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Citizens, Accountability, and Service Satisfaction

The Influence of Expectations

Georgia State University

Theodore H. Poister

Georgia State University

Understanding how citizen-consumers form evaluations of public services is critical to understanding account ability in democratic governance. The task of using citizens’ assessments of service quality as an accountability mechanism, however, may be more complex than is commonly understood. In particular, little research has examined how citizens’ expectations about the quality of services may influence their levels of satisfaction with public services. In this article, we examine empirically the relationship between perceived performance, expectations, and satisfaction. We examine these relationships across three service areas: trash, police, and schools, relying on survey data from a statewide survey of Georgia residents. Our results suggest higher subjective assessments of service quality are positively related to satisfaction. They also suggest, however, that an "A" service is not always associated with the same level of satisfaction; holding citizens’ assessments of service quality constant, positive disconfirmation of expectations increases citizen-consumers’ levels of satisfaction with services.

Key Words: service satisfaction • disconfirmation of expectations • perceived service quality • local service delivery

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				O. James Evaluating the Expectations Disconfirmation and Expectations Anchoring Approaches to Citizen Satisfaction with Local Public Services J. Public Adm. Res. Theory., November 13, 2007; (2007) mum034v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]