Service quality of public, private and cooperative agricultural service providers in Karnataka

Abstract

The service quality of public, private and cooperative agricultural service providers in Karnataka state was investigated in this study. The Agricultural service providers were the businesses or organizations that provide services to the farmers and other agricultural producers. The AGRISERV scale was developed to assess the service quality of selected agricultural service provider and scale was administered to 270 farmers from three chosen agricultural service providers. Findings of the study revealed that all the selected organizations, irrespective of origin, had a negative difference between perceived and expected ratings, on all of the five service quality dimensions, namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and reliability. Major issues hinder service quality were scarcity of fund for doing true extension work, less use of information communication technology, lack of co-ordination among research extension and extension service providers themselves, and political interference. A demand responsive extension service is obligatory for the survival of extension organizations in a changing context.