Service quality and customer satisfaction: a study among of secretariats’ customers in Ampara district

Abstract

There are many divisional secretariats functioning under each district in Sri Lanka. All of them are providing services to their customers (people). It is higher time to improve the quality of services rendered by these divisional secretariats. Hence, it is important to measure the service quality and find ways to improve the service areas lacking service quality. The aim of the study was to measure the service quality levels of divisional secretariats and to analyze its impact on customer satisfaction. This study, further, help to suggest strategies for the quality of service offered by the divisional secretariats. For this study, the SER VQUAL scale used by Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry (1991) was used. Convenience sampling techniques was adopted. 156 persons enjoying or enjoyed services of these divisional secretariats of 4 divisional secretaries were the respondents for the questionnaires. The SERVQUAL instrument consisted of 22 items on expectations and perceptions. Finding suggest that service quality dimensions such as reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness are contributing to the service quality of services of divisional secretariats and there are gaps between the customer expectation and perception of the items under the dimension of service quality. Findings indicate that service quality has an impact on customer satisfaction. There is a gap between the customer expectation and customer perception of the service quality in these divisional secretariats. Thus, it may be important to improve the services of these divisional secretariats and further increase the level of service quality. Government may attempts to take steps to provide all facilities to these divisional secretariats in order to further improve its quality of services.