A study on service quality and customer satisfaction for counter services at Penampang Municipal Council / Nancy D. Lojium

Penampang Municipal Council (MDP) is one of the local authorities in Sabah, responsible for development and revenue collection in Penampang Municipality. It covers a taxable area of 5,695 acres. At is office, located on the outskirts of Donggongon Township, next to Penampang Sports Complex, there are three main service counters dealing with revenue collection, license application and renewal and development projects. The aim of this study is to determine the level of service quality and customer satisfaction for these service counters. Determination of service quality used SERVQUAL which assess five dimensions of quality: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangible. It was found that less than 50 percent of the respondents agreed with the service quality statements and less than 50 percent of the respondents disagreed with the statements. About one-fifth to one-fourth of the respondents stated indecisiveness over the statements. It was also found that the percentage of customer satisfaction was only 33.4 percent whereas 36.4 percent were found to be dissatisfied. 21.3 percent stated their indecisiveness. This study concluded that the service quality and customer satisfaction was very low and there is a great assertiveness for low service quality among the respondents. It was suggested that service quality and customer satisfaction for service can be improved by having visibly available client's charter; visibly available flow chart of service activities; implementation of ICT-based administration; enhance attractiveness of service counters; provide training and development to the staffs; and develop balanced scorecards to monitor performance.