CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AS A MANAGEMENT PRACTICE IN PUBLIC REGULATORY AGENCIES: A CASE OF THE NATIONAL BIOSAFETY AUTHORITY, KENYA

Abstract

Abstract

No institution can achieve its goal without ‘getting it right’ in the way it relates with its customers and stakeholders. Therefore, happy customers are an indicator of successful organizations and an indicator of a good management practice. This study explored the National Biosafety Authority’s customers satisfaction level and had the following study objectives:  Evaluate the perception of NBA’s customers on the authority’s service delivery; Determine accessibility of NBA’s information to its customers; To analyze customers’ satisfaction index; and Identify key gaps in service delivery with regards to customer satisfaction. 71 respondents were selected from 11 of the NBA’s stakeholders in 15 counties in Kenya. The study deployed both experience sampling methods (ranking and rating) and behavior rating scales (BARS) methods. The key findings were that, although NBA customer satisfaction level was good (6/10) it was low in terms of the net promoter score. Therefore, NBA’s management needed to do more to leverage customer satisfaction as a management tool and move the authority’s customer satisfaction level to excellence service (9/10) and to exceptional service (10/10) scores in customer satisfaction index. Among the reason for NBA’s average performance was that, the customers perceived NBA’s GMO messaging as unclear and lack of promptness in response to issues raised by stakeholders and customers. It is recommended that NBA should leverage on technology to improve on its service delivery strategies and do more targeted communication to various stakeholders in a non-homogeneous manner. Furthermore, it is recommended that NBA should hire Quality liaison officers to deal with matters of service delivery and feedbacks from its stakeholders.