Does Management Performance Impact Citizen Satisfaction?

Abstract

This article aims to examine the relationship between internal management performance and citizen satisfaction in the public sector. Top-down style evaluations emphasize improving the internal managerial performance of an agency, but few studies examine the relationship between the internal management of a governmental agency and citizen satisfaction. Our case study of government management in Seoul city attempts to address this deficiency by using data from the Seoul Service Index. Our results demonstrate a positive correlation between management performance and citizen satisfaction. We also found that the level of citizen satisfaction that helped trigger improvements in management practices varies according to the type of service. The implication of these results is that the managers of public organizations who wish to improve citizens’ satisfaction with the particular service offered by their organization must seek to strategically reform their bureaucracy’s internal management.