Abstract:
In Kenya, the public sector is facing criticism to improve service delivery to enhance
customer satisfaction. However, public institutions offering catering services are faced
with multiple challenges and immense pressure in provision of quality service delivery
which result in elusive achievement of customer satisfaction. Despite this, government
institutions strive to put effort to achieve customer satisfaction through service delivery.
The study sought to establish the influence of service quality dimensions of catering
services and customer satisfaction in selected government institutions in Nairobi,
Kenya. The specific objectives were to establish the influence of responsiveness,
reliability, empathy, tangibility and assurance dimensions on customer satisfaction in
government institutions in Nairobi, Kenya. The study was anchored on Expectancy and
Disconfirmation theory and SERVQUAL model. Explanatory and Descriptive research
designs was adopted. The target population comprised of 12,000 customers at Kenya
School of Government (KSG) and Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD)
where a sample size of 387 was selected. Purposive sampling was used to select the two
institutions while systematic random sampling selected the participants for the study.
Data was analyzed using gap analysis, paired t- test and multiple linear regression. From
the finding the regression model attained R2= 0.874 which implies that catering service
quality dimensions explained 87.4% of the variation in customer satisfaction. The
results further revealed that responsiveness (β=0.303; t=2.803, p=0.001), reliability (β= - 0.219; t= -2.129, p=0.004) and empathy (β=0193; t=2.058, p=.001), had a positive
and significant influence on customer satisfaction while tangibility (β=1.167; t= -1.730,
p=0.006) and assurance (β= - 0.327; t= - 2.264, p=.005), had no significant influence
on customer satisfaction. In conclusion it revealed reliability, responsiveness and
empathy had influence on customer satisfaction while tangibility and assurance do not
significantly influence customer satisfaction. The study recommends to management to
adopt three service quality dimensions that positively influenced customer satisfaction
and to focus on improving the two other service quality dimensions to enhance
customer satisfaction even within the constraints of government operations. It also
recommends provision of staff training and development programs based on skills gaps
to enhance customer satisfaction. The study also recommends to management to
allocate adequate financial resources on modern infrastructure, continuous assessment
and adaptation based on feedback to improve service efficiency and to optimize on
service quality dimensions and meeting customers’ expectations.
