A Comprehensive Performance Evaluation of the Jordanian Customs Department Using the Balanced Scorecard

The current paper aimed at utilizing the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework in evaluating the Customs Departmentin Jordan. The BSC evaluates organization in terms of financial performance, customer satisfaction, internal process,and growth and organization learning. Financial performance was measured by examining revenues, expenditures, andratio of customs revenues to total local revenues for the period (1996-2005). Regarding the customer perspective, arandom sample of (100) firms (20% of the total population) of clearance customs was selected. The clearance agent ofeach firm was asked to fill out a survey that measured their level of satisfaction about the Customs Department inregards to providing services and procedures. In addition, a random sample consisted of (150) of the employees ofcentral Customs Department in Amman was chosen to fill out the survey regarding their assessment of the internalprocess and growth and organization learning perspectives of the BSC.The findings reported that the financial performance of Customs Department was positive for the whole study period(1996-2005) in terms of the amount of dinars collected, revenues minus expenditures, and customs revenues as a shareof total local revenues. Clearance customs agents reported a moderate satisfaction level toward the customs servicesand procedures. Analysis showed that customs employees had a moderate level of satisfaction toward both internalprocess and growth and organization learning of the BSC’s dimensions. The analysis revealed that clearance customsagents who hold high school or lower had higher level of satisfaction toward customs services compared withrespondents who hold bachelor or higher. Regarding the statisfaction of customs employees toward the internal processof the department, manger reported more satisfaction level compared with non-managers.