Performance evaluation for the outsourcing of military base management services in the Republic of Korea using SERVQUAL and IPA

Abstract

AbstractThis study was conducted to evaluate the performance of a contracting-out project for military base management in response to recent defense reforms in the Republic of Korea that require military forces to concentrate on operations and combat missions. In this study, the service quality perspective via SERVQUAL was applied to the ROK defense sector for the first time, with the soldiers viewed as customers receiving a service. In addition, to improve the effectiveness of the contracted services, the importance-performance analysis framework was employed to identify the tasks that required urgent attention. We conducted a large-scale survey of 2,112 uniformed members within pilot project units. To avoid problems such as insincere responses or low response rates, we held interviews with the officers managing the units on the subject of the importance and purpose of the questionnaire. As a result, it was found that the outsourcing of cleaning services was the most successful initiative, while mowing/landscaping had the most urgent tasks for improvement, with some respondents believing that reliability and assurance should be improved.