Quality Public Services: A South African Citizen Perspective

Abstract

Clients hold experiences and perceptions of their service encounters and interaction with the public service. Furthermore, policy frameworks such as the ‘White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service of 1997’ set the parameters for the quality of public service that South African citizens can expect. The citizen, as a client of the public service, expresses levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with service quality using various available mediums to do so. This type of responsive citizenship in a developmental context such as South Africa is critical for redefining services and reshaping service quality. The objective of this article is to contextualise the relevance of and criteria for service quality in the public service that aims to inspire confidence in citizens. Two service quality models will be analysed with the focus on functional quality and organisational image that stems from experience and perception with service quality.