 -.111 -1.416 .158
EmpaExp -.124* .068 -.142 -1.804 .072
TangPer .063 .054 .068 1.176 .241
ReliaPer -.079 .065 -.096 -1.211 .227
RespPer .326*** .066 .386 4.949 .000
AssuPer .225*** .067 .264 3.350 .001
EmpatPer .173*** .063 .212 2.754 .006
Organization -.105** .052 -.081 -2.025 .044
Name
Source: Own Survey, 2017
***, **, and * denote significance level at 1%, 5% and 10% respectively.
Other things being constant, as clients’ score on perceived empathy increases by one unit, their satisfaction
level increases by 0.173, statistically significant at 1%. Many researchers have showed a positive relationship
between employees’ attitudes and customers’ perceptions of service quality (Schneider & Bowen, 1985). Thus,
enhancing/improving employees’ attitude and empathy towards citizens would be an important strategy for
public organizations in order to improve their service provisions.
Keeping other things constant, as clients’ score on perceived assurance increases by one unit, their
satisfaction level also increases by 0.225, statistically significant at 1%. Other things being constant, as clients’
score on perceived responsiveness increases by one unit, their satisfaction level increases by 0.326, statistically
significant at 1%. Therefore, it can be concluded that, the variables perception empathy, assurance and
responsiveness are the most determinant factors in the study organizations. This result is consistent with
SERVQUAL explained responsiveness as the willingness to support and give timely service (Parasuraman et al.,
1998).
On the expectation side, other things being constant, as clients’ score on expected responsiveness increases
by one unit, their satisfaction level increases by 0.136, statistically significant at 1%. Other things being constant,
as clients’ score on expected empathy decreases by one unit, their satisfaction level decreases by -.124,
statistically significant at 1%.
When we move from EMI to MoGCA, customer satisfaction declines by 0.105 statistically significant at
5%, ceteris paribus.
Therefore, this result is in conformity with eemployees understanding customers' needs and given personal
attention to all. However, if there is less concern on understanding customers’ view, empathy will decrease
accordingly (Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research, 2010).

5.4 Challenges of Public Service Delivery

Public service institutions are the public complaint of long procedures, queues, ineffective service delivery;
inconvenience physical facilities affect their image and level of service quality in the sector (Mohammed Nor et
al, 2010). Public service organizations in their service delivery, they have many challenges and obstacles. Some
of them were customers unable to provide sufficient requirements as per the rules, procedures, and regulations of
the organizations. For instance, Document Authentication and Registration Office in its service delivery there are
some rules and regulations difference in different countries, but DARO strictly wants to see from its
context/Ethiopia/.
However, some customers documents were incomplete, but approved by Ethiopia ministry of foreign affairs
and then when they come back to DARO the documents had some limitations/as per DARO detailed and
concrete evidence of Ethiopian context/; at this time customers complain to DARO by raising the question “why
you provide services as solid as foreign minister?”. Furthermore, inconsistency and integration practices were
problems in different public service office were also other problems in Ethiopia. Furthermore, divorce
regulations in Ethiopia and in foreign countries have significant different, in Ethiopia first you perform divorce
and next division of property whereas in foreign countries division of property comes first and divorce next. In

34
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

addition, there are some times problems observed in clients in fulfilling all relevant documents as per the
regulations.
This is because of lack of awareness about the service, lack of information. Other studies support the result
that is lack of good awareness on service seekers side regarding their responsibilities and obligations (Mesfin &
Taye 2011).
Other challenges of public service delivery were lack of commitment, skilled ready to provide public
interest at the right time and situation. On the other hand, customers of the selected public service organizations
were sometimes unable to provide the required precondition for service, sufficient documents, and lack of
sufficient orientation of the public service organizations services.
Other view of customers were also in other government offices example land administration, Kebele, trade,
and revenue authority were highly exposed to corruption, poor service delivery, and rent seeking mentality
where as in DARO relatively it were the best government service provider than others.
Another study organization MoGCA key informant interview results also responds that one of the criteria
for the customer satisfaction is the service delivery organization can deliver the service efficiently and
effectively to the customer per their request. As the respondents response the customers/stakeholders are
satisfied through the services but it is moderate satisfaction for the reason that the service provider professionals
are not fast enough to transfer customer’s application to the one who is in charge for decision-making process on
time.
Directive, standard and citizen charter are introduced in the organization but they are not avail for
customers. This is the particular issue customers raise regarding to transparency. Other challenge related to
handling customer complaints: those customers/stakeholders reported the cause of dissatisfaction. The
organization is not responding appropriately according to their work procedures. This situation makes the
customer to have feeling of resentment. Beyond that, they also respond there no accountability measure in the
office. The other challenges were related to customers caring because the organization does not have waiting
room for customers until they get the service. As a result, they do not feel respected. Studies in Ethiopia civil
service implementation challenges shows that lack of accountability in performance management system
(Solomon, 2007), poor sense of belongingness (Emnet and Habtamu, 2011).

6. Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions
Service delivery and customers’ satisfaction status in the public service sectors in terms of the provisions of the
service delivery the finding shows that the importance of service quality dimensions in the public service
organizations overall SERVQUAL score responsiveness, empathy and assurance gap, have the highest negative
score. This implies that the organizations do not provide prompt service, poor competency of employees, low
understanding of their customers, and insufficient facilities were among the problems in rendering services by
the selected organizations. Reliability and responsiveness relatively have also positive score, which is the
organizations employees’ ability to perform as per promised and willingness to serve customers is good.
In this study, customers’ satisfactions were measured in terms of six perception statements of Likert scale.
The result shows that customers of public service organizations perceived positively that they are satisfied by the
overall service delivery of organizations. However, there were service delivery differences within different
sections of every selected public service organization and among each selected organization, which is
statistically significant. There is statistically significance difference between public service organizations and
within organization.
EMI, DARO and MoCT customers are relatively satisfied compare to MoGCA office. The main reason for
the difference were EMI as it is the source of reform tools and change agent institution in federal level, it can
relatively practice good change in their job to improve its service delivery. MoGCA customers are less satisfied
than EMI, DARO and MoCT. The reasons behind for this result were lack of accountability, low sense of
organizational ownership and insufficient space for customer waiting area.
The main challenges of public service delivery were lack of accountability, willingness to provide service
as per request, sense of belongingness. Furthermore, there are also inconsistencies in policies and procedures,
lack of integration problem among different government service providers consequently clients unable to get
appropriate service and exposes them for confusion.

Recommendations
The researches’ recommendation to increase public service organizations service delivery is that better to work
in awareness creation via different mechanism to their clients. Because an aware client helps to clearly ask their
rights, consequently the service provider enables them to fill their gap as per the questions and comments of
customer.
In a net shell, customer satisfaction of the public organizations shows that customers of public service

35
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

organizations were satisfied. However, this does not mean they are best in all and customers are satisfied. In the
key informant interview shows that there are problems with regard lack of accountability, poor willingness to
delivery service as per the quality. MoGCA customers are less satisfied than EMI, DARO and MoCT. So the
office is expected to give due attention to introduce accountability, provide service effectively and efficiently
and prepare sufficient area for customers waiting service. There are also gaps in EMI in providing response to
customers as per their request, quality related limitations, and employees dissatisfaction.
Since the institute is capacity builder and highly responsible, it should solve the quality related problems,
service responsiveness and employee dissatisfaction by following best international standard, quality
measurement, investing more in research and development, and revise its internal work procedure, work load
and both financial and non-financial motivational factors and share other similar organizations experiences.
Public service organizations should introduce appropriate and realistic accountability measure, furthermore,
there should be more aware to assess their employees satisfaction consequently it helps them immediately to
solve any low organizational belongingness. The federal public service organizations also should give due
attention for their rules, regulations, and procedure consistency and other integration problems. Hence, it is better
to discuss jointly at least the main gaps of the observed problems and give solutions.

References
Agus, Arawati, Barker, Sunita & Kandampully, Jay (2007) “an exploratory study of service quality in the
Malaysian public service sector,” international journal of quality and reliability management, vol. 24(2), p.
177-190.
Andrian Furnham, K.V.Petrides, Chris J.Jackson, Tim Cotter (1999) Do personality factors predict job
satisfaction? School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia Management Technology
Consulting group, Auckland, Newzland.
Amanfi Jnr., Benjamin (2012) Service quality and customer satisfaction in public sector Organizations: a case
study of the commission on human rights and Administrative justice.
Brysland, A. & Curry, A. (2001) “Service Improvements In Public Services Using Servqual,” Managing Service
Quality, Vol. 11(6), P. 389-401.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: A qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches (2nd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Churchill, Gilbert A. and Carol Surprenant. 1982. "An Investigation In to the Determinants of Satisfaction
Research." Journal of Marketing Research 19 (November): 491-504.
Emnet Tadesse And Habtamu Abebachew (2011) Business Process Reengineering Value Handovers In Public
Sectors Of Ethiopia: In Proceedings Of The 4th National Conference On Effectiveness And Efficiency Of
The Public Services. Ethiopian Civil Service University.
Firdaus Abdullah (2006) The development of HEdPERF: a new measuring instrument of service quality for the
higher education sector, International Journal of Consumer Studies, 30, 6.
Fariba Azizzadeh, Karam Khalili, Iraj Soltani Service Quality Measurement in the Public Sector (2013).
International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management. VOL. 2, NO. 1.
Gowan, M., Seymour, J., Ibarreche, S. & Lackey, C. (2001) “Service Quality In A Public Agency: Same
Expectations But Different Perceptions By Employees, Managers, And Customers,” Journal Of Quality
Management, Vol. 6, P. 275-291.
Iihaamie, (2010). Service Quality In Malaysian Public Service: Some Findings International Journal Of Trade,
Economics And Finance, Vol. 1.
Jenet (2011) The Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction And Service Quality: A Study Of Three Service
Sectors In Umeåservice Quality And Customer Satisfaction In Public Sector Organization (The
Commission On Human Rights And Administrative Justice July 2012).
Leedy Pd & Ormrod Je. (2005). Practical Research: Planning And Design (8th Edition). Upper Saddle River, Nj:
Pearson.
Mohamed Khalifa (2003). Determinants of Satisfaction at Different Adoption Stages of Internet-Based Services
Mesfin Taffesse (2009). The Ethiopian Civil Service Reform Program: In Taye Assefa (Ed.): Digest Of
Ethiopia’s National Policies, Strategies And Programs. FSS. Addis Ababa.
Nyeck, S., Morales, M., Ladhari, R., & Pons, F. (2002). 10 YEARS OF SERVICE QUALITY
MEASUREMENT: REVIEWING THE USE OF THE SERVQUAL INSTRUMENT. Cuadernos de
Difusion, 7(13), 101-107
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, Valerie A.& Berry, Leonard.L. (1985). “A Conceptual Model Of Service Quality
And Its Implications For Future Research,” Journal Of Marketing, Vol. 49, P. 41-50.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L. 1988. SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring
consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing 64 (1): 14–40.
Potluri, Dr. Rajasekhara Mouly; V. S., Mangnale. An Assessment Of Ethiopian Telecom Customer Satisfaction.

36
 Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) DOI: 10.7176/PPAR
Vol.9, No.9, 2019

Global Journal of Management And Business Research, [S.l.], v. 10, n. 4, june 2010.
Teicher, J., Hughes, O. & Dow, N. (2002) “E-government: a new route to public service quality”,Managing
Service Quality, vol. 12(6), p. 384-93.
Vijayakanth Urs M.C., Harirao A.N., Santhosh Kumar A.N.(2014), “Customer Satisfaction Through Service
Quality In Public Service ”, Journal Of Emerging Research In Management & Technology Issn: 2278-9359
(Volume-3, Issue-5)
Zeithaml, Valerie A. & Bitner, Mary J. (1996) Services Marketing, Mcgraw-Hill, New York, N.Y Kotzar, H.,
Seuring, S., Muller, M. And Reiner, G. (2005). Research Methodologies In Supply Chain Management,
Yhysica-Verlag, Germany: Heidelberg.
Zeithaml, Valerie A., Berry, Leonard L. & Parasuraman, A. (1996) “The Behavioral Consequences of Service
Quality,” Journal Of Marketing, Vol. 60(2), P.31 -46.
Zelalem Teklemariam, Abiyu Mekonnen, Haji Kedir and Getachew Kabew (2013) Clients and clinician
satisfaction with laboratory services at selected government hospitals in eastern Ethiopia. BMC Research
Notes.

About the Authors

Alemseged Gerezgiher Hailu is an assistant professor of development studies at the Center of Rural
Development, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University. He has been teaching for more than 12
years in the university. He has conducted several researches in entrepreneurship, small and medium enterprises,
food security, local economic development, socio-economic impact assessment, and rural poverty. He is also
member of some committees in the university and is associate consultant at the Ethiopian Management Institute.

Hailay Gebretsadik Shifare is a Senior Consultant (researcher, trainer and consultant), Ethiopian Management
Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has been teaching for more than 10 years in Universities, and currently he is
researcher, trainer and consultant in the institution. He has conducted several researches in international business,
export performance, transformational leadership, marketing, Human Resource, change tools, Gender
mainstreaming, management development. He is also member of Ethiopian Economic Association and member
of different committees in the Institution. He is also an author of two books.

37

View publication stats