Abstract
The most accepted SERVQUAL is heavily applied to measure the service quality of Business to Customer (B2C) profit oriented organizations than for non-profit organizations. As such, this paper describes the development of a 19-item instrument for assessing customer perceptions of service quality in public service with special reference to Divisional Secretariats in Sri Lanka. To do so, both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized in three fundamental stages recommended by Churchill (1979) and Parasuraman et.al, (1988). In following their footsteps, initially a qualitative research was undertaken in five Divisional Secretariats within Gampaha District through interviews with 50 customers from different backgrounds and affiliations which produced 42-items with eight factors emerged. These 42-items were included in a questionnaire and quantitative study was undertaken with 100 respondents who were current or recent customers of Divisional Secretariats within Gampatha District. To ensure the reliability and validity of the measures of service quality construct, mainly reliability test, split-half reliability and factor analysis, were used. Finally, 42-items were deduced in to 19-items and a new scale was developed to measure the service quality of Divisional Secretariats with 5 dimensions Responsiveness, Communication, Tangible, Empathy and Assurance. Among these, responsiveness dimensions could be the least important and the empathy dimension was of most concern to customers. As a closing note, limitations and further studies were discussed.
Highlights
The main aim of public sector organizations is to serve the community
This paper describes the development of a 19-item instrument for assessing customer perceptions of service quality in public service with special reference to Divisional Secretariats in Sri Lanka
Initially a qualitative research was undertaken in five Divisional Secretariats within Gampaha District through interviews with 50 customers from different backgrounds and affiliations which produced 42-items with eight factors emerged
Summary
The main aim of public sector organizations is to serve the community. As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, the need for public sector quality and productivity has been talked about very much, not just over the past few years, but over decades. Public officers must learn to appreciate the need to provide high quality service that the citizens demand while establishing managerial autonomy. To measure the service quality of existing public service is very important to identify the areas to be improved. Unlike goods quality, which can be measured objectively by such indicators as durability and number of defects (Crosby 1979; Garvin 1983), service quality is an abstract an delusive construct because of three features unique to services: intangibility, heterogeneity, and inseparability of production and consumption (Parasuraman,et al, 1985)
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