The public administration's service quality, transparency and citizen satisfaction: A study in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

Ho Chi Minh city is the center of economy, culture and education of Vietnam. The goal of Ho Chi Minh government is to enhance citizen satisfaction to gain objective of administrative reform. However, so far the percentage of citizen satisfy with public services is very low. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of service quality as well as transparency on citizen satisfaction in the public administration sector in Ho Chi Minh City. The survey was distributed to citizens who used public administration services at 4 public administrative organizations in Ho Chi Minh City including People's Committee of District 1; People's Committee of Dakao Ward, District 1 (represent urban area ); People's Committee of Govap District and People's Committee of Ward 6, Govap District (represent rural area). Total 240 questionnaires were sent and 200 questionnaires were collected (80% response rates).

Descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling were conducted to analyze the data. Results indicated that service quality significantly related with citizen satisfaction. Four factors which constitute service quality affected citizen satisfaction including Responsiveness, Empathy, Assurance and Reliability. In particular, responsiveness was the strongest affecting factor which brought the highest satisfaction level of citizens. The findings can be used as a guide for Ho Chi Minh city government to enhance citizen satisfaction. Besides, the result of data analysis also showed that transparency did not relate with citizen satisfaction in the public administration sector in Ho Chi Minh city.