scholarly journals When public services fail: a research agenda on public service failure

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 831-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Van de Walle
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Failures ◽  
Private Service ◽  
Management Literature

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on public service failure and develop a research agenda for studying public service failure alongside private service failure. The general services management literature has devoted relatively little attention to public services, whereas developments in the private service management literature have not reached public management. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper drawing on the public management literature. Different failure types and causes are discussed, including service failures that are specific to public sector settings. This is linked to the specific public context within which public services operate. Customer reactions to public service failure are then introduced, as well as service recovery. Findings Service failures in a public and a private context are different. There are different failure types and different standards of failure. Public management literature mainly studies collective and political reactions to service failure, whereas the private service management literature tends to focus on individual reactions. Finally, attention for service recovery was found to be very limited in the public services literature. Social implications Studying public service failure is important because failure can have dramatic consequences for customers, public organisations, and society. Social inequalities that arise as a result of public service failure need to have a prominent role in future research. Originality/value This paper develops the concept of public service failure and sets a novel research agenda for studying processes, causes, and consequences of such failure, as well as public-private differences.

scholarly journals Toward a public service management: past, present, and future directions

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 998-1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian R. Hodgkinson ◽  
Claire Hannibal ◽  
Byron W. Keating ◽  
Rosamund Chester Buxton ◽  
Nicola Bateman
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Management Research ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public

Purpose In providing a fine-grained analysis of public service management, the purpose of this paper is to make an important contribution to furthering research in service management, a body of literature that has tended to regard public services as homogenous or to neglect the context altogether. Design/methodology/approach Integrating public management and service management literatures, the past and present of public service management are discussed. Future directions for the field are outlined drawing on a service-dominant approach that has the potential to transform public services. Invited commentaries augment the review. Findings The review presents the Public Service Network Framework to capture the public value network in its abstraction and conceptualizes how value is created in public services. The study identifies current shortcomings in the field and offers a series of directions for future research where service management theory can contribute greatly. Research limitations/implications The review encourages service management research to examine the dynamic, diverse, and complex nature of public services and to recognize the importance of this context. The review calls for an interdisciplinary public service management community to develop, and to assist public managers in leveraging service logic. Originality/value The review positions service research in the public sector, makes explicit the role of complex networks in value creation, argues for wider engagement with public service management, and offers future research directions to advance public service management research.

Is consumer forgiveness possible?

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1567-1587 ◽  
Author(s):  
JungYun (Christine) Hur ◽  
SooCheong (Shawn) Jang
Keyword(s):  
Service Management ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Failures ◽  
Recovery Strategies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Hotel Managers

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how consumer forgiveness is formed by examining rumination and distraction by consumers in hotel service failures.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a self-administered questionnaire in the USA. A total of 371 usable responses were obtained. Anderson and Gerbing’s two-step approach was used to assess the measurement and structural models.FindingsThis study suggests that rumination and distraction play significant roles in processing consumer forgiveness. Self-focused rumination and distraction increase consumer forgiveness, whereas provocation-focused rumination exacerbates the negative effects of service failure severity on consumer forgiveness. This study also shows that gender differences exist. Men were more likely than women to link self-focused rumination and distraction to their intentions to forgive a service provider.Practical implicationsThis study is helpful for hotel managers to understand the mechanisms of consumer forgiveness in service failures and develop effective recovery strategies. Managers should aim to lessen consumers’ provocation-focused rumination while encouraging self-focused rumination and distraction. In addition, because of the differences in the process of consumer forgiveness between men and women, it is critical to differentiate the two groups in designing targeted recovery strategies for service failures.Originality/valueThis study investigates consumer forgiveness as a behavioral outcome following service failures that may help consumers achieve psychological balance and allow service providers a chance to restore the broken relationship. This study adds new information for understanding consumer responses and provides a basis for effective service management strategies.

The efficiency of e-government portal management from a citizen perspective: evidences from Turkey

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seda Yıldırım ◽  
Seda H. Bostancı
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Portal System ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Statistical Institute ◽  
Government Portal ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis study aims to explore the key factors in achieving an efficient e-government portal management system from a citizen perspective. Accordingly, this study focuses on explaining how an e-government portal should manage its digital public services for citizens efficiently.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a qualitative research design. As a sample case, this study preferred to analyze the Turkish e-government portal. The data is based on available open access data and information from the Turkish e-government portal, which is called e-Government Gateway in practice. In addition, the data of TURKSTAT (Turkish Statistical Institute) were used to determine the general profile of citizens about Internet skills and usage. Then, the data is analyzed by descriptive content analysis.FindingsAs a result of descriptive findings, user type, digital platform options, security and access options, and digital public service classification are all found as important factors for providing a well-designed e-government portal system from a citizen perspective. Especially, citizens should be informed about using options and service categories and types to be accessed by the e-government portal. Social media tools are efficient factors when informing citizens about the e-government portal and communicating with them.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides an original model to explain how the Turkish e-government portal works from a citizen perspective. However, there are some limitations to the study. The findings and suggestions are based on the Turkish e-government portal and its digital public service management. Also, this study evaluates the efficiency of the e-government portal management from a citizen perspective. Future studies can investigate e-government portal management for different countries by different approaches or research designs.Practical implicationsBased on the Turkey case, it is determined that creating an e-government portal with having up-to-date public services, including both web-based and mobile-based platforms, will support the adoption and use of e-government portals.Social implicationsThe digital transformation of government is almost the main issue for policymakers in the world. But, this transformation process has some risk factors as well as challenges. To overcome these challenges, policymakers should design flexible and adaptable digital portals and systems to provide easy-to-use and self-use options for the citizens.Originality/valueThis study reveals key factors for efficient e-government portal management by providing descriptive evidence from Turkey. The main contribution of this study is expected to give practical implications and to guide other countries about the adoption of efficient e-government portals by citizens.

ISO 9001 and the public service: an investigation of the effect of the QMS on the quality of public service organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Armando López-Lemus
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Iso 9001 ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the influence exerted by a quality management system (QMS) under ISO 9001: 2015 on the quality of public services organizations in Mexico. Design/methodology/approach The methodological design was quantitative, explanatory, observational and transversal, for which a sample of 461 public servants from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico was obtained. To test the hypotheses, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed through the statistical software Amos v.21. For the analysis of the data, software SPSS v.21 was used. Regarding the goodness and adjustment indices of the SEM (χ2 = 720.09, df = 320, CFI = 0.933, TLI = 0.926 and RMSEA = 0.05) which, therefore, proved to be acceptable. Findings According to the results obtained through the SEM model, the QMS under ISO 9001: 2015 is positively and significantly influenced tangible aspects (β1 = 0.79, p < 0.01), reliability (β2 = 0.90, p < 0.01), related to response quality (β3 = 0.93, p < 0.01), guarantees (β4 = 0.91, p < 0.01) and empathy (β5 = 0.88, p < 0.01) of the quality related to public services in Mexico. The study’s key contribution is that it discovered that implementing a QMS in accordance with the ISO 9001: 2015 standard has an impact on the quality of public services, with the most influential quality of response. Similarly, the assurance and dependability of service quality turned out to be important in providing public service quality. Research limitations/implications In this paper, the QMS was only evaluated as a variable that intervenes in the process of obtaining quality in public service under the ISO 9001 standard in its 2015 version. In this regard, the results’ trustworthiness is limited to the extent that the findings may be generalized in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico’s public service. As a result, the scientific community is left primarily focused on service quality to promote new future research. Practical implications The ISO 9001: 2015 standard’s QMS is one of the tools for success in both the commercial and government sectors. However, there are practical limitations, which focus on the time during which managers exercise their vision in the public sector: first, the dynamics that managers play in public policy; second, the length of time they have served in public office; and third, the interest of directors of public institutions to improve the quality of service provided by the government. Other practical consequences concern organizational culture and identity, public servant commitment, senior management or secretaries of government, as well as work and training. Originality/value The findings of this paper are important and valuable because they foster knowledge generation in the public sector through the ISO 9000 quality area. A model that permits the adoption and implementation of a QMS based on the ISO 9001: 2015 standard in public organizations that seek to provide quality in their services offered to the user is also presented to the literature. Similarly, the paper is important because there is currently insufficient research focusing on the variables examined in the context of public service in Mexico.

Perceptions towards the quality of public services in Romania. Poor outcomes of public administration reforms?

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-285
Author(s):  
Claudia Petrescu ◽  
Flavis Mihalache
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Administration Reform

Public services represent an important dimension of quality of society, as they create the contextual conditions for people to further their quality of life. Romanian public administration reform has brought about a constant institutional transformation, which has influenced both the specific features and the quality of the services. This article aims to analyse trends regarding the perceived quality of public services in Romania, in European comparative perspective, using the data of the European Quality of Life Survey (2003–2016). The article aims to understand the low satisfaction with public services in Romania against the background of the public service reform measures taken by government in this period. The article describes the context of Romanian public administration and public service reform, the most important public policy measures adopted and the most important challenges. The lack of vision in the public service reform, the partial introduction of reform elements, the permanent and, sometimes, conflicting changes are issues that may have influenced the way in which the population perceives the quality of public services. The decentralisation process of public services and the insufficient allocation of public funds for delivering such services at local level might have an impact on their quality and quantity perceived by the population. Keywords: public services; public administration reform; citizens’ satisfaction; New Public Management; New Weberianism.

Public services: a standard process model following a structured process redesign

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamal K. Mukherjee ◽  
Laura Reka ◽  
Rudina Mullahi ◽  
Keldi Jani ◽  
Jonida Taraj
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Standard Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Process Redesign ◽  
Resource Reuse ◽  
The Government

PurposeDespite widespread adoption of business process reengineering (BPR) for better delivery efficiency of public services, a structured approach continues to elude the most value-adding phase of BPR: business process redesign. From another viewpoint, the rising currency of Whole-of-Government (WoG) and “shared services” initiatives signal an unmissable trend toward resource reuse across public service agencies (PSAs) through business process standardization (BPS). This research invokes BPS into process redesign to produce a process redesign framework (PRF) and deploys the same to build a standard process model (SPM) for services of the government of Albania (GoA).Design/methodology/approachThe methodology follows the design science research (DSR) paradigm, wherein best practices extracted from literature are synthesized with stakeholder inputs to design the PRF and SPM, both of which are then evaluated with case study research.FindingsAdoption of PRF/SPM on a WoG basis will not only reduce service lead time but also enable a variety of public services to share the same process, thereby further saving costs for GoA. The research outputs will accelerate reengineering and subsequent digitalization of public service operations.Research limitations/implicationsImplementing SPM will maximize resource reuse and help offer uniform and integrated public services to GoA's customers. It will also enable demand-driven staff mobilization across GoA agencies. The proposed PRF/SPM have limitations in that they consider only flow aspects of service processes with aspects of conversion being ignored.Originality/valueThis research fulfills the need for a systematic approach to process redesign and prepares GoA for a WoG treatment to its BPR efforts.

Co-design and action learning in local public services

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilpo Laitinen ◽  
Tony Kinder ◽  
Jari Stenvall
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Action Learning ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Local Public Services ◽  
New Public

The paper argues that from a new public governance and service management perspective, local public services are best conceptualised as service systems in which users co-produce and co-design; this differentiates public from private services, which have lower of trust and shared values resulting in a goods-dominant logic and are an alternative to the new public management viewpoint. Referencing new case studies from Finland and Scotland, we further argue that for local public servicesʼn co-production as an action- learning environment supports and encourages co-design: this makes local public services a special case of codesign. Analysing the two cases of co-design, we argue that since public services are subject to public scrutiny, and since design is a social activity, there exists a wider democratic footprint. Finally, we argue that co-design of local public services is best analysed from the perspective of action learning, for which we suggest an analytical framework.

Pandemic effects on public service employment in Australia

2021 ◽  
pp. 103530462110560
Author(s):  
Linda Colley ◽  
Shelley Woods ◽  
Brian Head
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Considerable Change ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic is sending shockwaves through communities and economies, and public servants have risen to the novel policy challenges in uncharted waters. This crisis comes on top of considerable turmoil for public services in recent decades, with public management reforms followed by the global financial crisis (GFC) leading to considerable change to public sector employment relations and a deprivileging of public servants. The research adopts the lens of the ‘public service bargain’ to examine the effects of the pandemic across Australian public services. How did Australian public service jurisdictions approach public employment in 2020, across senior and other cohorts of employees? How did this pandemic response compare to each jurisdictions’ response to the GFC a decade earlier? The research also reflects more broadly of the impact on public sector employment relations and to what extent pandemic responses have altered concepts of the diminished public service bargain or the notion of governments as model employers? JEL Codes J45

Changing patterns of individual performance appraisal systems for civil service in European Union countries: toward a developmental or an incentivizing model

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyorgy Hajnal ◽  
Katarina Staronova
Keyword(s):  
Performance Appraisal ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Service Organizations ◽  
New Public ◽  
Appraisal Systems

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to examine whether the incentivizing type of performance appraisal (typical of New Public Management) has indeed been superseded by a post-New Public Management (NPM), developmental type of performance appraisal in European Civil Services.Design/methodology/approachThe literature review lead to a unidimensional, twofold typology: incentivizing (NPM) and developmental (post-NPM) performance appraisal. The empirical basis of the research is two surveys conducted among top civil servants in 18 European countries.FindingsFirst, there are crucial discrepancies between performance appraisal systems in contemporary European central government administrations and current theorizing on performance appraisal. Contrary to our expectations developed on the basis of the latter, “developmental” and “incentivizing” do not seem to be two distinct types of performance appraisal; rather, they are two independent dimensions, defining altogether four different types of performance appraisal systems.Practical implicationsThe authors results give orientation to policymakers and public service managers to engage in designing or applying performance appraisal systems, in particular by identifying assailable presumptions underlying many present-time reform trends.Social implicationsCitizens and communities are direct stakeholders in the development of public service performance appraisal both as possible or actual employees of public service organizations and as recipients of public services.Originality/valueThe paper proposes a new fourfold typology of performance appraisal systems: incentivizing, developmental, symbolic and want-it-all.

Are tattoos still a taboo?

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 874-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Ozanne ◽  
Michael J. Tews ◽  
Anna S. Mattila
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Service Failure ◽  
Mediation Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Perceptions ◽  
Service Failures ◽  
Aesthetic Labor ◽  
Agency And Communion ◽  
Failure Scenario ◽  
The Impact

PurposeAs tattoos increase in popularity, questions persist regarding their impact on customer perceptions. To help shed light into this issue, this paper aims to explore the impact of tattooed restaurant servers in the context of service failures. Through the agency and communion theory, the authors propose that a female server with tattoos induces higher levels of negative word of mouth (WOM) intention than her male counterpart. Furthermore, the authors propose that perceived competence mediates this effect.Design/methodology/approachThrough a 2 (tattoos status: yes, no) × 2 (server’s gender: male, female) experimental design, a panel of consumers were exposed to a restaurant service failure scenario with a photograph of a server. Depending on the condition, the server was either a male or female and had (or not) a tattoo on their left arm and neck. The same tattoo design was used for both genders.FindingsThe findings indicate that, in a service failure context, customers’ propensity to generate negative WOM does not differ across tattooed (vs non-tattooed) servers. However, contrary to the expectations of the authors, people tend to react more negatively to a male (vs female) server with tattoos.Originality/valueResearch on tattoos in the customer service context is scant, especially in hospitality. Furthermore, no previous study on tattoos has empirically tested a mediation process explaining differences in customer perceptions. Contrary to previous findings, this study demonstrates that an exposure to male (vs female) tattooed servers increases customers’ propensity to generate negative WOM. In other words, the type of profession coupled with the employees’ gender might influence customer perceptions. Furthermore, as customers’ propensity to generate negative WOM did not increase when served by a tattooed (vs non-tattooed) employee, managers in aesthetic labor industries, such as the foodservice business, can be more accepting of employees with tattoos.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document