Service Quality And Client Satisfaction

For decades, agricultural extension service in Bangladesh has been struggling to offer quality service to its clients. Reasons for this are many, but high on the list must be the fact that that the performance of the extension workers is usually based on the achievement of physical targets, such as the number of sessions delivered and the number of farmers visited,, rather than quality. Feedback from farmers is not taken into account, though they would probably be the best judge of the quality of the services delivered. Client satisfaction and service quality are central in measuring program adherence to client needs/demands, along with customer loyalty and retention.In evaluating service quality and client satisfaction of multiple public and private agricultural extension service providers in Bangladesh, this research adopted a mixed method approach. A total of391respondents composed of both clients and employees from nine selected organizations were interviewed on a face-to-face basis. Service quality was measured using the SERVQUAL model proposed by Parasuraman et al.,(1990), whereas client satisfaction was measured using a Likert scale under four distinctive dimensions, namely:service content, service method, agent’s behavior, and overall levels of client satisfaction. To measure significance of difference between perceived and expected service, this research used Z statistics while the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis was employed see the relationship between client satisfaction and service quality dimensions. Contribution of selected variables on client satisfaction was predicted using the Ordered Logistic Model (OLM). To see the field level service status, causes behind low service quality, and possible ways of improving service quality, this research also executed SWOT analysis using25Key Informant Interviews; eight Focus Group Discussions; eight Case Studies and numerous Informal Interviews.Prior to field work and statistical analysis, the literature on the performance of extension services was reviewed. Overwhelmingly, the literature confirms that it is not unusual for extension organizations to fail to offer quality service according to client’s expectations. The thesis presents evidence to show that the expected ratings on all the five service quality dimensions are lamentably negative. It was further confirmed that the highest gap existed in extension agent responsiveness to farmer needs, followed by reliability of what information was being given and assurance of positive impacts. However, private (non-profit) providers showed less service gap followed by public and private (profit) providers. Regression analysis confirmed the hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between client satisfaction and service quality dimensions. It was also found that almost half of the clients were not satisfied with the overall performance of extension services they encountered. Notwithstanding this disappointing finding, clients expressed more satisfaction with service content and agent’s behavior, compared to the extension methods used, though the net result was poor overall satisfaction. OLM showed that age, education, type of contact, use of communication media, and mean service gap had a significant relationship with overall satisfaction of the clients. Bringing program flexibility, offering rapid service, willingness to help clients, maintaining client records, and keeping promise are some common areas need attention for service quality improvement. Major causes those impeded service quality were less logistic support; scarcity of fund for doing true extension work; less use of ICT for communication; lack of co-ordination among research-extension and extension service providers; political interference; etc. Along with proposing a framework for quality assessment, this study also recommends several strategies for improving quality of agricultural extension service.