Marketing of Public Services

Abstract

Public services are provided by government and have been traditionally supply-oriented. Changing citizen expectations put pressure on government agencies and public sector organizations to be accountable for efficiency and effectiveness. Further, the quest to enhance international competitiveness by ranking high in the echelons of world’s best governments, led to the adoption of proven marketing philosophy and methodologies in the domain of public service as well. The present study aims at examining the impact of Service quality, Reputation and Consumer Engagement on Customer Perceived Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty for an important public service viz., Dubai Metro which operated in an intensely competitive market. The study aimed at developing and empirically testing a structural model of travel behavior based on variables such as satisfaction, value, quality, reputation and engagement that have been found to drive loyalty in various industry settings. An understanding of the drivers of satisfaction contributes to the government’s aim of delivering services that rival the best in the private sector; contributes to the neglected public service context in the service management literature and captures insights that help the shift to service-dominant thinking within the public sector.