Conceptual models and operative tools for improving customer satisfaction in the public sector: reflections on italian experiences

Abstract

Quality in delivering public services has been recognised as a major issue challenging performance in the public sector, as well as the ability to operate effectively and within budget constraints. Empirical findings shown by the literature demonstrate that concrete efforts have been produced towards the evaluation and improvement of satisfaction levels of citizens and other Public Administration's 'customers'. However, still today, this issue portrays many unresolved criticalities, particularly concerning the methodological approaches and operational tools to adopt in order to integrate 'customer satisfaction' programs with the wider organisational control system in each public administration.

This paper adopts a non-conventional view of the 'customer satisfaction' concept. This is currently meant as a matter of social reporting or even statistical analysis based on the users' perceptions on the level of provided services by a given (front office) unit in the public sector. Here, an inter-institutional perspective is adopted with a view to map the overall value chain leading to the final product delivered to citizens, or the community. Inside this chain, tracking the underlying administrative products delivered by back-office units to their 'internal clients' in the public administration is recommended as a fundamental step to understand how to improve performance in satisfying citizens' needs. This should also require a proper link between the administrative units' goals and performance measures to the desired efficiency and effectiveness of processes leading to the attainment of administrative products providing the basis of the final services delivered to the private sector. Based on first empirical findings from field analysis in the Italian context, the paper aims to outline an approach which could assist both politicians and managers to better assess and improve performance, according to a customer satisfaction perspective.