# Presentation: 174888

## Customer Satisfaction with U.S. Federal Government – Results of the ACSI

**Forrest Morgeson & Lifang Vanderwill**
- ACSI, National Quality Research Center
- Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

- Washington, D.C., December 20, 2007

## Snapshot of ACSI

- Established in 1994, ACSI is the only standardized measure of customer satisfaction in the U.S. economy, covering approximately 200 companies in 43 industries and 10 sectors; companies measured account for roughly one-third of the U.S. GDP
- A quarterly measure of the national economy’s health; complementary to measures such as inflation and unemployment
- 50+ departments and agencies of the U.S. Federal Government measured on an annual basis
- Results from all surveys are published quarterly in various media and on the ACSI website, _[www.theacsi.org](http://www.theacsi.org/)_

## ACSI and Government Satisfaction

- ACSI measured portions of Federal Government as early as 1994
- Internal Revenue Service measured as part of the ACSI private sector study back to 1994
- In 1999, ACSI chosen as the “gold standard” measure of customer satisfaction by the Federal government
- Funded by the Federal government, ACSI measured 30 “high impact” government agencies, reflecting the vast majority of citizen interactions with government, in 1999 and 2000
- Although no longer mandated or funded by the Federal government, participation in the ACSI study has grown significantly

## Why Measure Satisfaction with Government?

**Link customer satisfaction with expectations and desired outcomes**

**Benchmark against “best” in business and government**

**Set “baseline” for customer satisfaction and measure progress**

**Provide critical information for annual performance plans to Congress (as required under GPRA)**

**Identify areas for improving quality of service provided to customers**

**Raise trust in agencies and the government overall**

**Enable Senior Executives to meet  performance criteria**

**ACSI**

## ACSI METHODOLOGY

## ACSI Methodology

- Customer satisfaction (ACSI) is embedded in a system of cause and effect relationships
- Measures are general enough to be comparable across agencies, companies
- ACSI is measured using multiple indicators
- Objective:  Explain desired outcomes

- ●	A ***component score*** is a weighted average of the set of attributes, or survey questions, comprising a component or activity. Responses to survey questions are given on a 1-10 scale, which is converted to a 0-100 scale for score reporting.
- ●	An ***impact***, on the other hand, predicts the increase in satisfaction that would result from a 5-point increase in a component or input score.
- ●	Areas for improvement are those components or activities with a ***relatively low score*** and a ***relatively high impact*** on satisfaction.

**In the simplified example shown here, Activity 2 would be a key action area due to its relatively low score and high impact.**

**ACSI**
**65**

**Activity 2**
**65**

**Activity 1**
**76**

**1.5**

**.8**

**Impact**

**Score**

**EXAMPLE**

**ACSI Methodology**

## 2007 ACSI RESULTS

**FOR THE**
**U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT**

## Notes on Changes to Federal Government ACSI

- For 2007, ACSI changed the methodology by which Federal Government satisfaction is measured
- Previously, ACSI included all agencies that voluntarily participated in measurement and “weighted up” to a Federal Government ACSI score
- Starting this year, the Federal Government ACSI score is based on a large, national RDD sample of Americans who had an experience with _any_ Federal agency over the past year
- While this sample will allow us to say many new and interesting things, the greater diversity of citizen-customers has impacted our ability to trend overall satisfaction over time...

## Aggregate Customer Satisfaction with

- Federal Government, 1999-2007

## 2007 Federal Government ACSI Model

**Customer**
**Complaints**

**Citizen Trust**

**Customer **
**Satisfaction**
**(ACSI)**

**Perceived**
**Quality**

**Customer **
**Expectations**

**Customer**
**Service**

**Information**

**Process**

**Confidence**
**Recommend**

**	****Courtesy**
**	****Professional**

**	****Clarity**
**	****Accessibility**

**	****Ease**
**	****Timeliness**

**74**

**74**

**80**

**69**

**75**

**68**

**69**

**9%**

**1.6**

**0.4**

**1.5**

**0.8**

**3.8**

**0.3**

**-1.9**

**4.5**

**0.0**

**68**

**67**

**2007 Federal Government ACSI Model**

**Website**

**	****Ease**
**	****Usefulness**

**73**

**1.3**

***N = 1374; 90% Confidence Interval = 1.1***

## Citizen Satisfaction by Department

**Citizen Satisfaction by Department**

## Government “Expectations Gap”

**Government “Expectations Gap”**

## Customer Service Leads the Way

**Customer Service Leads the Way**

## Strong Link between Satisfaction & Trust

**Strong Link between Satisfaction & Trust**

## Few Citizens Complain, but...

## Complaints are Handled Poorly, and...

**Complaint Handling Score (0-100)**

## Complaint Handling Impacts Satisfaction

## Demographic Differences and Satisfaction with the Federal Government

## Satisfaction and Gender

## Satisfaction and Education

## Satisfaction and Age Group

**Satisfaction and Age Group**

## Satisfaction and Income

## Demographic Difference: Conclusions

- Some agencies will have a harder time satisfying their citizen-customers than others; not all customers are alike
- Agencies with customer populations:
- That have a higher proportion of men, are more highly educated, more affluent and younger are at a *comparative disadvantage *in satisfying their customers
- That are more predominantly female, less well educated, less affluent and older have a *comparative advantage *in satisfying their customers

## ACSI

- For more information, visit the ACSI website at: _[www.theacsi.org](http://www.theacsi.org/)_