SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN ETHIOPIAN LEATHER INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

This study's objective is to assess the level of customer satisfaction and product quality in the consultation and project office of Ethiopian Leather Industry Development Institute. Importance of customer satisfaction cannot be undermined for any organisation. The processes and practices of Corporate governance should assess the service gaps and should aim to fulfil the same. The SERVQUAL instrument is used in conjunction with the gap model of service quality to carry out this research. the five SERVQUAL dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy were used to gauge the extent of customers' expectations and perceptions of service quality. A sample of 240 respondents was selected using a non-probabilistic convenience sampling technique. According to the findings of the study all the five dimensions of service quality have shown a negative gap score. This indicates that customers of Ethiopian leather industry development institute consultancy and project office are dissatisfied with the service provided to them hence; there perceptions are below their expectations. The dimension with the lowest negative gap score is assurance followed by tangibles and responsiveness. The findings of the gap analysis also indicate that tangibility and responsiveness are the two dimensions with the highest negative gap scores which makes these two dimensions the largest contributors to customer’s dissatisfaction. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between SERVQUAL dimensions and service quality the results shows that all the five dimensions of service quality have a positive relationship with customer satisfaction where tangibility, empathy and responsiveness have a moderate and positive correlation with satisfaction while assurance and reliability have a weak positive correlation with customer satisfaction. Generally, only tangibility and responsiveness dimensions of service quality have shown statistically significant impact on customer satisfaction. Accordingly, Ethiopian leather industry development institute consultancy and project office needs to give more emphasis and due attention to tangibility and responsiveness dimensions of service quality to improve the level of customer satisfaction.