| dc.description.abstract | There has been an explosion of interest in service quality and its impact on a firm's
success in a fiercely competitive global market. Governments have not been left behind
in this development. Governments in the world over are trying to improve the quality of
services it offers to the public at large. Thus, customer service has come to occupy a
prominent position in its development agendas.
Customers' perception of the quality of service offered by the Government of Kenya was
studied using the Ministry of Finance (MoF) as a case study. Thus, this descriptive study
investigated effects of perceived customer service quality offered by the Ministry of
Finance. Its performance on service delivery was investigated using the other Ministries
as outcome variables - customers and the service provider staffs in the Ministry and the
state corporations directly under it.
The study intended to determine Corporate Customer's expectations of services offered
by the Ministry of Finance in Kenya. It focused on all the other government ministries
and the constitutional offices. It also looked at the MoF staff, to compare how they
perceive the services they offer vis-a- vis the customer.
The study had three main objectives:
1. To identify the Ministry of finance service attributes that customers and staff
consider important.
2. To assess the extent to which the staff and customers are satisfied with the quality
of service provided by the Ministry of Finance.
3. To determine the relative importance of various organizational demographics on
customer satisfaction with the service delivery.
A questionnaire was formulated to collect and test aggregate customer and staff
perception on the quality of customer service offered.by the MoF. The data was collected
using a semi-structured questionnaire containing both closed and open-ended statements and
questions. It also used rating scales to measure intangible attributes like perceptions,
attitudes, values and behaviours relevant to the study
A sample of 50 customers was selected from the two groups (customer and staff). The
researcher managed to get 21 of them fill and return the questionnaires, a response rate of
42%. The analysis showed that the factors considered most important by customers in
judging quality of service in the ministry of Finance are:
• Convenience of the location
• Efficiency of the services offered
• Promptness in handling customer requests
• Accessibility of staff in their offices
The results of the study revealed that 34.6% of the respondents rated the services offered
by the Ministry of finance as excellent, 38.4% very good, 22% good, 2% poor and 2%
very poor. Although most customers were satisfied with the quality of service offered by
MoF, there is need to enhance customer awareness on the tasks performed by the
Ministry of Finance, and for regular in-house training programmes to the staff. This was
indicated from the difference of the perception of both the customer and staff regarding
where the customer scored the perceived know ledge of service offered by staff attribute
at 18 whilst the MoF staff scored it at 60. The staff also had different views regarding the
promptness in handling customer requests.; where they rated themselves higher than how
the customers viewed them (20 and 60 respectively). This clearly shows that the MoF
staff should examine critically the gap between the promised service and the actual
service delivery.
The study implication revealed that there was need to enhance customer awareness on the
tasks performed by MOF and sensitize customers on how money flows from the resource
envelope to the other ministries since the customers perceive that it is the Ministry of
Finance that disburses money to any activity funded by the government. A need for
regular in-house training programmes to the staff of MOF is important for the staff to
regularly update their knowledge and skills, in areas such as customer care.
Future research can compare the quality of service offered by MOF as perceived by the
staff, and as perceived by leading organizations in the private sector since most of them
also draw essential services from MOF. It can also benchmark the services offered by
MOF with those offered by private organizations. | en |
