The police station service quality: a comparative study of the areas in the South of Thailand

Abstract

Routine attacks and killings targeted at soldiers, police officers, and local citizens have been going on in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand (Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat) for over a decade. Although the root cause of the insurgency is still unknown, religion and secession were pointed out by many political analysts. The objective of this study is to find out empirically how different Muslims and Buddhists perceived service quality they received from the police. Data were collected from 540 people who came to police stations for services. Service quality was measured in five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The results of this study reveal that, in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand, Muslims perceived higher service quality from the police than Buddhists.