How Does Residents’ Satisfaction with Community Services Influence Quality of Life (QOL) Outcomes?

Abstract

Grzeskowiak et al. [Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy 33 (2): 2003] conducted a study that empirically tested a model that integrates the relationships among determinants and outcomes of residents' satisfaction with community services. We build on their model in attempt to explain how residents' satisfaction with community services influence satisfaction with the community at large (community well-being) and satisfaction with life (quality of life). Specifically, we hypothesized and empirically demonstrated for the most part that satisfaction with a variety of community services (e.g., services related to housing, education, government, healthcare, employment, religion, public safety, retailing, transportation, and leisure) affect satisfaction with the community and life overall through satisfaction in a variety of life domains (e.g., family, social, leisure, health, financial, cultural, consumer, work, spiritual, and environmental domains).Keywords Quality of life . Community quality of life . Community well-being . Satisfaction with community services A program of research in community quality of life (QOL) related to residents' satisfaction with a variety of community services such as housing,

The Effects of Community Quality of Life on Local Policy Decisions

“…Sirgy and his colleagues provide substantial impacts of local public services on community QoL (Grzeskowiak & Sirgy, 2007;Sirgy, 2010;Sirgy et al, 2008;Sirgy et al, 2000). Looking at the effects of quality of life on voter participation in direct democracy elections, Yonk & Reilly (2011) demonstrate that QoL is a strong predictor of voter turnout.…”

“…In this sense, Sirgy and his colleagues (e.g., Sirgy, 1986;Sirgy & Cornwell, 2001;Sirgy et al, 2008;Sirgy et al, 2000) explain the relationship between quality of public service and Quality of Life, in what they call "the bottom-up spillover theory." In this theoretical framework, QoL is thought to be at the top of an attitude (or satisfaction) hierarchy like Maslow's (1970) theory of hierarchy of needs.…”

“…However, community-level QoL research generally relies on either a longitudinal perspective based on internal criteria (a place's past circumstances compared to its current ones) or a static perspective focusing on external criteria (other places' current ones as a comparison) depending on the purpose of the research (Myers, 1988). For example, the former perspective aims to describe whether and how the QoL of a particular group or in a community has changed over time (e.g., Eckersley, 2000a;Myers, 1987), while the latter seeks to examine why certain QoL perceptions differ compared to those of other groups or communities (e.g., Liao et al, 2005;Sirgy, Gao, & Young, 2008).…”

“…Alternatively, other studies rely on the latter relationship and look at the effect of a public policy on QoL. With this approach, much research is designed to examine how QoL changes depending on alterations in a particular policy, such as local service delivery (Grzeskowiak et al, 2003;Michalos & Zumbo, 1999;Sirgy et al, 2008), social welfare policy (Hollar, 2003), and strategic urban planning (Myers, 1987;Swain & Hollar, 2003). In sum, QoL can be regarded as either a "means"/"cause" or an "end"/"effect" of a public policy at the community level (Massam, 2002).…”

“…Many QoL studies provide that QoL has a positive relationship with community economic conditions (e.g., Baldassare & Wilson, 1995;Blanchflower & Oswald, 2004;Easterlin, 1995;Frijters et al, 2004;Sirgy et al, 2008;Zinam, 1989). For example, Sirgy et al (2008) find that people's quality of life is affected by job availability (employment issue) in the community:…”