Perceived Importance of Service Elements in Client Satisfaction Measures

ABSTRACT

Many evaluators or service providers develop their own client satisfaction measures using satisfaction rating items representing service elements specific to the service settings. Global satisfaction scores are then produced by summing these item scores while assuming an equal contribution of all items. One approach to overcome evidence against this assumption is importance weighting, which is achieved by considering both item satisfaction and item importance in measuring overall satisfaction. Unfortunately, the adequacy of importance weighting in client satisfaction measures is not well understood. This study assessed the adequacy of importance weighting. Analyzing data from a previous client satisfaction survey with 110 older adults, the current study found that the relationship between global client satisfaction and the sum of satisfaction scores across service elements was dependent upon the patterns of respondents’ perceived importance of service elements. These results provide support for importance weighting and suggest the need for incorporating perceived importance of service elements in measuring overall client satisfaction.