The Nature Of Logic And Perception
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Agent Performance and Customer Satisfaction
Introduction
Given the importance of ensuring program relevance, quality, and impacts, as well as the use of customer satisfaction surveys in accountability, understanding the relationship that exists between employee performance and customer satisfaction is critical to identifying how well an organization is fulfilling its mission. Thus, Cooperative Extension must deliver relevant, high-quality programs that, in turn, help improve the lives of clients (Ladewig, 1999).
In Florida, these attributes (relevance, quality, and impact) are measured, in part, using a statewide customer satisfaction survey. The survey includes questions about clients experience with quality of service, short-term outcomes, and overall satisfaction with Extension. The survey was initiated in 1988 in response to the Florida Board of Regents recommendation that Florida Cooperative Extension survey their clients to assess the quality of services delivered to the citizens of Florida (Florida Board of Regents, 1988).
With the passage of the Government Performance and Accountability Act in 1994, Florida joined Oregon, Texas, and the federal government in requiring agencies to establish measurable performance objectives as part of the budget processes. Since 1997, the annual customer satisfaction survey has been used annually as part of the overall organizational evaluation system for the University of Florida. For Florida Cooperative Extension, the survey serves as the primary indicator of organizational performance. Specifically, the performance standard for Florida Cooperative Extension is that 98% of clientele will indicate that they are satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of service received.
In the study discussed here, we combined Florida customer satisfaction survey data with Extension personnel data to explore the relationship between customer satisfactions and agent performance.
Background
The causes and consequences of customer satisfaction have become the focus of recent research. Of special interest is the link between employee performance and customer satisfaction. Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, and Schlesinger (1994) establish a framework in which internal service quality drives employee satisfaction, which, in turn, drives employee performance that generates service quality. Finally, service quality drives customer satisfaction that leads to customer retention and profits. This framework was used successfully to improve organizational objectives at Sears Roebuck Co. (Rucci, Kirn, & Quinn, 1998). Similarly, Frederick Reichheld (2000) concluded that employee performance is essential to customer satisfaction, which, in turn, creates customer loyalty (Figure 1).
Figure 1.
Service-Profit Model
Among the factors that affect the quality of services delivered to clients are employee performance, experience, and the level of staffing. Employee performance is key to the success of most organizations and must therefore be evaluated. Measuring job performance is the process of determining how closely a record of behaviors and/or outcomes that occurred during a specified period matches the most nearly perfect record that could have been achieved during the period and then assigning it a corresponding number (Kane & Freeman, 1997).
In addition to employee behavior, other factors affect employee performance. Functional experience accords employees the opportunity to develop the skills and competencies specific to a discipline or program area (e.g., youth development or crop production), as well as the expertise in the methods of working in an area (Gelekanycz & Black, 2001). Number of employees has often been associated with employee performance and organizational outcomes (Anderson, Hsieh, & Su, 1998).
Purpose and Objectives
In the study, we explored the relationship between customer satisfaction and employee performance. Specifically, a logistic regression model was created to examine the effects that the determinants of service quality and employee performance indicators have on overall customer satisfaction. In keeping with the current research on customer loyalty, the study compared satisfied customers with very satisfied customers. It is the authors belief that in the public sector it is very satisfied customers who will continually use services of Extension a manner similar to repeat private sector.
Methods
The analysis is based upon data collected from Extension clientele from 1997 to 2000 using a customer satisfaction survey. A sample of Extension clientele from 47 of 67 Florida counties yielded 2,028 useable responses. Information from administrative records, including employee performance scores (ratings range from 1 to 7), employee experience (years of service), and the number of agents in a particular county, was linked with the client surveys based on the content of the information provided to clients. The data collected for the research represent 147 agents with an average of 14 survey responses per agent.
Survey Instrument
A questionnaire was originally developed using Bennetts (1982) Rapid Appraisal of Programs model and later revised to obtain service quality feedback from Extension clientele, type of clientele contact, and demographic information, including age, race, gender, educational attainment, and previous experience with Extension. This is consistent with Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berrys (1985) and Cronin and Taylors (1992) work, which stressed the importance of collecting customer perceptions of service quality relating to reliability, responsiveness, competence, communication, and knowing the customer.
To ascertain clientele perceptions of service quality, the survey included five questions related to their experiences with Florida Cooperative Extension. These included:
Was the information accurate and up-to-date? (coded as “yes” or “no/dont know”);
Was the information you received relevant to your situation? (“yes” or “no/dont know”);
Did you have an opportunity to use the information? (“yes” or “no”);
Did the information solve your problem or meet your need? (“yes” or “no/dont know”); and
Did you