Complaint Management in Public Institutions in Tanzania: A Systematic Review of Literature 2008 – 2023

Abstract

Complaining against dissatisfaction with service failure has received considerable attention in the literature. This attention focuses on improving service provision to meet the satisfaction of service users. To manage complaints, governments around the globe have established the requirements that guide the management of complaints in public institutions. This study reviews and analyses the contents of previous research to examine the implementation of complaint management in Tanzania and suggests workable strategies. The main question that guided the review was, “What are the key findings from empirical research on complaint management? Google Scholar was used as the main online search engine. Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT) were used to narrow down and ease the online search. “Complaints Management”, “Tanzania”, “Compliance”, and “Complaints Standards” were used as the keywords. Both grey and peer-reviewed studies were reviewed. Content analysis was performed to reveal key findings. The results revealed that the management of complaints is ineffective.
A lack of confidentiality, unresponsiveness, inattentiveness, poor communication, untimely feedback, and negligence have been cited as causes of ineffectiveness. Public institutions should customise complaint management practices to suit working environments and services. Further studies can be conducted to examine why public institutions in Tanzania do not adhere to the established complaint management requirements.