Moving toward delivering “service quality” - challenges facing public archival institutions in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Engulfed by the growing realization that improving service quality is very essential for business survival and effective competition, especially with the recognition that what cannot be measured cannot be managed, a radical change in service organizations such as airlines, banks and hotels has been pronounced by investments in research to determine what their customers want in every dimension of service quality. Despite such challenges, information providers at the public archival institutions do not seem to have embarked on any service quality exercises as evidenced by lack of scholarly work focused on service quality. It is against this background that this article will explore how public archival institutions in Zimbabwe, using the National Archives as the primary setting, can measure service quality; thus critically examining service quality determinants from information providers and customers' perceptions and expectations; and the managerial implications of such explorations.

Keywords: archival institutions, National Archives of Zimbabwe, service delivery, quality of service

ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 17-36