Diverse Market Segments and Customer Satisfaction: Does Extension Serve All Clients Well?

Abstract

Extensionists face increasing requirements for documenting the relevance, quality, and impact of services provided. From a Total Quality Management perspective, it also is important to determine if the level of quality is uniform across Extension's delivery system. Customer satisfaction surveys are a useful tool for obtaining a perspective on the quality of services and outcomes. This study explored whether audience diversity had an effect on the perceptions of clients regarding the quality of Extension's services. Using survey data collected from 2003 through 2007, clients' race-ethnicity and gender were found to be associated with small, but significant differences in satisfaction. Blacks and other minorities perceived having a somewhat lower quality experience with the services provided by Extension than did Whites and Hispanics. Men also had slightly lower levels of satisfaction with the quality of service received and outcomes experienced than did women. Given these findings, action is needed to implement improvements, including using more participatory approaches to promote equal involvement of the diverse clientele during the planning process, developing skills for the delivery of information that are suitable for use with culturally diverse audiences, and getting a better understanding of the cultural characteristics of the different market segments in the community.