Understanding Gaps Between Objective and Subjective Performance Measures: Accreditation of Public Service Organizations and Citizen Satisfaction

Abstract

Governments use various performance measures to ensure that public services delivered by private-sector providers are safe and meet citizens’ particular needs. These measures can include awarding accreditation and assessing citizen satisfaction. However, few studies have investigated how objective performance measures relate to citizens’ subjective evaluations of providers from the perspective of service users. To fill this gap in the literature, this study closely explores a particular case of the Korean childcare market in which governments administer a large number of private-sector providers that play a dominant role in delivering public services. Our findings indicate the positive accreditation–satisfaction link is weakened when parents may not be aware of a provider's accreditation status or when their selected service provider is nonprofit, as opposed to for-profit. Overall, this study suggests that it is important to understand why there is some degree of incongruence between objective and subjective measures and how these two different performance indicators converge in the data. Special attention should be given to bridging the gap by closely reviewing institutional pressure on service providers and a symbolic impression of accreditation.

Does Citizen Sector-based Preference Relate to Citizen Satisfaction with Public Service Organizations?

“…This may reflect that citizens with a public sector preference for an organization's performance more frequently experienced failure to meet their standards. This is because parents may hold different perceptions of nonprofit and for-profit providers, regardless of their performance (Lee & Kim, 2023). Thus, satisfaction with public service provision is conditional upon individual preferences for and expectations of the sector.…”

“…These responses were recorded on a scale of −2 to 2 to reflect negative or positive attitudes toward the service. Moreover, the provider’s accreditation status was included, which affects users’ service performance evaluation (Lee & Kim, 2023). Ownership was also included because performance varies by ownership type; parents’ satisfaction was highest for public organizations during the analysis period and lowest for for-profit organizations (MHW and KICCE, 2018, p. 341).…”

“…In recent decades, private organizations have played an essential role in the delivery of public services. In this context, a public service organization identifies government vendors that provide fully or partially funded government services to citizens regardless of the sector they belong to (Lee & Kim, 2023; S. P. Osborne, 2018). The expansion of the private provision of public services is grounded in the (often contentious) argument that private sector organizations are better equipped to meet citizens’ specific needs as they are more likely to focus on providing the services demanded by users (Amirkhanyan et al, 2008; Bromley & Meyer, 2017; Weisbrod, 1989).…”

“…Among illustrations of empirical studies, Dahlström et al (2018) observed the negative relationships between outsourcing and citizen satisfaction, while Hodgkinson et al (2017) found that public, nonprofit and private ownership offered no direct benefits for citizens’ service satisfaction. Furthermore, citizen satisfaction varied when nonprofit and for-profit sector organizations sought to achieve shared goals with governments (Lee & Kim, 2023). Gaps remain in understanding of citizens’ assessment of public service organizations, a more complex process than commonly understood.…”