Ms Ngoakoana J Motsoko, Dr Cornelia PJ Harmse
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the perceived service quality of administrative employees from the internal customers’ perspective in the setting of a government department. The study employed a quantitative research approach and a correlational survey research design. Online questionnaires, based on the SERVPERF scale, were administered as a data collection method after the non-probability convenient sampling technique was adopted to select a sample size of 162 from the population of 569 employees. One hundred and forty-eight questionnaires were returned. This constitutes a 91% response rate. Reliability of scales, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and t-tests were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that internal customers were generally satisfied with the services they received from the administrative employees. The “tangibles” service quality dimension was ranked the lowest, indicating that internal customers were least satisfied with this aspect of service quality. There was a strong positive correlation between reliability and assurance. The results further revealed a strong positive relationship between tangibles and assurance and a strong correlation between tangibles and reliability. There was also a strong correlation between responsiveness and empathy. It can also be concluded that there was a strong correlation between empathy and tangibles. There was a moderate relationship between empathy and reliability. There was also a moderate correlation between responsiveness and reliability. It was recommended that attention should be given to the “tangibles” dimension of service quality of administrative employees. Most literature is on service quality and customer satisfaction, however, only a few have concentrated on the perceived internal service quality. This study was conducted in one public service department in one city and one province rather than all public service departments in all cities and nine provinces where the Department of Basic Education has offices. The findings can, therefore, not be generalised to a broader population.