ublic service quality and customer satisfaction at yen bai department of planning and investment

Aim: The purposes o f this study are to asscss the public Service quality based on opinions o f customers making transactions at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Invcstmcnt; to study o

PLANNING AND INVESTMENT

A u th tìr : N C U \ KN N ( ; ( K A M I

S u p e rv iso r: [)R PHAN C HI ANH

Class : VI PPM Intakc 7

Furthermore, 1 vvould like to thank the participants in my survey, who have willingly

to share their precioưs time during the process o f intervievving

Finally, I like to thank my beloved classmate, who have supportcd mc throughout entire process, both by giving me useful comments to complete my master thesis and motivating me during wording my master thesis

Respectíully,

Nguyên Ngoe Anh

A B S T R A C T

This study investigates the relationship betwcen public Service quality and the custom cr satisíaction bascd on qucstionnairc survey Adopting SKRVPERK modcl (Parasuraman, et al, 1988) this study applies statistical tools to analyze the data collected at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment in 2014 The rcsults o f this study indicatc and the signiíicant íầctors f'or custom cr satisíầction in public Service o f Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment Based on those results, the suggestions and recommendations to improve puhlic Service qưality at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment are mađe

Topic: “Public Service Quality and C ustom er Satisĩaction at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investnient”

Level o H h e sis : Master o f Public Management

Instructors: Prof Lars-Torstcn Erikkson and Dr Phan Chi Anh

M aster deĩense day: Decem ber 5,h, 2014.

Aim: The purposes o f this study are to asscss the public Service quality based on opinions o f customers making transactions at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Invcstmcnt; to study on the rclationship and factors alTecting customer satisfaction; to givc suggcstions and rccommendations to improve public scrvicc quality at Ycnbai Department o f Planning and Investment

IMethod: By combining SE RV Ọ U A L scale o f Parasuraman, this stutiy wi 11 asscss

public Service quality through 6 dim cnsions:

Result & Conclusions:

lu summary, researching on custom er satisíầction about public Service at the

Reception and Returning Result for Business Registration Scction o f Yenbai Department ơ f Planning and Investment is one o f factors for leaders o f city and dcpartmcnts to determinc the current situation o f providing public services and aims to complcte in the future This is one o f thc solutions to shorten timc to enter market o f

entcrpriscs.

On the basis o f application o f the scale measuring components o f Service quality (SERV PERF), the relationship betvveen Service quality and custoincr satisfaction and customer satisfaction modcl o f Parasuraman and Spreng - Mackoy so that the thesis has identiíìed ĩactors affecting custom er satisfaction, quantifies the impact o f each factor on custom er satisfaction, and develop the fírst modcl on customer satisfaction about public services at the Department o f Planning and Investment o f Yenbai city The research results show that the components o f public Service and affecting customcr satisíầction including empathy, competcncy ot' staffs, iníVastructurcs, procedures, transparency and attitude o f staffs

Expectations and desires o f the customers about public services arc basically shown through rcsearch results It is consistent vvith the results ot' customer surveys before data analysis With public scrvices, particularly in thc ríelcl o f public administration scrviccs, customer desiretl to rcccivc polite attitudc, courtcous, reliablc o f staffs, as well as transparency o f process, proccdurcs, mcthod of payment, fees, and timc to

provide Service

Contribution o f the thesis:

()n the basic o f this research results, the thcsis proposcd a Iiinnbcr o f solutions and rccommendations to enhance customer satisiầction bascd on the actual perception

o f the positive aspects and limitations in providing puhlic Service, through íaetors illustrating the systcmatic and gencrali/ed charactcristics o f thc rcscarch model

The Department should registration for intcllcctual property o f Logo and Slogan; better implement issued quality policy aims to shorten the time to enter the market

o f enterpriscs

The Department o f Planning and Investment Yenbai shoulci organize to apply rescarching on c u sto m e r satisfaction with public scrviccs in thc City, to rcspect the indcpendence o f research implemcntation.

Thesis liniitations:

Tim e and íìnancial bud gct limit

Small samples, so that the author could not usc more technique to investigate (such

as S E M )

Suggestions for future research:

Collecting more sam plc

Using SEM (Structural equation modeling) technique to analyze the rclationship betvveen Service quality and C u sto m e r Satisfaction

Key vvords: Public Service quality, custom er satisíaction, SERV PERP,

SE R V Ọ U A L

C O N T l i N T S

1.1 B ack g ro u n d I

1.1.1 Introduction about establisliment process ot the Proccdure Reception and

Result Retum for Business Rcgistration Section 1

1.1.2 Functions, tasks o f the Division o f Reception and Return o f Business Registration 1

1.1.3 Results at the Reception and Returning Result for Business Registration Section o f Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment from 2008 to 2 0 1 3 4

1.2 Research q u e s ti o n 5

1.3 Research purpose and speciíìc objectives 6

1.4 Subjects and scope o f the s t u d y 6

II FR A M E O F R E K E R E N C E 7

2.1 Five gaps Service quality m o d e l 7

2.2 IVIeasuring Service quality: S E R V Q U A L s c a l c 9

2.3 The studies applying S E R V Q U A L and S E R V P E R F 9

2.4 Kactors af fect ing publ ic Service q u a l i t y 1 1 III R E SE A RC H M E T H O D O L O G Y 13 3.1 Research m o d c l 13

3.2 Discuss relevance o f research modcl ĨII public s e c to r 14

3.3 M et h o d o lo g y 15

3.3.! Research m c th o d o lo g y 15

3.3.2 Research process 15

3.4 Prelim inary rescarch (q u a lita tỉv e) 16

3.4 i Research p u rp o s e s 16

3.4.2 Im p lem entation 17

3.4.3 R csults 17

3.5 Pormal rescarch (q uantitative) 18

3.5.1 Analytical ữamevvork: 18

3.5.2 Scale 18

3.6 Data analysis p r o c e s s 20

3.6.1 Reliability analysis hy C ro nb ach’s a l p h a 21

3.6.2 Exploratory factor a n aly sis 22

3.6.3 Regression analysis 23

IV DATA AN AI-V S I S 24

4.1 Data d e s c r ip t io n 24

4.1.1 G e n d er 24

4.1.2 A g e 25

4.1.3 Education le v e l 26

4.1.4 Sources o f In íb rm a tio n 26

4.1.5 Service u s e d 27

4.2 Reliability a n a ly s is 28

4.2.1 Reliability o f Transparency s c a l e 28

4.2.2 Reliability o f Procedure s c a le 28

4.2.3 Reliability o f Attitude s c a le 29

4.2.4 Reliability o f Competency sca le 30

4.2.5 Reliability o f Empathy scale 30

4.2.6 Reliability o f Inữastructure s c a l e 31

4.2.7 Reliability o f C U STO M ER SA T ISK A C H O N s c a le 33

4.3 Kactor analvsis 34

4.3.1 l;actor analysis 1'or Transparcncy scale 34

4.3.2 Factor analysis for Procedure s c a l e 35

4.3.3 Factor analysis for Attitudc s c a l e 36

4.3.4 Kactor analysis for Competency s c a l e 38

4.3.5 Pactor analysis for Empathy s c a le 39

4.3.6 Pactor analysis for Inữastructure scale 40

4.3.7 Pactor analysis o f customer satisfaction s c a le 41

4.4 Evaluation H v p o t h e se s 42

4.4.1 Evaluating custom er feelings o f Service quality p e r f o m ia n c e 42

4.4.2 Correlation A n a ly sis 44

4.4.3 Regression analysis 45

V R E FL E C T IO N AND C O N C L U S IO N 47

5.1 Sum m ary of rcsearch íindinịỊS 47

5.2 S o l u t i o n 48

5.2.1 T r a n s p a re n c y 48

5.2.2 Procedures 48

5.2.3 A ttitu d e 51

5.2.4 Competency o f the o ffic ia ls 53

5.2.5 Empathy o f the o f f ic ia ls 53

5.2.6 In ữ astru c tu re s 54

5.3 C oncỉusion 56

VI LEARNING E X P E R IE N C E S T H R O U G H R E SE A R C H 57 R E F E R E N C E S 58

A P P E N D IX 61

L I S T O F T A B L E S

T able 1 Rcsults at the Reception and Returning Rcsult for Business Registration

Scction o f Yenbai Department o f Planning and In v e stm en t 4

Table 2 S E R V P E R F s c a l e 10

Tablc 3 O bserved variables used to identif'y components aỉTecting customer satisỉầction with public scrviccs at Ycnbai Department ot' Planning and In vestm ent 19

Table 4 Cronhach alpha valucs and intemal consistency (George & Mallery, 2003)

21

Table 5 Reliability statistics o f Transparency s c a l e 28

Table 6 Reliability statistics o f Proccdurc s c a lc 28

Tablc 7 Reliability statistics o f Attitude s c a le 29

Table 8 Reliability statistics o f Competency s c a le 30

Table 9 Reliability statistics o f Empathy sca le 30

Table 10 Reliability statistics o fInfrastructure s c a l e 31

Table 11 Pinal Reliability statistics o f Inữastructure s c a le 32

Table 12 Reliability statistics o f Customer satisíaction s c a l e 33

Tablc I 3 Exploratory faclor analysis for transparency scale KMO and Bartlett's T e s t 34

Table 14 Procetlure scale factor analysis KMO and Bartlctt's T e s t 35

Table 15 Atlitude scale factor a n aly sis 36

Tablc 16 C om pctcncy scalc tầctor analysis KMO and Bartlctt's T c s t 3<s Table 17 Em pathy scale tầctor analysis KMO and Bartlctt's T e s t 39

Tahle IX ỉnfrastructurc scale ĩactor analysis KMO and Bartlctt's T e s t 40

Table 19 C ustom cr satistầction scale íầctor analysis KMO and Bartlett's T e s t 41

Tablc 20 Correlation m atrix 44

Tablc 21 Pinal Rcgrcssion a n a ly s is 46

L I S T O F F I G U R E S

F ig u r e l Procedurc to direct, receive, proccss and return rcsults for husiness

rcgistration 3

Figure 2 Results at the Reception and Returning Result for Business Registration Section o f Yenbai Department o f Planning and Invcstm ent 5

Figurc 3 Service quality modcl o f Parasuram an 8

Figure 4 Research m o d e l 14

Pigure 5 Research p ro c e d u re 16

Figure 6 Means scores o f Service quality pertbrmance and customer satisíầction 42 Figure 7 Mean scores o f custom er satisíaction c o m p o n e n ts 43

I IN T R O D U C T IO N

1.1 Background

1.1.1 Introduction about establishmcnt process o f the Procedure Reception and

Result Return for Business Registration Section

The Division o f Reception and Return o f Business Registration is one o f proĩessional divisions o f thc Department o f Planning and Investmcnt o f Yenbai, under the direction and inanagement o f thc organi/.ation, staffing and work o f the Director o f Planning and Investments; responsible for coordinating all rooms and units bclonging to thc Department, as vvcll as rclcvant local agcncics, w orking to meet the requirements o f the Room, the Department and administrative refonn The Division oi' Reception and Retum o f Business Rcgistration vvhich was 1'ormed, constructed and operated since 2006 came from the actual demand for reform o f

adm inistrative procedures concerning entcrprises’ Processing o f cntcring the

Construction, management and opcration o f information systems for busincss rcgistration within the City; provide iníbrmation on busincss registration to the city People's Committee, thc Department o f Taxation, thc Department o f Statistics and the relevant agencies regularly, as wc!l as to organizations, individuals having requirements

Requiring cnterprises to report business status under the provisions o f specitìcd in scntence c, clause 1 o f the article 163 business law; supervising thc implementation o f thc annual rcport o f the entcrprises

Direct inspection or request the competent State agcncy to inspect enterprises according to the contents o f business registration rccords; instruct enterprises and

w ho wants to run a busincss on the order and procedures for husiness registration

Require enterprises to pause business operation whcn detecting that the enterprises do not qualify following the law

Rcvocation o f thc ccrtifícate o f busincss registration in the cascs spccitìed in Clause 2, Article 165 o f the Business lavv

Registration for business for other business forms following the law

Handling cascs, which brcak the law about rcgulations for business registration under the law; Revocation oi'th e certificate o f business rcgistration and rcquiring busincss to wind up its opcrations undcr thc la\v; Taking rcsponsibility for violations o f business registration

- To collect, analyze, and give periodic reports on the situation o f períbrming assigncd tasks in accordancc with thc rcgulations; to rcport thc ditĩiculties and problems in the w ork o f business registration to the compctent authorities

Managing records and documents relating to the duties and assets to ensure the satety and compliance with regulations

Coordinate with spociali/cd departmcnts, rcsearch units to suggestions for lcadcrs o f departmcnts about thcir assigncd areas

In addition to the above tasks, the Department o f Reccption and Return for Business Registration have to be rcsponsible for otlier duties assigned by the Dircctor o ĩ t h e Department

Regarding to the tasks o f instructions, reccptiơn, P ro cessin g and return o f busincss registration rcsults, thc Department o f Planning and ỉnvestment has establishcd procedures and received the certiíìcate o f quality management system following ISO 9001:2000 standards from 2011 and re-ccrtiíìod in 2014, the detail proccdure as follows:

Kigure 1 Procedure to direct, receive, process and rcturn results for

business registration

1.1.3 Results at the Reception and Rcturning Rosult loi Business Registration

Section o f Yenbai Department o f Planning and lnvestmcnt froni 2008 to 2013

Tho division o f Reception and Return busincss registration has successíully completed its assigned tasks during the period 2008 - 2013 Registration business has made improvements towards transparent and simple The lavvs and guidelines

ơn business registration arc published transparently Inữastructures are investcd with modern equipment, now are facilitated with intormation tcchnology systems supporting business registration, storage and Pro cessing procedures Most o f the processes and procedures are pertbrmeđ on software to ensure the accuracy, safety and fast Staffs that perform the Processing operations are regularly traincd to improve proíessional skills

As a result, the P rocessing time and the providirm registration certiíìcate have now becn shortened eonsidcrably com pared to regulations in the Business Law The rcgistration for ncw cstablishmcnt is 3-4 days; rcgistration for changing is 1-2 days The number o f enterprises, branches, representative otììces that are solved procedures in Reception and Retum business registration accounts for an average o f 5000-7000 per ycar

In thc pcriod o f 2008 - 2013, Department o f Rcception and Return results business rcgistration has períbrmed ovcr 10,000 activitics on examination and rcvicw ol business activitics in the city, in vvhiclì the number ơt violations ot' thc husincss lavv, and he revocated rcgistration ccrtificatc is ovcr 4,000 busincsses

Table 1 Results at the Reception and Rcturning Result for Business Registration Section o f Yenbai Department of Planning and Investment

Growth ratc comparcd to

the prcvious year (%)

-7.52% -22.17% -40.26% -44.57%Registered C a p i t a l

(10f’VND)

4,555,365 6,012,472 4,059,802 3,182,738 2,952,533Growth rate compared to

the previous ycar (%)

31.99% -10.88% -30.13% -35.19%Number o f new branches,

representative olĩiees

C r itc r ia 2009 20 ĩ 0 201 í 2012 2013Growth rate compared to

the prcv io u s year (%)

-2.82% -9.86% -23.94% -32.39%Number o f customers

changing the contents o f

business rcgistration

Growth rate compared to

the previous year (%)

36.14% -14.94% -20.00% -24.56%

N umber o f enterprises

rcgistering to vvind up

Growth rate compared to

the previous year (%)

Growth rate coniparcd to

the previous year (%)

(Source: Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investmem)

3.000 2.500

2.000

1.500 1,000

500

0

■ Nevv eriterprises

> Nevv branrhps Rpp ottirps

c hanging the contents of business Reg

Figure 2 Results at the Reception and Returning Result for Business Registration Section o f Yenbai Department «f Planninị> and Investment

142 138 128 1,995 ;./Uj 1 ,f>9 7

/»012 1,040 108

l,s%

2013 965 96

l , r>0S

What íactors have impact on custom er satisíaction level about public Service

quality at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Invcslmcnt?

What are suggestions for improving public Service quality and increasing

custom er satisíầction at Ycnbai Department o f Planning and Investment?

1.3 Research purpose and specific objectives

Purpose

The purposes o f this study arc to assess the public Service quality based OI1

opinions o f customers making transactions at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment; to study on the relationship and factors affecting customer satisfaction;

to g iv e su ggestion s and recom m endations to im prove public Service quality at

Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment

Speciíic objectives

Examine fundamentally theoretical issues oí' Service, public Service, and

quality m anagem ent, quality management in public Service, custom er and custom er

satisfaction to have an overview on this issuc

Collect and analyze survey data from customers using public services at Ycnbai Department o f Planning and Investment

(ìive somc suggestions to improve quality and efficicncy in public Service

performance tovvard higher custom er satisfaction

1.4Subjccts and scope o f the study

Subjects o f the study

Public Service quality, customer satislaction vvhen using puhlic Services at Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment, and íactors aíìccting customer satisfaction about public services performed hy Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment

Scope o f the study

In terms o f space: The thesis focuses on studying public services períbrmed

by Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment at Reception o f receiving and rcturning results for Business Rcgistration Section

In t e r m s o f t ime: s u r v e y t ime f r o m J u l y 2 0 1 4 to A u u u s t 2 0 1 4

Participants o f thc survey: custom ers who COI11C to make transactions at the

Rcccption o f rcceiving and retuming results ibr Business Rcgistration Section

II FRAM E OF R E F E R E N C E

2.1 Five gaps Service quality model

Parasuraman et al (1985) arc the pioneers o f making specitìc and detail studies

on Service quality in marketing These researchers proposed a five GAP model o f

C a p 2: is the difference between nianagem ent’s perceptions o f co nsum er’s

expectations and Service quality specifications T his gap results from constraints

and obstacles Service providers have to face when they try to convert their perceptions o f custo m ers’ expectations into quality speciíìcations to meet custom ers’ expectations These specifìcations will become marketing iníbrmation to customcrs

G a p 3: is the differcnce between Service quality spcciíìcations and Service actually dclivercd; i.c the Service perlbrmancc gap This gap refers to the case vvhen

cm plo y ees deliver Service for cu stom ers but it is not m cct the defined criteria The

rolc o f front linc staff is vcry important in creating quality services

G a p 4: is the differcncc bctween Service delivery and thc information customer reccived about Service delivcry This iníòrmation m ay make increase in expectations hut also make decrcase in perceived quality when customcrs do not

received vvhat Service providers com m itted.

( ỉ a p 5: is thc difference between con su m er’s expectation and perceived Service Parasuraman et al (19X5) stated that Service quality is Gap 5 This gap depends on the above 4 Gaps

Figure 3 Service qualitv model o f Parasuraman

Parasuraman statcd thai Service qualily is a íunction o f G ap 5 (ìap 5 depends

on the four previous gaps, namely Gap 1 Gap 2, Gap 3, and G ap 4 Thereíore, in

order to increase Service quality, Service m anagers should attcmpt to shorten this

gap Service quality model, in this study can bc illustratcd as follows:

SỌ = F {G_5 = f(G J , G 2, G 3, Cì 4)Ị

Wherc: s ọ is Service quality;

G _ 1 Ci 2 G_3, and G_4 are Gap !, Gap 2, Gap 3, and Gap 4, respectively

2.2 M easuring Service (Ịuality: SE R V Q U A L scalc

Service quality model o f Parasuraman ct al (19sX) can bc considered as a

c o m p re h c n s iv e picture o f Service quality Hovvever, tliis m odcl is conceptual and

needs a series o f studies to test this measuring scale One o f the most important

studies is m e asu rin g c u s to m e rs ’ perceivcd Service quality

Parasuraman et al (1988) have developed and tested the scale including 5 components o f Service quality Finally, SERV Ọ U A L scale consists o f 21 observed

variables to nieasure 5 com ponents o f Service quality, namely:

1 Reliability: refers to ability to períorm Service dependably and accurately righl at the íìrst time

2 Responsiveness: refers to willingness and ready to provide services to customers

3 Competence: refers knoxvledge and skills o f cm ployces to períorm Service

Thcsc mentioncd knovvledge and skills arc vcry important for cmployecs

w ho directly com m unicate with custom ers, provide Service, and affcct the

ability to capture relevant information needed for serving customers

4 Empathy: refers to caring and attention towards each individual customer

5 Tangiblcs: rcicrs to appca ran ce o f p crsonnel and o th e r physical faci 1 Ìtics and

cquipmcnt for providing scrvices

The tìvc Gap Service quality modcl and SHRVỌUAL scalc cover almost spcciíìc attributes o f Service quality Parasuraman ct ai (1991, 1993) confm ned that SKRVQUAL is a comprchensivc scalc measuring Service quality, with reasonable reliability and validity, and can be applied in dilTerent Service types However, each

diffcrent Service type has its ow n characteristics, so there may be som e

modiíìcations for the scale depending on specitìc type and market

2.3 The studies applying SE R V Q U A L and SE R V P E R F

Aíter many previous studies, S1ÌRVỌUAL has becn accepted as a valid scale in

theory and practice Hovvever, there is still many dcbated, criticized and

questionable issues about this scale especially in tcrms o f thc gencrality and the accuracy One more thing is that thc SHRVỌUAL mcasurcmcnt procedure is quite

complicated Theretore, there is a modiíìcation o f SHRVỌUAL is SERV PERF scalc.

This scale was introduced by Cronin & Taylor (1992, citeđ in Thongssamak, 2001),

dctìning Service quality by m easuring only perccived quality o f Service (instead o f

measuring both perccption and expectations as SERVQUAL) This mcans, according to SFR V PFR F:

Service Quality = Level o f perceived quality

The authors stated that Service quality is the bcst reílected by perceived quality, ncithcr including quality expectations nor asscssing thc wcight o f each compơncnts

Ít is notice that to original from SE RV Ọ U A L scale, components and observed variablcs o f this SERV PER P scalc arc the same as in SHRVQUAL This measurement modcl is called Perception Model

SE R V PER F m odel o f Cronin & Taylor is used to evaluate the quality o f Service,

including 5 speciíìc íactors:

Table 2 S E R V P E R P scale Keliability

1 When com pany X has promised to do something on a speciíic timc pcriod, the

com pany will perform.

2 VVhcn you has p rohlem s, co m p a n y X ex p ressed sincere intcrest in so lving

prohlcms

3 Company X performeđ services right at the first timc

4 Company X proviđes scrviccs cxactly as their promised timc

5 Companỵ X notiíỵ to customers when thcir Service will bc done

Responsiveness

6 Employees o f company X serves you 0 11 time

7 Eniployces o f company X inform you exactly when services will he implementcd

X Employees o f company X are always willing to hclp you

9 E tnployees o f co m p a n y X is never too b u sy to responsc to your rcquirem cnts _

Assurancc

10 Employees o f com pany X can create trust towards the company for you

11 You feel safe when making transactions with company X

12 Employees o f com pany X are alvvays polite and courteous with you

13 E m ployecs ot com panỵ X havc knovvleđge to answer your q u e s t i o n s _

Kmpathv

14 C om pany X has expressed attentions and cares to cach individual customer

15 C om pany X has employees who cxprcsscd attcntions and carcs to cach

individual customcr

16 C om pany X expressed special care custom ers’ conccrns

17 Hmployees o f company X can understand your special nceds

18 C om pany X has a convenient working time to you

19 C om pany X has modcrn facilities and cquipmcnts

20 Pacilities o f the com pany X looks very appealing

21 Employees o f com pany X have neat and beautiful appearance

22 The physical facilities supporting serving services in com pany X looks very

appealing

(Source: Measuring Service Quality with SERVPERF)

2.4 Factors affectinị» public Service qualitv

Through synthesis o f previous research on Service quality and customer

satisfaction, this study examines several traditional scales as above Hovvever, the

diiTerences in fíelds, regions, political - economic - cullural characteristics,

perceptions ơ f c ili/e n s lead to the đifference in w ay to assess Service quality and

customer satisíầction

This research aimeđ towards respondents who are using public scrvices

applied ISO standards at thc Department o f Planning and Investment o f Yenbai As

an economic and political center o f Vietnam, with rclatively high literacy levels,

Y cnbai’s citi/.ens obcy to the law, State regulations as wcll as aware o f values and

tactors atTccting cu s to m c r satisfaction The study suggests that public Service

quality can hc aíTected hy following components:

1 Rcliability is customer expectations about implcmentation o f the

com m itm ents made by State adm inistrative agcncies for them in the process o f

pcrform ing public services Based on previous studies, c o m b in in g thc principles o f

applicd ISO standards, the authors used qualitative methods to dcvelop the tầctor

"Reliahility" includes the following criteria:

- The transparency o f administrativc procedurcs

- R eco rd s vvith no eiTơrs or loss

- Records do not miss deadlines

- Being reliable place for customers when tlicy contact to resolve thc administrative procedures.

2 In írastructures suppo rtin g services includcs factors such as providing

Service area, equipm ent, tools and other technical íầcilities esp ecially equipm ent

in the reception area - vvhere p eople com e to c o n tact vvith íro n t s taff that represents

Ibr the administrative agcncics Bascd on prcvious rcscarch combining vvith thc principles o f ISO standards, the authors used qualitative methods to build factor

"Inữastructures" including the following criteria:

- Airy, clcan and spacious rooms

- C om ĩortable íacilities such as air conditioning, desk, chair

- Equipment supporting services are rclativcly modcrn (automaticIiumbering, computers, and computers for records lookup .)

- The layout o f thc area for receiving, Processing and returning results

- The publishing o f administrativc procedures and tbrms

3 Staffs’ competency, including the skills and proíessional knowledge toaccomplish the assigned tasks This is a very important elem ent which reflects the quality o f thc public services Based on previous research combining vvith the principles o f ISO standards, the authors used qualitative methods to build factor

"C om petency o f staíTs" including the following criteria:

- Communication skills

- K n o w lc d g e and skills in handling works.

- Proficicncy in protessional tasks

- T o reasonably solve the prob lem s o f custom crs

- Resolving complaints o f customers quickly and rcasonably

4 Regarding to attitude o f serving a Service, it is imporìant for public servants to listen, be patient, speak clearly, have friendly attitude, and handle work

on timc Bascd on prcvious rcscarch combining with thc principlcs o f ISO standards, the authors used qualitative mcthods to build tactor "Attitude o f staffs" including the following criteria:

- The attitudc whcn rccciving, Processing and retuming thc rcsults

- Attitude when answering people's qucstions

- T h e in c o n v e n ie n c e fo r p e o p le vvlien P rocessing records.

- The fair treatm cnt in all administrativc scrviccs transactions

- Being high responsible for custo m ers’ records

5 E m p ath y rcfers e m p lo y e e s ’ attcntion to customers This is the fundamental rcquirem ent o f thc o rg a n i/a tio n w hich expresses commitment to dedicatedly serve the pcople through íìnding thc right solution for cvcry situations to solvc custom crs’ rcquirem ents Based on previous research combining with the principles o f ISO standards, the authors used qualitative methods to builđ factor "Empathy" including the following criteria:

- C u sto m er can contact with staffs who are Processing their records

- H andling rccords ílexibility and promptly

- The attention o f the otTiccrs to rcasonablc requcsts o f the people

- Staffs easily to understand the cu stom ers’ requirements

6 A dm inistrative proccdurcs, including rccords rcquircd when submittcd,

P rocessing the records, the period o f contact directly betw een staffs and customers

This is m andatory principles o f ISO standards in which procedures must be improved in the process o f applying It is also an objective demand from the fact that adm inistrative procedures arc cum bersom e under ovcrlapping rcgulations, so

im p ro v in g p ro c c d u rc s is an im p o rta n t req uirem ent with thc purposc to im provc Service quality U sin g q u a lita tiv e m c th o d s, the autlior builds factor "proceđures"

m cluding thc following criteria:

- Rcqucst for rcasonable list o f documents

- Tim e to handling do cum ents following publishcd procedures is suitablc

- Procedures, Processing steps reasonably records.

- The law on adm inistrative procedures is rcasonable

III R E S E A R C H M E T H O D O L O G Y

3.1 R esearch niodcl

Bascd on qualitative research, studying on customcr satisfaction model, invcstigating thc rclationships bctw ccn scrvicc quality and customcr satisfaction through research m odels o f Parasuram an and Spreng - Mackoy, the components o f

S e rv ice quality proposed by Parasuraman and SOI1K' other authors, this study proposed theoretical model with following hypotheses.

114: Empathy has signitlcantly positive impact on customer satisfaction

115 Inữaslructurcs havc significantly positive impact on customcrsatisíaction

H6: Transparency has signiíìcantly positivc impact on customersatisfaction

3.2 D is c u ss r e le v a n c e o f r e s e a r c h m o d el in p u b lic s e c to r

From experts’ ideas in Service quality and custom cr satisfaction rescarching íìelds, we develop corc ideas vvith basic survcv to implement into public sector, for some explanations:

Public sector providcs public services so that the relationship in this case

is still betvveen Service provider and customer

In a n o th c r h a n d s, the relatio n sh ip betvvcen thc civil servant w ho \vorking

for public organization and customcrs vvho arc citi/.ens or reprcsentativc

o f another organization, in generally, is relatiơnship o f human to human Kinally, from the ữ a m e o f references wc have interview somc leadcrs, civil servants and som e people involve into the topic research, in Appcndix 2 and Appcndix 3 The rcsults rctlcctcd the suitahle of tactors

(d im en sio n s) to in vestigate the relationship betvveen public Service

quality and custom er satisfaction

In co n clu sio n , troni th esc reasons the rescarch m odcl is relevant for \vorking on

our m aster thesis

The forrnal rescarch uses quantitative approach through qucstionnairc survcy Time

to collect data is from July 15lh 2015 to August 15th 2014 at the receiving and retu m in g docum en ts section o f Yenbai Department o f Planning and ỉnvestment The purposes o f this study are to valid the scale to determine the importance o f

eac h Service q u ality factors, to m e a s u re cu s to m e r satisfaction as vvcll as to test the

hypothesis stated in the previous section

3.3.2 Research proccss

The study will be conducted in tw o phases including preliminary research and formal research, as followed:

Kigurc 5 Research procedure 3.4 Preliminary research (qualitative)

3.4.1 Research purposcs

Qualitative research is a kind o f exploratory research in vvhich data collected are tlirough secondary data and discussion The iníbrmation in the research process includes documcnts rcgulating the administrative procedures, group discussions

vvith cxperts and specialists in the fíeld o f public administration, prcvious studics as

a basis for building research model and modifying measurement scale o f puhlic

Service quality and custom er satisíaction So through qualitativc research, qucstion items inherited previous studies will be customized and supplemcnted to suitable for actual situation o f public services in Yenbai city

In this research, interviews and discussions with leader the city, representative for Service quality management, head o f intem al quality management, the management staffs (head o f division, dcputy head o f division) to collect extensive inỉormation on the whole quality system o f providing public services

Group discussions with experts vvho handle docuinents in the fíeld oi' public administration vvith application o f ISO 9000, team members o f the intemal quality management deparlmcnt (The Department o f Ọuality M anagement) about the implcmcntation o f administrative procedures, in order to collect information on drawbacks in the system, to analyzc and construct quality componcnts and critcria Ibr custom cr satisfaction evaluation in publie serviccs

Dircct intcrview with customers to collect suggestions and learn morc about practical nccds vvhile using public services

3.4.3 Results

Iníormation w ill hc gathered througli intcrviews, based on the theoretical hasis and inherited from previous studies and combined vvith current application o f ISO quality system in public administration at Yenbai city Ọualitative rescarch results

contìrm the suitable o f research model vvith cuư ent situation o f public Service

providing in Yenbai city through interviews and discussions with leaders, heads o f

departments, and intemal quality managcment department Hy qualitative rcscarch,

a qucstionnairc survey is developcd to collect dala íor quant itative analysis

3.5 Kornial research (quantitatỉve)

3.5.1 Analytical framework:

By com bining SE R V Ọ U A L scale o f Parasuraman, this study vvill assess public

Service quality through 6 dim ensions:

! -

-C u s t o m e r

sa tisíaction (S)

All ohservcd variablcs o f all components o f puhlic scrvices arc dcveloped on

a lìvc point Likcr scale as followed:

Baseđ on rcsults o f discussions (Appendix 2, 3), thc validity o f Service

quality components (factors) and criteria (observcd variables) used in the

P U B i.lC Sr.RVIC K Q U A I.n »

qucstionnaire can bc contìrmed bctwecn tlicơry and the actual situation in Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investmcnt Ọualitativc analysis shows that all qucstion items are clcar and easy to understand Hach qucstion somehovv reílect differcnt aspccts o f the measured componcnt

Table 3 Observed variables used to identify com ponents aííecting custom cr satislaction with public services at Ycnbai Department o f

Planning and Investmcnt

I Transparency

1 Administrative procedures and fonns are published fully at the

2 Administrative procedurcs and forms are published in the website of

Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment TR2

3 Administrative procedures are simple and easy to understand TR3

5 Inlbnnation and status o f handling documents arc casily found in the

vvebsite oí'Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment TR5

II Adm inistrative procedures

6 The number and requirements ahout contents of administrative documents

at Yenbai Department of Planning and Investment are reasonable PR1

7 Time to handlc a documcnt is rcasonablc as public procedure PR2

8 Procedures and handling stcps as publishcd arc reasonable PR3

9 The administrativc proccdurcs arc in accordance with thc law and

10 Time to receive documcnts is reasonable and convcnicnt PR5

111 Attitude o f staffs

I 1 StatTs who receive documents have polite attitudc when receive

12 Statĩs who rcccivc documcnts havc triendly attitudc whcn answcr

13 Staffs vvho receive documents do not cause any inconvenience for

14 StaíYs \vho receive and retum documents are t'air witli all

15 StatTs who receive documents take high responsibility for all

IV C.ompetency of staíĩs

16 Staffs vvho receive documents have good communication skills COI

17 Staffs who receive documcnts have knovvledge and skills in C 0 2

No Componcnts Code

handling related works

18 Staíĩs who receive documents possess good proíessional

19 Statts w ho reccive docunicnts and Consulting custom ers give

20 Yenbai Department o f Planning and Investment settle custom ers’

V Em pathy o f staffs

21 Customers easily contact to staffs who are responsible for thcir

22 StatTs try to deal vvith the document ílexibly and promptly EM2

23 C usto m ers’ reasonable requirements are cared and handled EM3

24 Staffs casily understand the customer's requiremcnts EM4

25 Staíĩs arc patient to listen to customers’ opinions EM5

VI Infrastructure

26 Location and place o f room for receiving and retuming documents

27 Room for receiving and retuming documents is spacious and airy 1NFR2 28

~>9

Room for receiving and returning đocuments has adequatc

facilities (air conditioning, desk, chair, et c ) 1NFR3

Equipment are quite m od em (automatic numbering m achine,

Computer, Computer for customcrs to look up documents, etc ) INFR4VII C ustom er satisĩaction

30 You are completely satisííed with transparency ot puhlic scrvices CS13! You arc com p lete ly satisíìed with adm inistrative proced u re o f

32 You are completcly satisíìcd vvith attitude o f staiĩs \vho provido

33 You are conipletely satisfied with competcncy o f staffs who

34 Y ou are com p lcte ly satisíìed witli e m p a th y o f staiTs w h o provide

35 You are completely satisfíed with infrastructures CS6

3.6 Data analysis process

The data collcctcd will be cleaned and processed hy software SPSS 22.0 Sonic mcthods o f Processing data used in this stady are as íbllovving:

C ro n b ach ’s alpha is a com m on measurc o f intcrnal consistency (reliability) o f a test or scale Internal consistency describes the extcnt to vvhich all the items in a test measure the same concept or construct and hcncc it is connected to thc inncr-

relatedness o f the itcms vvithin the test (Tavakol et (li., 2011) C ronbach’s alpha is

most com m only used when researcher lias multiple Likert question in a survey or questionnaire that form a scale and the researcher vvishes to determine vvhether the scale is reliable (Laerd statistics)

The value o f alpha (a) may be between negativc iníìnity and 1 However, only positive values o f alpha have meaning In general, alpha coefficient ranges in valuc from 0 to 1, and the increase o f this value means that thc correlations between the items increase (Amit Choudhury, 2010) Thereíore, this P ro cessin g data method hclps analyst assess thc reliability o f scale through C ro nb ach's alpha coefficient A com m only accepted intcrnal consistcncy using C o nb ach’s alpha is as follow:

Tablc 4 Cronbach alpha values and ỉntcrnal consistency (George &

ỈMaHcry, 2003)

3.6.1 Reliability analysis by C ron ba ch’s alpha

C ron bach ’s alpha Intcmal consistcncy

0.9 > a > 0.8 Good0.8 > a > 0 7 Acceptable0.7 > a > 0.6 Ọ u estionable

0.6 > a > 0.5 Poor0.3 :> a Unacccptable

As the table shows, an acccptablc reliabilily score should be 0.7 or highcr Hovvever, lower thresholds are sometimes used in the litcrature (Reynaldo et a l., 1999) In this research, scales vvhich have C ronbach’s alpha cocíTicient greater than

or equal to 0.6 will bc acccpted

Besides assessing the reliability o f scales, C ro n b ach ’s alpha analysis also hclps to check whether any itcm is not consistence vvith the rest o f thc scale through itcm-total correlations Item-total correlation pertbrms the correlation o f onc variable with others in the samc scale; the higher corrclation value, the bcttcr correlation between that item and the others Variables which have greater than 0.3 item-total coưclations will bc acccptcd; thc others which havc smallcr than 0.3 item-total correlations vvill be eliminated from analysis data.

3.6.2 Exploratory factor analysis

Exploratory íactor analysis is a powerful statistical technique which is used for data reduction and summarization The primary ohjcctives o f an exploratory factor analysis are to determine ( I ) the number o f com m on factors intlucncing a set

o f measures; (2) the strength o f the relationship between each factor and each observed measure (DeCostcr, 1998)

At íìrst, it is necessary to test the sampling adequacy o f factor analysis base

on Kaiser-M eyer-Olkin (KM O) Measure In case o f K M O has value between 0.5 and 1.0 and Sig is smaller than 0.5, íầctor analysis is more appropriate factor analysis In case o f KMO has value smaller than 0.5 or Sig is greater than 0.5, it indicatcs that factor analysis may not he appropriate

By perlbrming exploratory factor analysis, invcstigator can decidc the nunihcr oí' tactors to extract in the model The Kaiser creation statos that invcstigator should usc a number o f factors equal to thc numbcr o f the eigenvalucs

o f the correlation matrix that are greater than one (DcCostcr, 1998) In this research, the cigcnvalues vvill bc plot in descending order, then the number o f tactor will cqual to the number o f eigenvalues that occur prior and have grcater than 1.0 values

An important part in exploratory factor analysis is interpreting factor matrixes This research will usc Varimax rotation process to producc multiple group íactors Pactor loadings which indicate correlatiơns bctvvccn the variables and thc factors are requircd to havc greatcr than 0.5 values Then, a factor can be interpreted

in tcrms o f the variables that have high load on it

Regression analysis is a modeling technique for analyzing the relationship bcíwecn a rcal-valucd dcpcndent variable Y and one or more independent variablesX| X2, X ĩ Xk (Ragsdale, 2007) The goal in regression analysis is to identiíy a

ĩunction that describes the relationship bctween these variables as closely as possible so that we can assess the impact o f each independent variahie on depcndent variable as well as prcdict thc change in dependent variable when there is any change in independent variables

The regression model in this research is:

vvhich have VIF sm aller than 10 If V iF for one variablc is aro u n d or greater than

10, there is collinearity associated with thai variable; this variablc should be rcmoved from the regression model In addition, it is assumed that tho error tcrms e

are indepcndcnt, norm ally distributed random variables vvith mcan value o f 0, and

constant variances As long as these assumptions are not seriously violated, regression model will bc established Once regression function was given, the research can investigate rclationship between Service quality and customer3.6.3 Regression analysis

satistầction in Ycnbai Department ot' Planning and Investment R-squarc (coeHìcient o f dctermination) will provide a goodncss-of-íìt measure With higher R-square valuc, the modcl is highcr fit for analysis.

IV DATA A N A L Y S IS

4.1 Data description

A m o ng 100 questionnaires proviđed to customers, the researcher collected 51 responses After inputting data and screening questionnaires, there were 51 valid samplcs as in thc tablc abovc and 49 missing samples Data analysis excluded 49 missing samples because participants did not provide sulTicient iníbrmation or their ansvvcrs wcrc the samc choicc for all questions

/n collecting surveys process, we do not collect ull surveys fo r so me reasons:

Based on Table 1 the total number transaction activities in 2013 is 2,642, and

278 vvorking day per ycar Ít means 25 transaction activitics pcr day so that we will collect 10% the num ber people The survey time period is 01 month so that we can collect maxim um 60 survey After revising and deleting insutTicient information samples, 5 I samples what we collected is reasonable number

In iact, not many pcople willing to illl in survey so that wc nced to pay a littlc bit moncy (1 USD/ 01 rcsponsc) to motivate thcm With tight budget, vvc could collccted around 51 responscs

In conclusion, vvith all reasons abovc wc strongly believe thai all o f responses are rcliablc to usc for rcscarch and rcílcct cxactly vvhat happcns in rcal litc

4.1.1 Gender

Pcrcent

CumulativePercent

G ender

Male

■ M a le

• Pem ale

A mong 51 participants who answered questionnaires, there are 23 temales and

28 males give their responses back which correspond to 45.1% and 54.9%, respectively It can be seen that the num ber ot' male respondent is more than the num ber o f female respondent

4.1.2 Agc

Percent

CumulativePercent

o f 30 - 40 years old The quantity o f this group is 14 peoplc which represent 29.4%

o f total Intercstingly, the groups in agc over 50 ycars olđ and under 30 years old

have small proportiơn ot' 19.6% and 17.6%, respectively It can be secn that customers using public services are mostly the middle age group in our society.4.1.3 lỉducation level

Prcqucncy Pcrccnt Valid

Percent

CumulativePercent

H i s h s c h o o l V ocatio nal s c h o o l C o l l e e e U iú versity and ovei

As thc chart shovvs, a great dcal o f participants has cducation level at College and University and over Among them, tho number ot' custom ers’ attained University and over degrce is 22 people, vvhich account for 43.1% o f thc pool samplc The amơunt o f customers obtaincd Collcge degree is 13 people, corrcsponding to 25.5% Participants who have High school or Vocational school levcl account for a smallcr volumc with 1 1.8% and 19.60% respectivcly

4 1.4 Sources ot' information

Frequency Pcrccnt Valid

Percent

CumulativePercent

Sources oi InlormationK)0.0°o

CumulativePercent

2 Rcgistration for cditcd the content o f busincss rcgistration;

3 Registration for cntcrprisc transformation;

4 Rcgistration for pausing operations o f entcrprises, branches andrepresentative oíTiccs;

5 Registration for winding up operations o f branches, representativeoíììccs, and business places;

6 Othcrs

A m ong listed 6 services, customers participated largely assess on 2 scrvices, namcly: Registration for business establishment, branches opcrations, reprcsentative otTices, and business location; and others

■

25.50° 0

4.2.1 Reliability o f Transparcncy scale

Transparency scalc includes fivc items: T R I, TR2, TR3, TR4, and TR5

Table 5 Reliability statistics o f Transparency scale Relỉability Statistics

Scale Variance

if Item Deletcd

Corrected Item- Total C oưelation

Cronbach's Alpha if ỉtem Deleted

itcms (T R I, TR2, TR3, TR 4 and TR5) o f Transparưncy scalc arc acccpted, and wi 11

he analyzed in the next step

4.2.2 Reliahility o f Procedurc scale

Proccdurc scalc includes lì ve items: PR1, PR2, PR3, PR4, and PR5

Table 6 Reliability statistics o f Proccdurc scale Kcliabilỉty Statistics

CronbactVs

Alpha

N o f Items

C orrđation

Cronbach's

A lpha i f

Itcm Delcted

0.743, PR3 is 0.807 PR4 is 0.643, and P5 is 0.699) Therefore, all íìve items o f

rcliability scale are accepted and will be analy/cd in the next step

4.2.3 Reliability o f Attitude scale

Attitudc scale incluđes five items: A T I, AT2, AT3, AT4, and AT5

Table 7 Keliahility statistics ()f Attitude scale Rcliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha

N o f Itcms

CorrectedItem-TotalCorrelation

Cronbach's

Alpha iỉ

Item Deleted

AT5 - havc Corrected Item-Total Correlation ot 0.726, 0.856, 0.833, 0.789 and 0.750, respcctively; they arc all greater than 0.3 Thus, tlicse lìve items are accepted and will be an aly/ed in the next step.

4.2.4 Reliability o f Competcncy scalc

Com pclency scale includes íìve items: C O I, C 0 2 , C 0 3 , C ()4, and C 0 5

Table 8 Keliability statistics o f C om petency scale Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha

N o f Items

CorrectedItem-TotalCorrelation

CronbaclVs Alpha if Item Deleted

Rcliability test rcsults o f Competency scalc illustratc that C ronbach’s Alpha

ot this scale cquals to 0.905 which is tnuch higher than 0.6 In addition, Corrected Ileni-Total Corrclation valucs o f fivc items are 0.731, 0.807, 0.771 0.850 and 0.673 tliat all arc grcatcr than 0.3 Thcrefore, it can bc concludes that Competcncy scale is rcliablc, and ull íìve items are acccpted Thcsc items will be analyzed in the next stcp

4.2.5 Reliability o f Empathy scale

Competency scale includes tìve items: L-’M 1, EM2, EM3, EM4, and EM5

Table 9 Keliability statistics <>f Empathv scale Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha

N o f Items