Citizen Satisfaction Mediates Administrative Service and Complaint Handling Quality Effects on Trust

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Abstract

Citizen trust in local government is shaped not only by the availability of public services but also by how citizens evaluate their service experiences. This study examines the effects of administrative service quality and complaint handling quality on citizen trust through citizen satisfaction in district-level public services in Jakarta. A quantitative explanatory survey was conducted among Jakarta residents who had experience with district administrative services and official digital complaint channels. Using convenience sampling, the study analyzed 397 eligible respondents. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. Administrative service quality and complaint handling quality significantly strengthen citizen satisfaction. Administrative service quality also has a significant direct effect on citizen trust, whereas complaint handling quality does not directly strengthen trust. Citizen satisfaction emerges as the strongest mechanism in explaining trust and mediates the effects of both service quality dimensions. The mediation pattern indicates that complaint handling quality builds trust primarily when citizens first experience satisfaction with the complaint process. The study contributes by demonstrating that administrative service quality and complaint handling quality follow distinct trust-building pathways: administrative service quality strengthens trust both directly and through satisfaction, whereas complaint handling quality builds trust primarily through citizen satisfaction. These findings emphasize that responsive, transparent, clear, and solution-oriented public services are essential for strengthening citizen evaluations of local government. Managerial priorities include improving staff competence, service information, complaint follow-up transparency, solution accuracy, and certainty of resolution.