(Alanya Municipality Service Units’ Cost Efficiency: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA))

Abstract

Purpose – Alanya Municipality is one of the most densely populated district municipalities of Turkey. This study included measurements of citizen satisfaction,operational efficiency and cost efficiency of 14 sub-service units of the municipality. With these measurements, it is aimed to measure whether the municipality can provide more supervised and more efficient service delivery and to guide the municipality in effective resource allocation. Design/methodology/approach – In the first stage of the study, a citizen satisfaction questionnaire was applied and the general satisfaction level of the services provided by the municipality was measured with a 5-point Likert Scale. The sample is a simple random sample, reaching 1544 citizens in total. The general satisfaction scores obtained for each service unit were determined as the output variable for the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method used as the cost-efficiency analysis method. Input variables used in the study are budget, purchase expenditures and number of employees Findings – At the end of the measurement, the general satisfaction score was calculated as 3,579. This score shows that the overall satisfaction level of the citizens for the services provided by Alanya Municipality is around 71.5%. In addition, general satisfaction scores were obtained for the sub-service units of the municipality. The results of the efficiency analysis of Alanya Municipality from 14 sub-services unit; culture and social affairs unit, information processing unit, parks and gardens service unit, planning and project unit, sports affairs unit and veterinary service units were found to be effective. Discussion – The efficiency of 14 service units of the municipality was measured. Six of the 14 service units were found to be effective. The cost efficiency analysis was performed for the other 8 ineffective service units and improvement figures required for the establishment of efficiency were presented. As a result, evaluations were obtained on how to allocate resources for the effectiveness.