Abstract
What do customers expect from public services? This question has been addressed in numerous ways, and there are plenty of reasons why this question is worthwhile asking. One of them has to do with service quality: If counsellors in public service en counters know about customer expectations, they may be able to adjust their actions accordingly and thereby increase public service quality. One way to find out about customer expectation is to look closer at the actual encounter between the public and public services. The current study will investigate public service encounters at the Danish Public Employment Service. Here, one specific activity will be investigated in more detail, namely requests. Requests are a common and crucial activity in public service encounters. Research on requests has shown that participants in interaction orient to aspects of entitlement and contingencies in regard to the recipient’s ability to comply with the request. The current study will investigate in how far these findings correspond with the customer’s orientation to public service encounters at the Public Employment Service. The study will conclude by discussing implications for the workplace.
Highlights
What do customers expect from public services? This question has been raised recurrently and the answers are as numerous as customers and employees in public services
Even though this study evaluates written communication, it may be relevant for expectations towards public services in general, as this positive evaluation may influence a positive image of the Public Employment Service for other users of the services
Transferred to the current study on encounters at the Public Employment Service, this study indicates that request made as negative interrogatives will emphasize the institutional asymmetry of the public service encounter
Summary
What do customers expect from public services? This question has been raised recurrently and the answers are as numerous as customers and employees in public services. 1. A study dedicated to investigate guidance interviews between counsellors at the Danish Public Employment Service and their customers show that in only 20% of the conversations was the customer presented a specific job (Damgaard, Hohnen, Madsen 2005: 8). A study dedicated to investigate guidance interviews between counsellors at the Danish Public Employment Service and their customers show that in only 20% of the conversations was the customer presented a specific job (Damgaard, Hohnen, Madsen 2005: 8) This finding may indicate problems regarding the main aim of the talk, namely to find a job for the customer. These partly conflicting interests may influence the ways counsellors act during public service encounters as well as shape the customers’ expectations to the encounter
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