Background: Municipalities have come under fire for providing inferior services, which has sparked protests across the nation. Fraud, corruption, misappropriation of public funds and general incompetence on the part of municipal managers and their staff have been the problems that have crippled most municipalities.Aim: To investigate the association between the municipal credit management policy, responsiveness and service delivery, within a Sedibeng district municipality.Methods: This study applied quantitative analysis. The primary data were collected from residents through a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (Version 28) was applied to perform the descriptive analysis and correlational analysis.Results: Key findings of this study revealed a significant positive correlation between credit management and service provision. The relationship between the credit management policy, responsiveness to credit management and service delivery is substantial. Therefore, the quality of service delivery increases with improved credit management.Conclusion: The study showed that there is a significant connection between credit management, credit management responsiveness and service delivery.Contribution: Based on the findings, it was advised that the municipality should implement rebates and discounts for paying customers, constantly review crucial credit policies and ensure the provision of high-quality services. The study concluded that there is an association between credit management, responsiveness and service delivery.

Orientation: The study explores credit management on the South African higher education landscape in the context of the institutional theory.Research purpose: To calculate a best practice frontier to assess the extent to which universities’ credit management policy as an institutional resource is appropriate for its environment.Motivation for the study: The study was undertaken to investigate how the institutional environment influences the development of formal university structures.Research design, approach and method: A parallel mixed-method research design was followed to collect both qualitative data and quantitative data: document analysis to assess five universities of technology’s credit management policies and quantitative data testing 1392 senior students’ perspectives on the credit management policies of these five universities of technology.Main findings: The lesson learnt from this study is that the more aggressive the credit management policy, the more the students rated it as appropriate (fair, understandable and accurate). Furthermore, contrary to extant literature, no evidence was found that a stringent or aggressive credit management policy is experienced as rigorous.Practical/managerial implications: Universities of technology may apply aggressive credit management policies without the fear that they will be perceived as rigorous.Contribution/value-add: Policymakers should note that students desire a credit management policy that: (1) is well communicated to them; (2) encourages them, by granting discounts, to do early settlements of debt; (3) is strictly implemented; and (4) is strict with regard to the collection and recovery of (deferred) debt.

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