Final Draft Graduated

THE EFFECT OF SERVICE QUALITY DELIVERY ON
CUSTOMER SATSFACTION OF JIMMA ZONE REVENUES
AUTHORITY
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Jimma University

in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of
Master of Logistics and Transportation Management (MLTM)
By:-Newad Hassen Hussen
Main Advisor:-Ato Seid Hussen (Assistant Professor)
Co-Advisor:-At o Belay Chekole
JIMMA UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
MLTM PROGRAM,
May 29, 2019

JIMMA, ETHIOPIA
Table of Contents
ChapterOne Pages
1. Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study .....................................................................................................1
1.2 Background of the organization ............................................................................................2
1.3 Statement of the Problem.......................................................................................................2
1.4 Research Questions...............................................................................................................3
1.5 Objective of the study ...........................................................................................................4
1.6 Research Hypotheses ............................................................................................................4
1.7 Significance of the Study ......................................................................................................5
1.8 Scope and limitation of the Study .........................................................................................5
1.9 Structure of the Paper ............................................................................................................6
ChapterTwo
2. Theoretical and Empirical Literature Review

2.1 Theoretical Discussion ……………………………….……………….…………………..6
2.1.1 Definition of Service............................................................................................6
2.1.2 Service Quality ....................................................................................................7
2.1.2.1 Managing Service Quality...........................................................................10
2.1.3 Customer Satisfaction …………………............................................................11
2.1.3.1 Factors that Affect Customer Satisfaction ………......................................12
2.1.3.2 Reasons of Customer Dissatisfaction ………….….....................................12
2.1.4 The Relationship between Satisfaction and Service Quality ............................13
2.1.5 Theoretical Framework ……………………………….….……………….…..16
2.1.6 Empirical Discussion ….…………………..…….….……………….…..25
2.1.6 Conceptual Framework ………………………………………………….……26
Chapter Three
3. Research Design and Methodology

3.1 Research Design ……………………………….…………………………..…………......27
3.2 Study Area………………………………………………….…………………….....…….27
3.3 Sampling Design ……………………………………..…….………………………….…27
3.4 Methods, Materials and Procedures..............................................................................28
3.4.1 Tools of Data Collection...............................................................................29
3.4.2 Source of Data ...............................................................................................29
3.5 Description of Variables and Measurements.................................................................29
3.6 Data Analysis Method ..................................................................................................29
ChapterFour
4. Result and Discussion

4.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................30
4.2 Reliability Test ......................................................................................................... 32
4.3 HypothesesTest .........................................................................................................32
4.4 Gap Analysis .............................................................................................................37
4.5 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority Gap Analysis....................................................... 38
4.6 Overall Customer Satisfaction Rating .......................................................................43
4.7 Discussion and Summary of Finding .........................................................................44
ChapterFive
5. Conclusion and Recommendation
5.1 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................48

5.2 Recommendation ........................................................................................................49
5.3 Future Research Direction ..........................................................................................50
Reference………………...............................................................................................51
Appendices I ……………………..................................................................................54
Appendices II ……………………................................................................................58
1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all researcher‟s would like to thanks the Almighty God who helped the
researcher‟s in every circumstance and in every ups and down in working this study.
Next researchers would like to express deep appreciation to co- advisor Ato belay
chekole and main advisor Ato seid hussen (assistance professor) constructive and
intellectual comment in each page. Especially in determining sample size and to full fill
some basic elements in this study. Generally speaking they show the way researchers can
make the study more meaning full and attractive.
Finally researcher‟s would like to thanks families and friends specially Jibril Ahmed for
effort by delivering related and essential materials by using available and accessible
internet package, Meftah Abdela for supporting researchers in morale and financial,
samson for support when researcher‟s in need of lap top And all other relatives in
sharing their best things for the successfulness of this work.
Abstract
The aim of this study is to assess quality of service delivery and its impact on
customer satisfaction. It described the relationship between service quality
dimensions and customer satisfaction in Jimma Zone Revenues Authority and
identifies the most important dimension of service quality. Moreover, it shows the
gaps between customer’s expectation and perception on the quality of service
delivery system in the organization. The study was carried out through the use of
cross-sectional survey design and primarily based on data collected through
structured questionnaire developed based on SERVQUAL instrument. Convenience
sampling technique was used to select 248 respondents from customers of 2780 vat
registered target population of the organization. The data collection was taken one
month. The data has been analyzed by descriptive statistics and Pearson’s
correlation. The finding shows that all the five service quality dimensions are
positively related with customer satisfaction. Reliability test shows the highest
positive relation with customer satisfaction while tangibles demonstrate the least
positive relation with customer satisfaction. The result also indicates that the
overall service quality perceived by consumers was not satisfactory meaning
expectations exceeded perceptions and all the dimensions showed higher
expectations than perceptions of services. This implies that the organization is not
providing the level of service quality required by customers. The findings suggest
that the organization need to improve all the dimensions of service quality.
Keywords: Service quality, Customer satisfaction

CHAPTER ONE
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study

“Service quality and customer satisfaction are unarguably the two core concepts that are
at the root of the marketing theory and practices”(Spring and Mackoy; 1996).In today‟s
world of intense competition, the key to sustainable competitive advantage lies in
delivering high quality services that will in turn result in satisfied customers. When
competition increases and environmental issue becomes dynamic, the importance of
service quality is increased (Asubonteng, 1996).
In today‟s world, the existence of all human being is related with different services
including banking service, food service, communication service, medical service,
transportation service, and emergency services to list some. In general, our economy is
founded on service (James; 1998).
Customer satisfaction drives successful businesses. High-performing businesses have

developed principles and strategies for achieving customer satisfaction. Research has
identified a core set of attributes and actions of successful customer service organizations
within the market economy. Organizations that provide services recognize that satisfied
customers are the key to their success. They focus on achieving 100 percent customer
satisfaction and embed this priority throughout the organization from top to bottom with
a solid frame work of policies, practices and information. (Center for study of social
policy, 2007)
Achieving high levels of customer satisfaction requires that organizations continually

monitor and examine the experiences, opinions, and suggestions of their customers
and people who are potential customers. Improving service quality to meet customers‟
standards is an ongoing part of doing business. In this way, customers drive the market
and the organization. (Center for study of social policy, 2007)
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“To day customer‟s takes good customer service for granted and customers are now
the rules and that goes for business as much as customer market. All business
customers want the same thing; better access to service, more competitive price better
customer service and complain than ding process”.(DouglusandBasto;2002).
1.2 Background of the organization

Jimma Zone Revenue Authority is a semi-autonomous Government organization
charged with the duty of collecting and administering tax revenue in Jimma Zone. It
was established in1998 to professionalize tax collection and to ultimately improve
efficiency in tax collection.Inorder to achieve this, Jimma Zone Revenue Authority
carried out a restructuring exercise. The Authority is also focusing on providing
quality and customer focused services to all their clients on top of the various
initiatives being under taken.Reports on issues from suggestion boxes at the
organization office reveal that tax payers complain of long queues,in consistencies in
tax assessments, rude staff, inconvenient and complicated tax procedures,high
assessments and complicated forms. This may be attributed to suppression of new
ideas and limited subordinates staff participation in policy formulation which makes
them find difficulty when it comes to implementation, is conduct, un willingness for
staff to take initiatives and accept responsibility for decision making. (Organizational
BSC document, 2004)
In Jimma Zone Revenue Authority, allemployees are expected to use the Authority‟s
Client standards as the minimum requirement for customer service. The client
standards are to be used in addition to the operational standards that have been
developed specifically for each service. (Organizational BSC document, 2004)
1.3 Statement of the Problem

In 2004Jimma Zone Revenue Authority implemented balanced scorecard is a
management system (not only a measurement system) that enables organizations to
clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. For developing better
systems of tax administration through overall modernization drive of the all systems
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and procedures. A key challenge for any service business is to deliver satisfactory out
comes to its customers in a ways that are cost effective for the company. “If customers
are dissatisfied with the quality of the service they would not be willing to pay very
much for it or even to buy it, at all if competitor offer better”(Lovelock and
Wirtz;2004:408). Jimma Zone Revenue Authority is facing the challenge of delivering
effective services which can satisfy customers. Most of the time, there is a gap
between customer expectation and service provided by the organization. These gaps
in service expectation and delivery can damage relationships with customers.
In order to measure service quality its impact on customer satisfaction researches have
been conducted by other researchers to solve the problem. In the context of Ethiopia,
there are some attempts made by Beliyu (2003) in four banks. Also, substantial
research works have also been done on Ethiopian tax system gaps Taddese (2005).
Jimma Zone Revenue Authority is developing better systems of tax administration

through overall modernization drive all of the systems and procedures. However,
aligning its human resource to drive and sustain the modernization and change
initiatives (organization report; 2006). Because of this and other problems the revenue
generated by the economy is not collected properly and tax payers voluntary
discharging is very less in the zone, for example in 2006 the plan of the authority to
collect revenue form the zone was 270 million but the authority only collected 243
million (organizational report; 2006) . Moreover there is no previous works done in this
area in the organization.Hence, delivering quality service and creating customer
satisfaction is expected from the organization to collect the revenues generated
from the economy.
1.4 Research Questions
1. What is the relationship between service quality dimensions and customer

satisfaction in Jimma Zone Revenue Authority?
2. What is the level of quality of service being offered by Jimma Zone Revenue
Authority to their customers?
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3. What is customers „expectation and perception of service quality provided by
Jimma Zone Revenue Authority?
1.5 Objectives of the study

General objective
The overall objective of the study is to assess the quality of service delivery system and
its impact on the customer satisfaction of Jimma Zone Revenue Authority.
Specific objective
1. To investigate the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in

Jimma Zone Revenue Authority.
2. To examine customer‟s expectation and perceptions of service quality provided by
Jimma Zone Revenue Authority.
3. To describe factors that minimizes the service delivery gaps.
4. To identify actions that must be taken by managers in order to satisfy customers
through meeting their needs and wants.
1.6 Research Hypotheses
H10: Reliability does not have positive relationship with customer satisfaction
of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority.
H20: Responsiveness does not have positive relationship with customer

satisfaction of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority.
H30: Assurance does not have positive relationship with customer satisfaction
H40: Empathy does not have positive relationship with customer satisfaction
H50: Tangibles does not have positive relationship with customer satisfaction
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1.7 Significance of the Study
Since there are no previous well documented studies on service quality and its
subsequent effect on customer satisfaction with regard to Jimma Zone Revenue
Authority.
This research is thus believed to have importance in the following areas.
1. The study is expected to provide information on the importance of quality service

on customer satisfaction.
2. The finding enables Jimma Zone Revenue Authority to understand the relation
between service quality delivery and customer satisfaction and helps the
organization to know the most important dimension used to satisfy customers.
Also it indicates the extent of the gap between perceived performance and
customers‟ expectations of service quality. This enables to minimize the gaps and
to meet customers‟ expectation.
1.8 Scope and Limitation of the Study
Since the study has focused on assessing the quality of the current service delivery
system of Jimma Zone Revenue Authority and customer satisfaction, the respondents
in this study were customers from Jimma Zone Revenue Authority who are found in
Jimma city. This study looked at the perceptions and expectation of customers only,
there by excluding the views of management and front line employees. Focusing only
on customer‟s perceptions and expectation can be seen as limitation.
1.9 Structure of the Paper
This paper has five chapters. The first chapter deals with back ground information,
statement of the problem, objective of the study, significance of the study, conceptual
frame work of the study, scope and limitation of the study. The second chapter deals
with. The third chapter discusses the utilized methodology. In the fourth chapter, there
are results and discussions. The last chapter consists of the conclusion and
recommendation parts.
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CHAPTER TWO
2. THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL LITERATURE
REVIEW
2.1 Theoretical Discussion
2.1.1Definition of Service
Many writers define „service‟ in different ways: for example ( Kottler; 2012) defined
service as “ a form of product that consists of activities, benefits, or satisfactions offered
for sales that are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything”.
Although services are performed by service providers and consumer together its quality
results in perception and value assessment by the customer (Rao; 2007).
2.1.2Service Quality
According to Parasuramanetal.(1988), service quality can be defined as an overall

judgment similar to attitude towards the service and generally accepted as an antecedent
of overall customer satisfaction. Lewis and Booms (1983) defined service quality as a
measure of how well the service delivered matches customers' expectations..
In this regard, (Parasuramanetat.1988,) defined perceived service quality as "a global

judgment or attitude relative to the degree of excellence or superiority of service".
According to Kassarjian, 1991, customers have expectations to meet when they purchase
a product or service. After studying several service firms, Parasuramanetal identified five
expectations about service quality; these include assurance, reliability, responsiveness,
tangibility, and empathy that account for much of the variations of customer's perception
of service quality across organizations. Reliability involves the ability to perform the
promised service dependably and accurately. Responsiveness is about the willingness to
help customers and provide prompt services. Assurance includes knowledge and courtesy
of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence. Empathy is when the
organization provides care and individualized attention to its customers. Tangibility
6
includes appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communication
materials.
However, Cronin and Taylor (1992) argued that service quality should be
conceptualized as “similar to an attitude “approach and should be operational zed by the
“adequacy-importance” model. Cronin and Taylor (1992), using performance-based
approach, developed the SERVPREF measurement instrument. Cronin and Taylor
(1994) maintained that performance- based measurements display slightly higher
predictive power of customer perceptions of service quality.
According to Gowned al. (2001), service delivery is more complex in the public sector
because it is not simply a matter of meeting expressed needs, but of finding out
unexpressed needs, setting priorities, allocating resources and publicly justifying and
accounting for what has been done. Muhammad Sabbir et al. (2012) proved that
assessment of service quality expectations and perceptions to be reliable in the public
service setting. Muhammad Sabbir et al. (2012) also suggest public sectors to know how
customers evaluate service quality and what they can do to measure and improve service
quality. Therefore, to exceed customer expectations, it is necessary for even a public
sector organization to continually improve the quality of service provided to its
customers.
According to Peter Hernon et al. (2001) Service quality has been defined from at least
four perspectives:
 Excellence; although the mark of an uncompromising student and high

achievement, the attributes of excellence may change dramatically and
rapidly. Excellence is often externally defined.
 Value;It incorporates multiple attributes, but quality and value are
different constructs-one the perception of meeting or exceeding expectations
and the other stressing benefit to the recipient.
 Conformance to specifications; It facilitates precise measurement, but users
of a service may not know or care about internal specifications.
7
 Meeting and/or exceeding expectations; this definition is all encompassing and
applies across service industries, but expectations change and may be shaped
by experiences with other service providers.
Most marketing researchers have concentrated on the last perspective. The Gaps
Model of Service Quality reflects that perspective and offers service organizations a
frame work to identify services in the form of the gaps that exceed (orfailtomeet)
customers‟ expectations (Peter Hernon and Danuta A.Nitecki, 2001).
Although all five gaps may hinder an organization in providing high quality service,
the fifth gap is the basis of a customer-oriented definition of service quality that
examines the discrepancy between customers' expectations for excellence and
their perceptions of the actual service delivered (Peter Hernon and Danuta A.Nitecki,
2001). Expectations are desired wants, the extent to which customers believe a
particular attribute is essential for an excellent service provider and perceptions are
a judgment (Parasuraman, Berry, &Zeithaml, 1991). Jeffrey E.Disend (1991)
correlates the Gaps model with the concept of service quality .He maintains that poor
service results if the gap, or difference, is large between what is expected and what is
delivered. When what is delivered matches what is expected, customers find the
service acceptable.
Service quality is thus recognized as one of the most important features of developing
and maintaining fruitful and successful relationships in various areas of marketing.
Organizations have to ensure that they know what they are trying to achieve and what
their consumers expect of them-they can then start to set targets and measure progress
and effectiveness in a meaningful way. Without this clear direction and constancy of
purpose, the quality cannot be determined and therefore is unlikely to be improved.
8
2.1.2.1Managing Service Quality
The critical task of service sector is service quality management. Most services cannot be
counted, measured, inventoried, tested, and verified in advance of sale to assure quality.
According to Zenithal et al. (1981) service quality management is difficult, Because of its
intangibility; the firm may find it difficult to understand how consumers perceive their
services and evaluate service quality. Second, services, especially those with a high
labor content, are heterogeneous: their performance of ten varies from producer to
producer, from customer to customer, and from day to day Consistency of behavior
from service personnel (i.e., uniform quality) is difficult to assure because what the
firm intends to deliver may been tiredly different from what the consumer receives.
Third, production and consumption of many services a r e inseparable. Without
measurement managers will not be sure weather service gaps exist, let alone what types
of gaps and where they exist. Many organizations are eager to provide good quality
services, but fall short simply because they do not accurately understand what customers
expect from the company. The absence of well-defined tangible cues makes this
understanding much more difficult than it would be if the organization were making
manufactured goods.
In service marketing the quality of service is critical to a firm‟s success. Service

providers must understand two attributes of service quality:-first quality is defined by the
customer not by producer or seller. Second, Customer assesses service performed
(Stanton; 1987).Consequently, to effectively manage quality, service firm should:
Help customers formulate expectation: Expectations are based on information from

personnel and commercials our cues promises made by the service provider and
experience with the particular service as well as other similar services.
Measure the expectation level of target market: A service firm must conduct research
to measure expectations. Gathering data on the target market‟s past behavior, existing
perceptions and believes and exposure of information can provide the bases for
estimating expectation.
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2.1.3Customer Satisfaction
Kottler (2012) defined customer satisfaction as “it depends on the service or product‟s
perceived performance relative to a buyer‟s expectations. If the product‟s performance
falls short of expectations, the customer is dissatisfied. If performance matches
expectations, the customer is satisfied. If performance exceeds expectations, the customer
is highly satisfied or delighted.” According to Gundersenet.al; (1996) customer
satisfaction is as a post consumption evaluative judgment concerning a specific product
or service.
Although, there are a number of customer satisfaction theories in the literature such
as contrast theory, dissonance theory, and equity theory, research shows that
expectation-disconfirmation paradigm has received much empirical
attention(Parasuramanet al.,1988).However, other empirical findings demonstrate that
customer satisfaction can also be measured through product or service performance
(Anderson and Sullivan,1993;Churchill and Surprenant,1982)or an outcome of service
quality (Andersonetal.,1994).
There is over whelming evidence in both service quality and customer satisfaction
literatures that repurchase intension is an outcome of service quality perceptions as
well as satisfaction obtained from purchase episode(Carman,1990;Zeithaml and
Bitner,2000).
Customer satisfaction has become a key intermediary objective in service operations

due to the benefits it brings to organizations (Saha and Theingi,2009).The importance
of customer satisfaction is derived from the generally accepted philosophy that for a
business to be successful and profitable, it must satisfy customers (Bitner and
Hubbert,1994).Previous research has demonstrated that satisfaction is strongly
associated with re-purchase intentions (Cronin and Taylor,1992;Fornell,1992)
.Customer satisfaction also serves as an exit barrier, helping affirm to retain its
customers(Fornell,1992;Halstead and Page,1992). Several studies have concluded
that it costs more to gain a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. In
addition, customer satisfaction also leads to favorable word-of-mouth publicity that
10
provides valuable indirect advertising for an organization (Halstead and Page, 1992;
Fornell, 1992).
2.1.3.1 Factors that Affect Customer Satisfaction
According to Matzleretal, (2002) factors that affect customer satisfaction are classified in
to three factor structures:-
1. Basic factors:-these are the minimum requirements that are required in a product to
prevent the customer from being dissatisfied. They do not necessarily cause satisfaction
but lead to dissatisfaction if absent. These are those factors that lead to the fulfillment of
the basic requirement for which the product is produced. These constitute the basic
attributes of the product or service. They thus have a low impact on satisfaction even
though they are a pre requisite for satisfaction. In aunt shell competence and
accessibility
2. Performance factors:-these are the factors that lead to satisfaction if fulfilled and can
lead to dissatisfaction if not fulfilled. These include reliability and friendliness.
3. Excitement factors:-these are factors that increase customers‟ satisfaction if fulfilled

but does not cause dissatisfaction if not fulfilled which include project management.
2.1.3.2Reasons of Customer Dissatisfaction
Sometimes customers become dissatisfied, as indicated on www.qualitygurus.com some

of the reasons for this dissatisfaction are:-
Not knowing the Expectations: Customer remains dissatisfied unless the company
knows what the customer actually expects out of their product.
Not Meeting the Expectations: A customer may become dissatisfied because the
service does not live up to expectations. In addition to that as a result of the rapid
improvement in the technology, customer may compare the services provided by a
company with those of the competitors, which may lead to dissatisfaction and customers
over expectations and their changing needs may lead them for dissatisfaction.
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2.1.4 The Relationship between Satisfaction and Service Quality
To achieve a high level of customer satisfaction, most researchers suggest that a high
level of service quality should be delivered by the service provider as service quality is
normally considered an antecedent of customer satisfaction(Cronin, Brady, and
Hult,2000;Anderson et al.,1994;Cronin and Taylor,1992).Parasuramanetal (1988)
defined service quality and customer satisfaction as “service quality is a global
judgment, or attitude, relating to the superiority of the service, where as satisfaction is
related to a specific transaction”.Parasuramanetal. (1985) defined Satisfaction is a “post
consumption experience which compares perceived quality with expected quality,
whereas service quality refers to a global evaluation of a firm's service delivery system”.
However, the exact relationship between satisfaction and service quality has been
described as a complex issue, characterized by debate regarding the distinction between
the two constructs and the casual direction of their relationship (Brady, Cronin and
Brand,2002).Parasuraman,Zeithaml, and Berry(1994)concluded that the confusion
surrounding the distinction between the two constructs was partly attributed to
practitioners and the popular press using the terms interchangeable, which make
theoretical distinctions difficult. Interpretations of the role of service quality and
satisfaction have varied considerably (Brad yet al., 2002; Cronin and Taylor, 1992;
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1988).Parasuramanetal. Confined satisfaction to
relate to a specific transaction as service quality was defined as an attitude. This meant
that perceived service quality was a global judgment, or attitude, relating to the
superiority of the service.CroninandTaylor (1992) argued against Parasuramanetal.‟s
categorization. Cronin and Taylor (1992) found empirical support for the idea that
perceived service quality led to satisfaction and argued that service quality was actually
an antecedent of consumer satisfaction. Cronin and Taylor (1992) asserted that consumer
satisfaction appeared to exert stronger influence on purchase intention than service
quality, and concluded that the strategic emphasis of service organizations should focus
on total customer satisfaction programs.
The authors reasoned that consumers may not buy the highest quality service because
of factors such as convenience, price, or availability and that this constructs may
12
enhance satisfaction while not actually affecting consumers‟ perceptions of service
quality.
Cronin and Taylor (1994) later conceded that the directionality of the service
quality/satisfaction relationship was still in question and that future research on the
subject should incorporate multi- item measures.
The authors suggested restricting the domain of service quality to long-term attitudes
and consumer satisfaction to transaction-specific judgments. On the other hand, Bitner
and Hubert (1994) determined that service encounter satisfaction was quitted instinct
from overall satisfaction and perceived quality. The authors concluded that the
constructs exhibited independence.
Adding to the debate about the distinction between service quality and satisfaction,
customer satisfaction has also been operational zed as a multidimensional construct
along the same dimensions that constitute service quality (Sureshch and ar, Rajendran,
and Ananthara man, 2002). Despite strong correlations between service quality and
customer satisfaction in their study, the authors determined that the two constructs
exhibited independence and concluded that they were in fact different constructs, at
least from the customer‟s point of view.
Brady and Cronin (1992) had endeavored to clarify the specification and nature of the
service quality and satisfaction constructs and found empirical support for the
conceptualization that service quality was an antecedent of the super ordinate
satisfaction construct. In addition, the authors found that explained a greater portion of
the variance in consumers‟ purchase intentions than service quality. Rust and
Oliver(1994) maintained that while quality was only one of many dimensions on
which satisfaction was based, satisfaction was also one potential influence on future
quality perceptions.Iacobuccietal.(1995)conclude that the key difference between
service quality and customer satisfaction is that quality relates to managerial delivery
of the service while satisfaction reflects customers' experiences with that service.
They argue that quality improvements that are not based on customer needs will not
lead to improved customer satisfaction. Bolton and Drew (1994:176) pointed out
13
„customer satisfaction depends on pre-existing or contemporaneous attitudes about
service quality”. Also Parasuramanetal (1988) found that customer satisfaction is the
outcome of service quality.
Literatures indicate that service quality is closely tied to customer satisfaction (Hernon,
Natick, & Altman, 1999;, Smart, Maddern&Maull, 2008). Quality and customer service
have been identified as critical strategic issues for both public and private sector
organizations (Donnelly, Wisniewski, Dalrymple, & Curry, 1995). The “use of a variety
of measures of service quality in the private sector as critical indicators of both
organizational performance and general customer satisfaction is widely accepted and has
given rise to considerable empirical research” (Donnelly et al., 1996).
In the private sector, customer satisfaction is secured through high quality products and
services. They provide the consumer value for their money and are seen as being
essential for the long-term survival and success of all organizations (Donnelly,
Wisniewski, Dalrymple, & Curry, 1995). Public sector organizations are under constant
pressure toimprove customer service on a continuous basis (Donnelly et al., 1995). Some
of these pressures arise internally from a genuine desire to improve quality of services
provided to communities; others are demanded by outside sources such as governing
bodies, oversight groups or the general public (Donnelly et al., 1995). It is recognized
that public sector organizations face more difficulties than those in the private sector in
their efforts to improve customer service (Donnelly et. al, 1995).
Peter Heron et al. (1999) assert that “service quality, developed over time, relates to
customer expectations, where as satisfaction is transaction-specific, is a more short-
termmeasure, and focuses on a personal, emotional reaction to service”. Research on
service quality hastended to focus on one dimension – expectations– and has defined
service quality interms ofreducing the gap between service provided and customer
expectations (Hernon&Nitecki, 1999). This suggests that if public sector leaders want to
increase service quality, the gap needs to be narrowed. The potential payoff from
improved service quality is considerable. Providing excellent service, which should be
the goal of every organization, leads to greater efficiency and effectiveness and a loyal
customer base (Zenithal, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990).
14
“In some instances, authors have equated or confused service quality with
satisfaction” (Andale bet al.2000).A number of writers have also referred to service
quality as an antecedent to satisfaction; satisfaction as the antecedent to service
quality; or service quality and satisfaction as either interrelated or discrete concepts
(Anderson &Fornell,1994) Wood side &Wilson,1994). Both service quality and
satisfaction can be an end in themselves; each is worthy of examination as a frame
work for evaluating library services from a customer‟s perspective. Service quality is
an evaluation of specific attributes, and this judgment is cognitive .However,
satisfaction focuses on a specific transaction or, in the case of overall satisfaction, it
is accumulative judgment based on collective encounters with a service provider over
time. Satisfaction judgments are more affective and emotional reactions to an
experience or collection of experiences: "Simply put, satisfaction is a sense of
contentment that arises from an actual experience in relation to an expected
experience” (Hernon & Whitman, 2001). Because service quality as a means of
evaluation probes precise statements on which the library seeks customer input, it
serves as a planning tool. Judgments about satisfaction, on the other hand, tend to be
global in the type ofquestionsasked. Unlike service quality, satisfaction focuses less
on specific statements and relies more on open-ended questions. In satisfaction
studies, there can be a probing of how customers rate the library in a few specific
areas, though the list ismuch shorter and more general than found in aservice quality
questionnaire.
2.1.5 Theoretical Frame work
The SERVQUAL developers found thatthethemes, “which offer critical clues for
achieving effective service quality control, can be cast in the form of five gaps pertaining
to executive perceptions of service quality and the tasks associated with service delivery
to customers” (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990). The four themes that were
identified by the SERVQUAL developers were numbered and labeled as:
1. Gap between Customer Expectation and Management Perception(Knowledge

Gap):-
15
Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry (1990) determined that the executive‟s perceptions
about what customers expect from superior quality service were, for the most part, in
line with what the customers really did expect. Executives understood that customers
expected things like courtesy, error free work and having customer‟s best interests at
heart. Despite this basic understanding, differences between the expectations of the
customers and the executive‟s understanding of the importance placed on those
expectations by the customers were noted.
As an example, customer‟s of a bank place the highest priority on feeling secure in their
transactions when judging the service quality of the bank. The bank executives, while
understanding that feeling secure in their transactions is an important aspect of service
quality to customers, may have the perception that providing prompt service is what the
customers feel is the most important. This miss perception of customer expectations by
management and leadership was labeled as Gap 1 by Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry
(1990).
Generally management does not always perceive correctly what customers‟ want.
Electricity company manager might think that consumer‟s judge the company service by
the quality of employees‟ performance in the technique department, where as customers
may be more concerned with the courtesy and responsiveness.
2. Gap between Management Perception and Service Quality Specification (The

Standard Gap):-
The work with service industry executives revealed to the SERVQUAL developers need
for performance standards that match management‟s perception of customer‟s
expectations. Not creating performance standards that match the customer perception of
service quality was labeled Gap 2. While creating performance standards that match
customer perceptions of service quality sounds simple to accomplish, the service industry
16
executives expressed a lot of frustration about actually making it a reality. The
SERVQUAL developers‟ research revealed that while the executives may actually
understand, or have aperception about, the aspects of service quality that is important to
the customers, many had not implemented performance standards to address them. This
hadn‟t been done for a variety of reasons, all of which were based up on assumptions of
the executives; they couldn‟t think of a performance standard to address the service
quality aspects, they felt that the task of identifying performance standards was
impossible,they felt that the variability inherent in the service defies standardization, they
felt that the demand for service is too hard to predict, they felt that the expectations of the
customer for those aspects were unreasonable, and/orthey felt that their organization can‟t
change (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990).
The SERVQUAL developers concluded thatthe reason‟s provided for notestablishing

performance standards were rationalizations by the executives for not wanting, or
nothaving the knowledge, to establishperformance standards.They went astep furtherand
surmised thatthe “potential gap betweenawareness ofcustomers‟ expectations and
thetranslation of that awareness into appropriate service standards(Gap 2) may be the
absence or wholehearted management commitment to service quality” (Zeithaml,
Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990,p. 40).
3. Gap between Service Quality Specification and Service Delivery (The Delivery
Gap):-
Even when organizations understand the service quality expectations of their customers
and then translate them into performance expectations, there isn‟t a guarantee that
service providers will be willingto or capable to deliver.This issue was labeled as Gap 3
and was identified by the executives; most of whom reasoned that their employees were
just unwilling to meet the standards that were set for them. This highlights the key role
that the line level service providers play in the customer‟s perception of the quality of
service delivered by organizations. Some of the executives made the point that when it
comes to people, it is difficult to maintain standardized quality (Zeithaml, Parasuraman,
& Berry, 1990).
17
The personnel might be poorly trained or in capable or unwilling to meet the standard or
they may be held to conflicting standards such as taking time to listen to customers and
serving them fast. For example a bank officer who is told by the operations department
to work fast and by the marketing department to be courteous and friendly to each
customer.
4. Gap between Service Delivery and External Communication:
Customers‟ expectations about service quality are influenced by, among other things,
the information that they receive from the service provider. When service providers
advertise or communicate something about their services to their customer base, that
communication helps to formthe customer‟s expectation of service. The ability or
inability of the service provider to deliver the services that are promised through their
external communications with their customers is Gap 4.When service providers deliver
as promised, and they meet or exceed the expectations of their customers, Gap 4
narrows. When service providers don‟t deliver as promised and they failto meet the
expectations of their customers Gap 4 widens.
Consumer expectations are affected by standards made by company representatives and

advertising. For example if a hospital brochures shows a beautiful room, but the patient
arrives and finds the room to be cheap and tack looking, external communications have
distorted the customers‟ expectations.
5. Gap between Perceived Service and Expected Service:
This gap occurs when the consumer miss perceives the service quality. The physician
may keep visiting the patients to show case, but the patient may interpret this as an
indication that something really is wrong.
18
Figure1: Aconceptualmodelofservicequality
Source: Parasuramanet.al. 1985
SERVQUAL
As a result of research being conducted into the subject of service quality, the
SERVQUAL instrument was developed during the late 1980s and early 1990s by Valerie
A. Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Leonard L. Berry.Their early research revealed that while
the literature in the area of goods quality was fairly abundant, there was practically
nothing in the area of service quality. The quality control principles and practices that
they uncovered in the area of goods quality were inadequate for understanding service
quality. They concluded that the inadequacy of the quality control principles and
practices founder standing service quality is the result of three fundamental differences
between services and quality (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990).
19
First, services, as opposed to goods, are intangible; they are performances and
experiences rather than objects. While precise manufacturing specifications can be set
concerning uniform quality standards for objects like vehicles and shovels, the same
cannot be said for services like tactical and strategic analytical support since the
criteria that are set for evaluating performance of service delivery by the customers is
likely “complex and difficult to capture precisely (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry,
1990).
-Second, services, as opposed to goods, are “heterogeneous; their performance often

varies from producer to producer, from customer to customer, and from day to day”
(Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990, p. 15).
Finally, services, as opposed to goods, are inseparable in terms of their production and
consumption. “Quality in services often occurs during service delivery, usually in an
interaction between the customer and the provider (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry,
1990,). Service providers do not have the luxury of producing an object outside of the
observation of their customers before it is actually consumed. Rather, the customers are
able to observe the production of the service while they receive it (Zeithaml,
Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990).
Though the literature was weak in the area of service quality, the SERVQUAL
developers were able to find a few contributions that helped to guide their future
development. Those contributions were boiled down into three themes:
 “Service quality is more difficult for customers to evaluate than goods quality.
 Customers do not evaluate service quality solely on the outcome of a service;
they also consider the process of service delivery.
 The only criteria that count in evaluating service quality are defined by the
customers” (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990).
As a result of the insights obtained during their initial research in to the area of
service quality, the SERVQUAL developers sought to ascertain the following:
 How customers evaluate the quality of the service provided to them.
20
 Whether customers directly make a global evaluation or if they assess specific
facets of a service in arriving at an overall evaluation.
 Ifthey assess specific facets, whatthe facets or dimensions on which they
evaluate the service.
 Whether or not the facets or dimensions vary across services or and different
customer segments.
 If customers‟ expectations play a crucial role in the assessment of service
quality, what are the factors that shape and influence those expectations?
(Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990)
In order to obtain this information, the SERVQUAL developers conducted an

exploratory study on some chosen service industries like retail banking, credit card,
securities brokerage, and product repair and maintenance. They chose these service
industries because they felt that they “varied along key attributes used to categorize
services” (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990) and because they were looking for
service quality insights that would “transcend the boundaries of specific industries”
(Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990).
The SERVQUAL developers defined service quality, as perceived by customers as “the

extent of discrepancy between customers‟ expectations or desires and their perceptions”
(Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990).
Finally the developers SERVQUAL felt that the greatest knowledge derived from their
study was the identification of ten dimensions by which customers use to judge the
quality of the service delivered by the provider. Each of the ten dimensions identified
were consistent to the four service sectors that were studied. The ten service dimensions
that were identified were labeled as: “tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, competence,
courtesy, credibility, security, access, communication, and understanding the customer”
(Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990). At the conclusion of the exploratory study, the
SERVQUAL developers were confident that the ten dimensions of service quality were
exhaustive and appropriate for assessing quality in abroad variety of services even though
the specific evaluative criteria may vary from service to service (Zeithaml, Parasuraman,
& Berry, 1990).
21
Following the exploratory study, the SERVQUAL developers began a quantitative
research project to develop an instrument for measuring customers‟ perceptions of
service quality. The instrument that was ultimately developed was SERVQUAL.The
SERVQUAL customer perception tool which was developed through this process
consisted of 22 statements to ascertain the general expectation of customers concerning
service and 22 matching statements to measure customers‟ assessment of a specific
organization within the service industry.
Thus, they proposed that over all perceived quality can be determined by the
differences between perceived performance and expected performance of these ten
dimensions.
They prepared a quantitative research and the previous ten components were collapsed
in to five dimensions:-
1. Reliability: is ability to perform the promised service dependably and

accurately.
2. Responsiveness: willingness or readiness of employee or professionals to
provide service.
3. Assurance: knowledge and competence of service providers and the ability to
convey trust and confidence.
4. Empathy: Caring, individualized attention the firm provides to its customers.
5. Tangibles: Physical facilities, equipment‟s and appearance of personnel.
Reliability, tangibles and responsiveness remained distinct, but the remaining
seven components collapsed in to two aggregate dimensions, assurance and
empathy (Andersson, T.D.1992).
Criticisms of SERVQUAL
SERVQUAL has been subjected to a number of theoretical and operational

criticisms, though the model has been the major generic model used to measure and
manage service quality across different service settings and various cultural
backgrounds (Buttle, 1996). On the other hand Asubontengetal (1996) conclude
22
that until better but equally simple model emerges SERVQUAL will predominate
as a service quality measure.
As identified by Buttle (1996) theoretical and operational criticisms of

SERVQUAL are listed below.
Theoretical:
 Gapsmodel:there is little evidence that customers will assess service

quality in terms of Perception and expectation gaps.
 Paradigmatic objections: SERVQUAL is based on a disconfirmation
model rather than an attitudinal paradigm; and SERVQUAL fails to draw on
established economic, statistical and psychological theory.
 Process orientation: SERVQUAL focuses on the process of service
delivery, not the outcomes of the service encounter.
 Dimensionality: SERVQUAL‟s five dimensions are not universals; the
number of dimensions comprising service quality is contextualized; items
do not always load on to the factors which one would a priorie xpect;and there
is a high degree of inter-correlation between the five RATER
dimensions”(Buttle,1996).
Operational:
 Expectations: consumers use standards other than expectations to

evaluate service quality; and SERVQUAL fails to measure absolute service
quality expectations.
 Itemcomposition: four or five items cannot capture the variability
within each SQ dimension.
 Moments of truth (MOT): customers „assessments of service quality may
vary from MOT to MOT.
 Polarity: the reversed polarity of items in the scale causes
respondent error.
 Two administrations: two administrations of the instrument cause
boredom and confusion.
23
 Variance extracted: the over SERVQUAL score accounts for a disappointing
proportion of item variances” (Buttle, 1996).
1.1.6 Empirical Discussion

Brysland and Curry (2001) stated that the literature clearly supported the use of
SERVQUAL in the public sector. According to Gowanet al. (2001), service provision is
more complex in the public sector because it is not simply a matter of meeting expressed
needs, but of finding out unexpressed needs, setting priorities, allocating resources and
publicly justifying and accounting for what has been done. Anderson (1995) also
measured the quality of service provided by a public university health clinic. Using 15
statements representing the five-dimensions of SERVQUAL (Parasuramanet al., 1988),
she assessed the quality of service provided by the clinic at the University of Houston
Health Center. Patients were found to be generally dissatisfied with the five dimensions
of SERVQUAL. The highest dissatisfaction was felt with assurance. On the other hand,
tangibles and empathy exhibited the lowest level of dissatisfaction.
Using the SERVQUAL approach, Wisniewski (2001) carried out a study to assess
customer satisfaction within the public sector across a range of Scottish Councils
services. In the library service, the analysis of gap scores revealed that tangibles and
reliability had negative gaps which indicate that customer expectations were not met.
On the other hand, responsiveness and assurance were positive implying that customer
expectations were actually exceeded by the service provided. Furthermore, Donnelly et
al. (2006) carried out a study to explore the application of SERVQUAL approach to
access the quality of service of Strathclyde Police in Scotland. The survey captures
customers‟ expectations of an excellent police service and compares these with their
perceptions of the service delivered by Strathclyde Police. The paper also reports on a
parallel SERVQUAL survey of police officers in Strathclyde to examine how well the
force understands its customers‟ expectations and how well its internal processes support
the delivery of quality services in the police department. It was found that Strathclyde
Police appears to have a good understanding of the service quality expectations of their
24
customers as represented by the responses of elected councilors in the area covered by the
force.
1.1.7 ConceptualFramework
The conceptual frame work indicates the crucial process, which is useful to show the
direction of the study. The study indicates the relationship between the five service
quality dimensions (i.e. reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangible) and
customer satisfaction. Also the study focuses on gap 5which represents the difference
between customers‟ expectation and perceptions of the service.
Figure 2 shows the conceptual model that serves as a guide for the present
study.
ServiceQualityDimensions
Expectation
Service Customer
Quality
Gap 5 Satisfacti
on
Perception
The difference between expectations and perceptions is called the gap which is the
determinant of customers‟ perception of service quality.
25
CHAPTER THREE
3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1Research Design
The study was employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research. Thus,
it can be perceived as mixed method research because it combines qualitative method
with the quantitative one.
The study has been carried out through the use of cross-sectional survey design. Cross-
Sectional design also known as one-shot and it is best suited to studies aimed at finding
out the occurrence of a phenomenon, situation, problem, attitude or issue, by taking a
cross-section of the population. They are useful in obtaining an overall `picture' as it
stands at the time of the study. They are `designed to study some phenomenon by taking
across-section of it at one time. Descriptive research method is used to describe the
quality of service delivery and its effect on customer satisfaction. As described by
Suryabrata, (2003) descriptive method is a method that describes the study
systematically, factually and accurately utilizing facts, behaviors and relationship
between the phenomenon being studied(As citedbyNaiketal;2010).
The SERVQUAL instrument was adopted to measure the quality of customer service
as it demonstrated the “gap “between the customers‟ expectations and the perceptions
of the service delivered.
3.2StudyArea
The area of this study was focus on assessing the quality of service delivery and
customer satisfaction of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority. Study used qualitative data‟s.
3.3SamplingDesign
The population of this study is customers of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority. The study
used Convenience sampling to select the sample from the available population. The
researcher decided to employ convenience sampling method because of respondent
26
population convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher and it is impossible to
carry on a probability sampling because there is no point in time during which all
customers are available due to different reasons and it is not possible to contact everyone
who may be sampled. Accordingly, a total of 248 respondents are selected. From the
distributed 248 questionnaires only 233 questionnaires were usable.
The population of this study was customers of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority.
The study was employ Convenience sampling because of their convenient accessibility
and proximity to the researcher. The sample size was determined statistically from group
of 2780 clients which come monthly in the organization for tax declaration purpose.
Accordingly, assuming 95% confidence level with a 5% margin of error, the resulting
sample size was 248.
Where
Z=degree of confidence 95% = 1.96
e = standard error 5%
n = number size
p = population proportion
q = 1 –P
n =Z2. P. q. N
(e) 2(N-1) +z2.p.q
3.4 Method of Data Collection and Sources
3.4.1Tools of Data Collection
In the study structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire used in
this study comprised of fourparts: Part1 contained questions about demographic
characteristics of respondents. The second part designed to measure the customers
„expectation about governmental organization service delivery system. The third part of
the questioner was about Jimma Zone Revenues Authority customers perceptions and
the last part was about customers‟ satisfaction. The items in the questionnaire were
27
measured on a five-point scale ranging from“1=strongly disagree”to“5 =strongly agree”.
Service quality has been measured by using SERVQUAL items developed by Zeithaml,
Berry, and Parasuraman by the five dimensions and these werere liabilities, responsiveness,
tangibles, assurance and empathy.
“Customer satisfaction is measured by using a single scale item. The single scale item
adapted from Jamal and Naser, 2002; Mittal and Kamakura, 2001and Cronin and
Taylor, 1992” (As citedbySiddiqi;2010). The questionnaire is prepared in the English
language and it will be translated into Amharic.
3.4.2Source of Data
The sources of data are both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources of data
were gathered from respondents. Secondary sources of data were from different books,
journals, websites and documents related with, service and customer satisfaction.
3.5 Description of Variables and Measurements
Dependent variable: customer satisfaction
Independent variable: five dimensions of service quality, that is
1. Reliability: is ability to perform the promised service dependably and

accurately.
2. Responsiveness: willingness or readiness of employee or professionals to
provide service.
3. Assurance: knowledge and competence of service providers and the ability to
convey trust and confidence.
4. Empathy: Caring, individualized attention the firm provides to its customers.
Tangibles: Physical facilities, equipment‟s and appearance of personnel.
3.6 Data Analysis Method
28
The data collected from respondents through questionnaire have been analyzed by using
descriptive statistics and Pearson‟s correlation. In analyzing the data the researcher used
SPSS 20 soft ware packages. Accordingly, the results of the analysis were interpreted.
29
CHAPTERFOUR
4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter the results from the questionnaires and secondary data are presented to
establish the grounds on which the researcher's discussion and conclusions are based. The
data considered in this chapter is obtained by using SERVQUAL model. Under this
section, result of reliability test, the relationship between the five service quality
dimensions and customer satisfaction, the service quality gap score of Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority, and customer satisfaction rating were presented and analyzed
respectively.
The questionnaire, demographic statistics, description of attributes and the responses to

the questionnaire are attached in the appendices.
Table below indicates the frequency and percentage of questionnaires distributed for the
customers of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority.
Table4.1: Number of Respondents in Jimma Zone Revenues Authority
Options Frequency Percentage

Response 233 94
Nonresponse 15 6
Total 100 100
Tables 4.2 show frequency of sex and age of respondents respectively. The respondent‟s
consisted of 82% of male and 18% of female .34% of the respondents was between the ages of
30-39 and 33.2% were between the ages of 40-49.
Table 4.3 indicated that 76.61% of respondents were married and 23.38% were single. The
question on the educational level of respondents showed that1.2% of the respondents hold a
30
Primary school, 30.2%hold a Secondary school, 32.6 hold a Higher School
Certificate,31.4% hold a First degree and 4.6%hold a Second degree and above.
Table4.2:Number of Respondents in Sex and Age
Sex Age
Male Female 18-29 30-39 40-49 Above 50

Frequency 203 45 63 84 82 19
Percent 82 18 25.2 34 33.2 7.6
Table4.3:Number of Respondents in Marital Status and Educational level
Marital Status Educational level

Second First Second
Primary ary High degre degree and
single Married school school school e above
Frequency
58 190 3 75 81 78 11
Percent
23.38 76.61 1.2 30.2 32.6 31.4 4.6
The respondent‟s consisted of 82% of male which implies the dominance of male
customers in the organization.Nearly 26% of respondents join higher level
education the rest 64% at high school and below which implies that respondents
have diversity in their academic backgrounds. As can be deduced from the table above
there is also diversity in marital states and age of respondents. This diversity‟s implies
that there may be different levels of customer expectation and perception of service
quality in the organization.
31
4.2Reliability Test
As suggested by Parasuramanet al (1988) the research instrument was analyzed using

Cronbach‟salph to test the reliability of the SERVQUAL scale and the internal
consistencies of the five dimensions. The individual Alpha coefficients for the scales
were presented on the following table. As described by Andy (2006) the values of
Cronbach‟s alpha around 0.8isgood. The alpha values in this study are around 0.8 Thus,
the SERVQUAL instrument is reasonably satisfactory to be used.
Table 4.4: Result to reliability Test
SERVQUAL Dimensions Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha

for Expectation for Perceived
performance
Reliability .797 .770
Responsiveness .820 .761
Assurance .796 .761
Empathy .815 .776
Tangibles .824 .768
4.3 HypothesesTest
For testing the research hypotheses Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used. Pearson‟s
correlation coefficient is a statistical measure of the strength of a linear relationship
between paired data. In a sample it is denoted by r and is by design constrained as -1 ≤ r
≤ 1 (Andy; 2006). A correlation coefficient has a value ranging from-1to1. When the
values of coefficient equals to (+) 1, it indicates perfect positive correlation and when it is
equals (–) 1, it indicates perfect negative correlation, meaning thereby that variations in
independent variable explain 100% of the variations in the dependent variable. The value
32
of coefficient nearer to +1 or –1 indicates high degree of correlation between the two
variables (C.R. Kothari; 2004).
Andy (2006) described the correlation coefficient is a commonly used measure of the
size of an effect: Values of± 0.1 represent a small effect, ± 0.3 is a medium effect and
±0.5 is a large effect. Fikreetal (2009) explained “the sign of a correlation describes
the type of relationship between the variables being correlated. Positive correlation
coefficient indicates that there is appositive linear relations hip between the variables. A
negative value indicates a negative linear relationship between variables.
Hypotheses#1
H1o: Reliability does not have positive relationship with customer satisfaction in Jimma
Zone Revenues Authority.
H1a: Reliability has positive relationship with customer satisfaction in Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority.
Table4.5: Pearson Correlation between Reliability and Customer Satisfaction
Perceived Reliability
Customer Pearson Correlation .656

Satisfaction Significant (1-tailed) .000
Reliability involves consistency of performance and dependability of the service

performance. In this research reliability attributes refers the ability of Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority performs the service right the first time. It also means that the firm
honors its promises. Specifically, it involves:
 Showing a sincere interest to solve customers‟ problem.

 keeping records correctly;
33
 Performing the service at the designated time.
From table4.5 above the Pearson correlation for reliability is .656 and the p-value is .000
which is less than the significant level.01.This positive correlation coefficient (.656)
shows that there is a large positive correlation between reliability and customer
satisfaction of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority. From the result we can conclude that
when there is an increase in the reliability of the organization there is also an increase in
customers‟ satisfaction. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.
Hypotheses#2
H2o: Responsiveness does not have positive relations hip with customer satisfaction in
Jimma Zone Revenues Authority.
H2a: Responsiveness has positive relationship with customer satisfaction in Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority.
Table4.6: Pearson Correlation between Responsiveness and Customer Satisfaction
Perceived Responsiveness

Satisfaction
Significant (1-tailed) .000
Responsiveness refers the willingness or readiness of employee or professionals to

provide service. In this research responsiveness includes the readiness and capacity of
employees of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority in:
 Informing the exact time when the service will be delivered

 Giving rapid service
34
 Helping customers and answering customers‟ questions.
Pearson Correlation of responsiveness in table 4.6 is .641 and p-value is.000, which is
less than .01.This, implies that there is a large positive relationship between
responsiveness and customer satisfaction in Jimma Zone Revenues Authority. This
means if the organization increases the responsiveness dimension of the service quality
they can also increases their customers‟ satisfaction. Hence the null hypothesis is
rejected.
Hypotheses#3
H3o: Assurance does not have positive relationship with customer satisfaction in Jimma
H3a: Assurance has positive relationship with customer satisfaction in Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority.
Table4.7: Pearson Correlation between Assurance and Customer Satisfaction
Perceived Assurance

Satisfaction
Assurance refers to the knowledge and competence of service providers and the ability
to convey trust and confidence. For the purpose of this research assurance include the
behavior of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority employees in
 Instilling confidence in the customers‟ mind,
35
 The ability of the organization‟ in ensuring safety in transaction with customers,
 Courteous of employees for the customers and the knowledge of employees to
answer the customers‟ question.
From the above table we can see that the Pearson correlation of assurance is .649 and
the p-value is .000, which is less than the significant level.This indicted that there is large
positive relationship between assurance and customer satisfaction in Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority. Thus the null hypothesis is rejected.
Hypotheses#4
H4o: Empathy does not have positive relationship with customer satisfaction in Jimma
H4a: Empathy has positive relationship with customer satisfaction in Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority.
Table4.8: Pearson Correlation between Empathy and Customer Satisfaction
Perceived Empathy

Satisfaction
Empathy Caring and individualized attention the firm provides to its customers.
For the purpose of this research it refers the ability of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority:
 In giving individualized attention for customers,

 Having operating hours convenient to all their customers and
 .The existence of employees that can give individualized attention to the
customers in the organization,
36
 The organization capability in having the customers‟ best interest at core and its
ability in understanding of the customers‟ specific needs.
As per table 4.8, the Pearson correlation of empathy is .600 and the significant level is
.01.The p-valueis.000 which is less than the significant level. From this we can
understand that as empathy directly proportional. Meaning if the organization increase the
responsiveness dimension of the service quality they can also increases their customers‟
satisfaction. As a result, null hypothesis is rejected.
Hypotheses#5
H5o: Tangibles does not have positive relationship with customer satisfaction Jimma
H5a: Tangibles has positive relationship with customer satisfaction in Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority.
Table4.9: Pearson Correlation between Tangibles and Customer Satisfaction
Perceived Tangibles

Satisfaction
Tangibles include the physical evidence of the service. In this study it consists of:
 The nature of the organization equipment,

 The appearance of physical facilities and the nature of the materials associated
with the service.
As indicated on table 4.9, the Pearson correlation of tangibles is .413 and the p-
valueis.000 which is lessthan.01.From this we can understand that there is large positive
37
relationship between tangibles and customer satisfaction. Therefore, the null hypostasis
is rejected.
4.4 Gap Analysis
Parasuramanetal.(1985)defined service quality as “a measure of how well the service

level delivered matches customer expectations; delivering quality service means
confirming to customer expectations on a consistent basis ”.Kottler (2012)defined
customer satisfaction as “it depends on the service or product‟s perceived performance
relative to a buyer‟s expectations. From the above two definitions we can see that
service quality is what customers‟ assess through their expectations and perceptions of a
service experience.
In this research the researcher calculates the gap between perceived performance and
customer‟s expectation by subtracting the means core of customers‟ expectation from
the means core of perceived performance. The respondents‟ frequency and description of
attributes is presented on appendix I and appendix II respectively.
4.5 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority Gap Analysis
Table4.10: Mean of Perceived Performance, Expectation and Gap Score of

Reliability Dimension
Perceived
Expected
Performance Gap
Score
Attributes Score Score
P Reliability 1-E Reliability 1 2.45 3.99 -1.54
38
According to the above table 4.10, the difference of mean between P Reliability1-E
Reliability1is-1.54.This shows that the means core of customers‟ expectation about
Jimma Zone Revenues Authority ability to do something as promised in a certain time
and their ability to do as promised is more than the mean of perceived performance
score. From this we can recognize that the organization was not keeping the promise as
expected by customers.
As indicated in the above table, the discrepancy of mean between P Reliability 2and E
Reliability 2 is -1.49.This indicates that, there is- 1.49 gap between mean of customers
expectation about Jimma Zone Revenues Authority capacity of showing sincere interest
to solve customers‟ problems which exceeds the mean of perceived performance. This
shows that employees were not always willing to solve the problem of customers.
From the above table we can see that, the mean of P Reliability 3 and E Reliability 3 has
a gap score of -1.95 which means there are -1.95 gaps between customer‟s expectation
and perceived performance about the ability of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority to
perform the service right the first time. From this one can conclude as the ability of the
organization in performing the service well right the first time is less than the
expectation of the customers.
Table above table also shows that, the difference between the mean score of customers
„expectation and perceived performance regarding Jimma Zone Revenues Authority‟s
ability of having error-free records.The gap between expectation and perceived
performance is -1.66 which implies that, the organization perceived performance
insistence on error free records is less by-1.66 from customer‟s expectation.
Table4.11: Mean of Perceived Performance, Expectation and Gap Score of

Responsiveness Dimension
Perceived
Expected
Performance Gap
Score
P Responsiveness 1-E Responsiveness 1 2.64 3.94 -1.30
39
P Responsiveness 2-E Responsiveness 2 2.27 4.14 -1.87
P Responsiveness 3- E Responsiveness 3 2.42 4.37 -1.95
P Responsiveness 4- E Responsiveness 4 2.43 4.08 -1.65
The above table depicts the information about the gap between all the attribute of
responsiveness. In view of that, the mean of customers „expectation about the employee‟
willingness to tell the time when they provide service for the customers, to provide
quick service for their customers, willingness to help customers‟ and responding for
customers‟ request is greater than perceived performance. This shows that:
 The customers are expecting more regarding the employees‟ willingness to inform
the time when customers get service.
 Employees‟ of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority were not providing quick service
to their customers.
 The employees of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority should do more to be willing
full to help the customers and to respond for customers‟ questions.
Table4.12: Mean of Perceived Performance, Expectation and Gap Score on

Service Assurance Dimension
Perceived
Expected
Performance Gap
Score
P Assurance 1- E Assurance 1 2.52 4.01 -1.49
P Assurance 2- E Assurance 2 2.39 3.93 -1.54
P Assurance 3-E Assurance 3 2.42 4.24 -1.83
Table6 showed the difference of the mean score between perceived performance and
customers‟ expectation on employees ability in installing confidence in the customers
gap score is -1.49, the politeness of employees has gap -1.54 and the knowledge of
40
employees to answer the customers questions has gap -1.04.The entire gap scores are all
negative; which means, the mean score of perceived performance is less than the
expectation which can approves that customers are expecting more on the assurance of
the Jimma Zone Revenues Authority.

Empathy Dimension
Perceived
Expected
Performance Gap
Score
P Empathy 1- E Empathy 1 2.38 3.75 -1.37
As illustrated in table4.12, the mean of customers‟ expectation is greater than the

perceived performances core concerning:-
 Willingness of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority in giving individualized attention

to customers result is -1.37 which implies the organization is not giving enough
individualized attention for its customers.
 The gap result of empathy attributes Empathy 2-E Empathy 2 represents is -1.20
which shows the operating hours of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority is not
convenient to customer.
In the above table, the gap result of the difference of mean of expectation regarding to
Jimma Zone Revenues Authority employees‟ ability in giving personal attention and
41
perceived performance is -1.66. This implies the organization employees‟ are not giving
sufficient personal attention to customers.
With regarding to Jimma Zone Revenues Authority employees understanding of the

customers‟ best interest at heart, the gap result constitutes -1.56.This shows the mean
score of expectation is greater than perceived performance. Therefore, the result shows,
as there is problem with the employees of the organization in understanding the
customers‟ interest at heart.
The difference of expected and perceived performance of the empathy attributes 5, that
is Jimma Zone Revenues Authority employees understanding to the needs of customer
gap score is -1.42. This indicates that the customer expectation is greater than the
actual performance.

Tangible of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority
Perceived
Expected
Performance Gap
Score
P Tangibles 1- E Tangibles 1 2.48 3.90 -1.42
From the table above, the gap score for P Tangibles 1-E Tangibles 1 is-1.42 which
implies that the perceived performance about the nature of the Jimma Zone Revenues
Authority equipment‟s is less than the expectation of customers. The customers expect
more from the organization about its equipment.
The gap result of P Tangibility 2-E Tangibility 2 as can be seen from the above table 8
is -1.53 which indicated that the mean score of customers „expectation is greater than
42
the perceived performance score, with regard to attractiveness physical facility of the
organization. This means, the equipment‟s were not visually appealing for the customers.
P Tangibility 3-E Tangibility 3 describes the difference of the score of mean of

customers „expectation and perceived performance about the clearness and attractiveness
of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority materials which is -1.74. As illustrated in the table
above, the mean of expectation is more than the mean of perceived performance. This
implies that materials‟ of the organization were not clear and understandable.
4.6 Overall Customer Satisfaction Rating
Table4.15: Frequency of Customer Satisfaction
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid Highly dissatisfied 51 19.8 19.8 19.8
Dissatisfied 132 51.2 51.2 70.9
Somewhat satisfied 42 16.3 16.3 87.2
Satisfied 21 8.1 8.1 95.3
Highly satisfied 12 4.7 4.7 100.0
Total 258 100.0 100.0
43
Table 4.16: Descriptive Analysis of Customer Satisfaction
Std.
O
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
Customer 258 1 5 2.27 1.018

Satisfaction
Valid No 258
(list wise)
In order to get the overall score of customer service, respondents were asked to rate the
level of their satisfaction on Likert‟s 5point Scale. The responses of the questionnaire
shown on table4.15.The overall satisfaction of the respondents indicates that only 4.7%
were highly satisfied and 8.1 % were satisfied,16.3% were somewhat satisfied,51.2%
were dissatisfied,19.8% was very dissatisfied. From the response one can observe that
majority of the customer‟s (71%) are dissatisfied which indicates there is a lot of room
for improving the level of satisfaction in the organization.
4.6 Discussion and Summary of Finding
The objective of the study was to assess the quality of service delivery and its effect
on customer satisfaction of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority. The study wanted to
identify the most important service quality dimensions for the organization and to
show the gap between customers‟ perceived performances and expectation. The study
uses the SERVQUAL instrument for measuring the service quality of Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority.From the 248 questionnaire distributed to respondents 233 usable
questionnaires were collected and used for analysis of the study. After analyzing the
information gathered from valid respondents through questionnaire the following
findings are presented:-
Knowing what consumers expect is an essential process in delivering quality service at

any level of an operation. Any differences between customer expectations and the
organization‟s perception of customer expectations of quality are important to identify
44
and improve the of level service quality provided(Parasuramanetal.,1988).Muhammad
Sabbir et al. (2012) also suggest public sectors to know how customers evaluate service
quality and what they can do to measure and improve service quality.
Table4.17displays the gap scores for each service quality attribute of the customers at
Jimma Zone Revenues Authority. Service provider gaps were calculated by subtracting
customer expectations from employee perceptions on each of the individual service
dimensions. (Parasuramanetal. 1991).Previous researchers have successfully used this
method for calculating difference scores. The table 4.17 contains the mean ratings;
corresponding standard deviations results that indicate the level of agreement among
customers, for each attribute. The gap scores for each attribute were calculated by
subtracting the expectation means from the perception means.
Table4.17: Gaps between Perceptions and Expectations of the respondents mean

score.
Perceived Expected
Attributes Performance Score Score Gap Score
Reliability 2.34 4.00 -1.66
Responsiveness 2.43 4.08 -1.65
Assurance 2.44 4.06 -1.62
Empathy 2.41 3.86 -1.44
Tangibles 2.40 3.96 -1.56
A negative service quality gap indicates that customer expectations are higher than
perceived performance and a positive service quality gaps result when customer
perceptions exceed customer expectations. Anderson (1995) also measured the quality of
service provided by a public university health clinic. Using 15 statements representing the
five-dimensions of SERVQUAL (Parasuramanetal. 1988), he assessed the quality of
service provided by the clinic at the University of Houst on Health Center. Patients were
45
found to be generally dissatisfied with the five dimensions of SERVQUAL. In this study
the all dimensions of service providergapswerefoundtobenegative.
The largest gap was observed for the “reliability”(-1.66),followed by the „responsiveness”
dimension(-1.65)and the attributes under these dimensions were related to the
performance of the employees of the organization in providing the service right the first
time, solving customers‟ problems, maintaining error-free records, delivering prompt
service, readily responding to customers‟ request and informing customers when services
will be performed. These attributes were the major short falls and will require significant
attention by the organization in terms of making improvement efforts. Desiccation of the
five dimensions was presented as follows:
1. Reliability
In this study reliability aspect (acting according to promises, sincerity in problem

solving, providing service at the promised time & insistence on error free records) has
the most significant impact on customer satisfaction but the aspect has larger difference
of expectation and perception. It shows that customers are highly dissatisfied by the
service in this dimension. However, the importance of customer satisfaction is derived
from the generally accepted philosophy that for a business to be successful and
profitable, it must satisfy customers (BitnerandHubbert, 1994).
Responsiveness
Responsiveness aspects (informing when services will be performed, providing services

promptly, willingness to help, never being too busy to respond to request for service) has
also significant impact on customer satisfaction and gained the forth gap score (-1.65) of
Jimma Zone Revenues Authority customers view. It shows that the organization has to
pay attention to responsiveness items.
46
2. Assurance
Assurance has strong positive relationship with customer satisfaction and the gap score
gained in this dimension was -1.62 which third score as showed in the above table. We
can observe that the items mean difference was negative and thus we can in firth at
customers perceive less than what they expected in assurance items.
3. Empathy
Empathy aspect (provides individual attention, has convenient operating hours,

employees provide personal attention, has the best interest of the customer at heart,
employees understand the needs of the customers) has significant impact on customer
satisfaction. However empathy items mean difference was negative. So, the organization
managers and employees have to improve their attention about delivering services to
their customers.
4. Tangibles
Tangibles aspect (equipment, materials, and physical facility) has less impact on
customer satisfaction than the other aspects.However, the expectation and perception
mean difference of tangibles has negative score (-1.56) which implies there is
dissatisfaction.
Summary of Finding
There is a large positive correlation between customer satisfaction and the five
dimensions of service quality (i.e. reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and
tangibles) in the organization and customers‟expectation for these dimensions was
greater than perceived performance. Hence it implies there is critical problem.
Generally using the SERVQUAL instrument, this study was able to help the organization
identify important areas for improvement in its service delivery. This study was therefore
able to show how important it is for an organization, be it a public sector organization, to
conduct a survey and consider the opinions of its customers in identifying areas for
service quality improvements. It is therefore very important for the origination to know
47
how customers evaluate service quality and what they can do to measure and improve
service quality.
48
CHAPTER FIVE
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1Conclusion
Ability of delivering service as promised has appositive impact on customer

satisfaction. Hence, customers of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority desire reliability
and loyalty from the organization. On the other hand, the organization is not
delivering the service as promised, the employees are not showing sincere interest in
solving customers‟ problem and the organization is not providing the service on the
time they promised to do so as expected by customers. Willingness of employee‟s to
help and answer for customer problems and question has positive effect on customer
satisfaction. Thus customers‟ of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority prefer the
organization which is willing and ready to give prompt service and to tell the exact
time when they provide service. Also they expect help and answer for their problems
and question from front line employees. However, the organization is not telling the
exact time when the service will be performed and is not providing rapid service as
expected by customer.
Understanding and capability of service providers and the ability to carry trust and
confidence have positive effect on customer satisfaction. But employees in the
organization have a problem in instilling confidence in customers and the employees
of the organization are not courteous as expected by customers. In addition they
lack knowledge to answer customers‟ question.
Providing individualized attention to their customer can also improve the level of
customer‟s satisfaction. Never the less, the organization has a problem in giving
individualized attention and they don‟t have employees who can give personalized
49
attention. Farther more the employees have a problem in understanding the specific
need and the interest of the customers as customers‟ expectation.
The organization‟ facilities and equipment‟s have a positive effect on customer

satisfaction. But, the organization didn‟t have modern, visually appealing equipment
as expected by customers.
Generally all of the dimensions in a service quality (i.e. reliability, responsiveness,

assurance, empathy and tangibles) and customer satisfaction should be followed and
implemented effectively in the organization in order to increase customer
satisfaction.
4.2 Recommendation
In order to improve the identified problems of the organization in the study, the
following recommendations were forwarded.
 The Management of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority should look its

standards of work set or increase the front line employees‟ to do something
by a certain time it promise.
 The organization has to give attention for customers‟ needs and wants in service
delivering. Hence, the employees of organization should pay due attention to
their customers‟ needs and wants, by appearing being polite and co- operative
to solve customers‟ problem and there should be continuous follow up from the
management.
 The Management of the Jimma Zone Revenues Authority should give
attentions to all of the dimensions in a service quality. To enhance customer
satisfaction thus improve quality of services to the clients.
 The employees of the organization should give prompt service and willing to
tell the accurate time when they provide the service for customers.
50
 Good working environment such as enough working place and well organized
office arrangement facilitates the service delivery of the employees for the
customers and contribute for customer satisfaction. Hence, the organization
should create a good working condition.
 Modern-looking equipment‟s and visually appealing physical facilities has value in
facilitating service delivery system that in turn increases the satisfaction of
customers. So, the organization office grooming and equipping need to be modern
and comfortable.
 Moreover, to serve the customers in a good manner, giving timely training and
development for employee‟s can plays a great role. Therefore, the organization
should give training to its employees to empower the min serving the customers
well and to make sure there is error-free record.
 In general, delivering a quality service for customers have a remarkable effect on
customers‟ satisfaction that in turn determines collection of tax generated by the
economy. So, it‟s needed that the organization should attempt to maintain
consistent service quality at or above customers‟ expectation by assessing all the
service quality dimensions frequently.
5.3 Future Research Direction
This study looked at the perceptions and expectation of customers only, thereby
excluding the views of management and front line employees. It‟s essential to measure
management and front line employee‟s perceptions of organizational service quality
practices so that they can also understand customer expectations. Such information will
then assist management in identifying ways of improving service quality gaps and of
prioritizing which gaps to focus on and support decisions to resources.
51
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www.cssp.org
www.quality gurus.com
54
AppendicesI:
A. Description of Expectation Attributes

Reliability
EReliability1 When excellent governmental organizations promise to do

something by a certain time, they will do so.
EReliability2 When customers have a problem, excellent governmental
organizations will show a sincere interest in solving it.
EReliability3 Excellent governmental organizations will provide their
services at the time they promise to do so.
EReliability4 Excellent governmental organizations will insist on error-free
records.
Responsiveness
EResponsiveness 1 Employees of excellent governmental organizations will tell

customers exactly when services will be performed.
EResponsiveness 2 Employees of excellent governmental organizations will give

rapid service to customers.
EResponsiveness 3 Employees of excellent governmental organizations will

always be willing to help customers.
EResponsiveness 4 Employees of excellent governmental organizations will

never be too busy to respond to customer requests.
Assurance
EAssurance1 The behavior of employees of excellent governmental

organizations will instill confidence in customers.
EAssurance2 Employees of excellent governmental organizations will be

consistently courteous with customers.
55
EAssurance3 Employees of excellent governmental organizations will have
the knowledge to answer customer questions.
Empathy
EEmpathy1 Excellent governmental organizations will give customers

individual attention.
EEmpathy2 Excellent governmental organizations will have
operating hours convenient to all their customers.
EEmpathy3 Excellent governmental organizations will have employees

who give customers personal attention.
EEmpathy4 Excellent governmental organizations will have the

customers‟ best interests at core.
Eempathy5 The employees of excellent governmental organizations

will understand the needs of their customers
Tangibles
ETangibles 1 Excellent governmental organizations will have modern-

looking equipment.
ETangibles 2 The physical facilities at excellent governmental
organizations will be visually appealing.
ETangibles 3 Materials associated with the service(such as brochures or

Statements) will be clear and visually appealing in excellent
governmental organizations.
56
B. Description of Perceived Service Quality Attributes
Reliability
P Reliability1 When Jimma Zone Revenues Authority promises to do

something by a certain time, it does so.
P Reliability2 When you have a problem, Jimma Zone Revenues

Authority shows a sincere interest in solving it.
P Reliability3 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority provides its services at

the time it promises to do so.
P Reliability4 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority insists on error-free

records.
Responsiveness
PResponsiveness 1 Employees of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority tell you

exactly when the service will be performed.
PResponsiveness 2 Employees of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority give you

quick service.
PResponsiveness 3 Employees of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority are always
willing to help you.
PResponsiveness 4 Employees of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority are never
too busy to respond to your requests.
Assurance
P Assurance1 The behavior of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority

employees instills confidence in you.
57
P Assurance2 Employees of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority are
consistently courteous with you.
P Assurance3 Employees of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority have the
knowledge to answer your questions.
Empathy
P Empathy1 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority gives you individual

attention.
P Empathy2 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority has operating hours
convenient to you.
P Empathy3 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority has employees who give
you personal attention.
P Empathy4 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority has your best interests at
heart.
P empathy5 Employees of Jimma Zone Revenues Authority understand
your needs.
Tangibles
P Tangibles 1 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority has modern-looking

equipment.
P Tangibles 2 Jimma Zone Revenues Authority physical facilities are
visually appealing.
P Tangibles 3 Materials associated with the service (such as brochures or
statements) are clear and visually appealing at Jimma Zone
Revenues Authority.
58
C. Description of customer satisfaction attributes
The following statement relates to you‟re feeling about jimma zone revenues authority
please respond by circling the number which best reflects your own perceptions.
My feeling towards jimma zone revenues authority services can best be described as
1. Highly dissatisfied
2. Dissatisfied
3. Somewhat satisfied
4. Satisfied
5. Highly satisfied
59
Appendix II
Correlations
Perceived
Customer Perceived Responsiven Perceived Perceived Perceived
Satisfaction Reliability ess Assurance Empathy Tangibles
Customer Pearson 1 .656** .641** .649** .600** .533**
Satisfaction Correlation
Sig. (1- .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 233 233 233 233 233 233
** ** ** **
Perceived Pearson .656 1 .808 .762 .708 .608**
Reliability Correlation
Sig. (1- .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 233 233 233 233 233 233
Perceived Pearson .641** .808** 1 .829** .787** .571**
Responsiven Correlation
ess Sig. (1- .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 233 233 233 233 233 233
** ** ** **
Perceived Pearson .649 .762 .829 1 .815 .613**
Assurance Correlation
Sig. (1- .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 233 233 233 233 233 233
** ** ** **
Perceived Pearson .600 .708 .787 .815 1 .563**
Empathy Correlation
Sig. (1- .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 233 233 233 233 233 233
** ** ** ** **
Perceived Pearson .533 .608 .571 .613 .563 1
Tangibles Correlation
Sig. (1- .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
tailed)
N 233 233 233 233 233 233
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (1-tailed).
60
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THE EFFECT OF SERVICE QUALITY DELIVERY ON

CUSTOMER SATSFACTION OF JIMMA ZONE REVENUES

A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Jimma University

By:-Newad Hassen Hussen

Main Advisor:-Ato Seid Hussen (Assistant Professor)

Co-Advisor:-At o Belay Chekole

COLLEGE BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

May 29, 2019

2. Theoretical and Empirical Literature Review

3. Research Design and Methodology

4. Result and Discussion

5. Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................48

Keywords: Service quality, Customer satisfaction

1.1 Background of the Study

Customer satisfaction drives successful businesses. High-performing businesses have

Achieving high levels of customer satisfaction requires that organizations continually

1.2 Background of the organization

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Jimma Zone Revenue Authority is developing better systems of tax administration

1.4 Research Questions

1. What is the relationship between service quality dimensions and customer

1.5 Objectives of the study

1. To investigate the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in

1.6 Research Hypotheses

H20: Responsiveness does not have positive relationship with customer

This research is thus believed to have importance in the following areas.

1. The study is expected to provide information on the importance of quality service

1.8 Scope and Limitation of the Study

1.9 Structure of the Paper

According to Parasuramanetal.(1988), service quality can be defined as an overall

In this regard, (Parasuramanetat.1988,) defined perceived service quality as "a global

 Excellence; although the mark of an uncompromising student and high

In service marketing the quality of service is critical to a firm‟s success. Service

Help customers formulate expectation: Expectations are based on information from

Customer satisfaction has become a key intermediary objective in service operations

2.1.3.1 Factors that Affect Customer Satisfaction

3. Excitement factors:-these are factors that increase customers‟ satisfaction if fulfilled

2.1.3.2Reasons of Customer Dissatisfaction

Sometimes customers become dissatisfied, as indicated on www.qualitygurus.com some

2.1.5 Theoretical Frame work

1. Gap between Customer Expectation and Management Perception(Knowledge

customers and the executive‟s understanding of the importance placed on those

expectations by the customers were noted.

understanding that feeling secure in their transactions is an important aspect of service

2. Gap between Management Perception and Service Quality Specification (The

The SERVQUAL developers concluded thatthe reason‟s provided for notestablishing

4. Gap between Service Delivery and External Communication:

Consumer expectations are affected by standards made by company representatives and

5. Gap between Perceived Service and Expected Service:

Source: Parasuramanet.al. 1985

-Second, services, as opposed to goods, are “heterogeneous; their performance often

 How customers evaluate the quality of the service provided to them.

In order to obtain this information, the SERVQUAL developers conducted an

The SERVQUAL developers defined service quality, as perceived by customers as “the

1. Reliability: is ability to perform the promised service dependably and

SERVQUAL has been subjected to a number of theoretical and operational

As identified by Buttle (1996) theoretical and operational criticisms of

 Gapsmodel:there is little evidence that customers will assess service

 Expectations: consumers use standards other than expectations to