Slack resources and quality performance: case of a mega health care organization

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 1060-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artie Ng ◽  
Wai Ming Wang
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Service Provider ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Care Organization ◽  
Quality Performance ◽  
Slack Resources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Services

Purpose Prior studies have examined the relationship between budgetary slack and short-termism of management within a profit-seeking business environment. The purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamics of slack resources in relation to quality performance of heath care services delivered by a publicly funded organization. Design/methodology/approach A longitudinal regression analysis of resource utilization, productivity and the quality of health care services delivered is performed to reveal evidence about the underlying dynamics of heterogeneous slack resources. It attempts to study slack resources in the case of a “mega” health care service provider based in Hong Kong. Findings The results suggest that the organization’s cost containment culture, with a strategic focus on productivity measures, has augmented cost effectiveness; however, not all slack resources would enhance quality performance. Originality/value This study of a mega health care service provider complements the prior studies of slack resources and points out the challenges of proactively managing any slack resources toward quality performance beyond productivity.

scholarly journals Understanding technology mediation and new service provider roles in health care

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athanasia Daskalopoulou ◽  
Kathy Keeling ◽  
Rowan Pritchard Jones
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Service Provider ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Advance Technology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Care Service Providers

PurposeService research holds that as services become more technology dominated, new service provider roles emerge. On a conceptual level, the potential impact of different roles has been discussed with regard to service provider readiness, job performance and overall experience. However, as yet, there is sparse empirical support for these conceptual interpretations. The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of the new service provider roles that emerge due to the increase of technology mediation in services.Design/methodology/approachThis study follows a qualitative methodology. Insights are drawn from in-depth interviews with 32 junior and senior health-care service providers (across 12 specialties) and 5 information governance/management staff.FindingsThis analysis illustrates that new service provider roles include those of the enabler, differentiator, innovator, coordinator and sense-giver. By adopting these roles, health-care service providers reveal that they can encourage, support and advance technology mediation in services across different groups/audiences within their organizations (e.g. service delivery level, peer-to-peer level, organizational level). This paper further shows the relationships between these new service provider roles.Originality/valueThis study contributes to theory in technology-mediated services by illustrating empirically the range of activities that constitute each role. It also complements prior work by identifying that service providers adopt the additional role of sense-giver. Finally, this paper provides an understanding of how by taking on these roles service providers can encourage, support and advance technology mediation in services across different groups/audiences in their organization.

Measuring gaps in healthcare quality using SERVQUAL model: challenges and opportunities in developing countries

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Firas AlOmari
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Patient’S Perspective ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Patient’S Perception

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to gauge the health-care services from a patient’s perspective in five private hospitals in the Syrian capital Damascus. Design/methodology/approach The five dimensions-SERVQUAL model (tangibility, empathy, assurance, reliability and responsiveness) was implemented to measure the gap between patient’s perception and expectation in health-care service quality. Findings The SERVQUAL tool proved to be reliable and valid in assessing service quality in Syrian health-care setting. The assessment of the service quality from a patient’s perspective shows that all SERVQUAL dimensions were negative except for tangible element that scored (+0.57) gap. Based on patient’s expectation, empathy scored the highest score with (4.37), followed by responsiveness (4.17), reliability (3.90), tangibility (3.82) and assurance (3.45). The widest negative gaps among the 22 SERVQUAL items were related to listening skills of hospital staffs (−1.52) and for spending enough time with patient (−1.81). This study indicated that tangible dimension plays a significant role in balancing the deficiency in other service quality dimensions. In addition, communication skills of medical and paramedical staff should be improved to ameliorate patient’s perception about health-care services. Research limitations/implications This study provides valuable insights into the patient’s perception, but the feedback from hospital staffs (doctor, nurses) and hospital’s senior managers also considered potential rich information sources. This survey is conducted in the capital, and future research should include replication of this study in the other 13 Syrian governorates before generalizing the findings of this research. Practical implications Hospital administrator could use SERVQUAL model to improve their operational performance as well as to benchmark their behavior against other competitors in the health-care market in Damascus. This paper provides valuable information to policymakers and top hospital management to understand patient-centered care and to improve health-care system in Syria. Besides, this research provides a marketing insight to realize what patient expects and how she/he assesses the care service. Originality/value To the author’s knowledge, this is one of very few studies conducted to assess service quality in private health-care sector in Damascus. The main contribution of this study is providing the empirical evidence that the five dimensions-SERVQUAL scale proved to be reliable and valid instrument for measuring and analyzing health-care service quality in Syria.

scholarly journals Patient’s Utility for Various Attributes of Diabetes Care Services

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinaytosh Mishra ◽  
Cherian Samuel ◽  
S. K. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Waiting Time ◽  
Diabetes Care ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Diabetic Patients ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Care Services

Diabetes is rising like an epidemic in India. The prevalence of diabetes in India has reached an alarming level of 72.95 millions. The purpose of this article is to assess the relative importance of various health care service attributes in diabetes care. Our study uses secondary research and focus group discussion to identify the attributes of a diabetes specialty clinic. The attributes included in the questionnaire were the quality of the care provide by the health care givers, spend per visit, hospitalization expense, waiting time and the distance to the hospital. Conjoint analysis was used to assess the relative importance of the attributes. It was found that the hospital’s quality was the most important attribute while the distance to the hospital was the attribute with the least importance. Although the quality of the hospital is the most important criterion in selecting a hospital in diabetes care, factors like waiting time, spend per visit, and hospitalization expense play an important role in the selection. We assess the relative importance of these factors for the diabetic patients in India. The study is first of its kind and could help policy makers in designing better health care services in diabetes care.

scholarly journals An evaluation of factors affecting the management of COVID-19 in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed S.M Sadrul Huda ◽  
Afsana Akhtar ◽  
Segufta Dilshad ◽  
Syeeda Raisa Maliha
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Care Management ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Health Care Management ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social

PurposeThe study aims to gain insights into the management of COVID-19 in Bangladesh to identify the factors that are relevant to managing the pandemic in a developing country.Design/methodology/approachThe study was carried out by pursuing the archival method. The information was collected from credible newspaper reports over the previous months, as well as articles published on the subject of COVID-19.FindingsThe research revealed important and relevant dimensions of the health sector in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. The major factors were doctors, nurses (health service providers), patients, (customers) and society. This is a pioneering paper, which documents the major lessons learned from the management of COVID-19 in Bangladesh concerning three stakeholders of the health-care system, i.e. providers, patients and society. This paper covers the situation regarding the ongoing pandemic from three perspectives – provider, customers and society, and thus, may help to develop future research regarding the development of health-care management models for addressing the pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitations of this paper is its over dependence on secondary sources for collecting the information.Practical implicationsThis paper presents the learnings from the pandemic in health-care management in different categories (e.g. social, doctor/nurse, patients), which can help the managers in understanding different dimensions of the health-care sector from different perspectives. The problems as well as the learnings stated in the paper can help the policy makers implement such strategies to ensure better delivery of the medical health-care service during a pandemic.Social implicationsThis paper clearly reveals the social dimensions of the COVID-19 by assessing the social aspects of COVID-19 management. Both social stigma and support are traced out during evaluating the situation. Thus, the social forces will be able to rethink about their role in addressing the social costs of pandemic.Originality/valueThis is a commentary piece.

How Roles and Professions Change

2012 ◽  
pp. 229-233
Author(s):  
Fulvio Moirano
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Organization ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
Care Organization ◽  
Health Care Professions ◽  
The Social

The article describes the changes in the health care professions and in the social roles. Starting from the present situation, some evidences are analyzed in order to provide some insights on the evolution of the Italian Health Care Service. Notably two kinds of factors are taken into considerations: internal ones (that is, health care organization and professions) and external ones.

The relationship between perceived dissimilarity and feedback avoidance behaviour

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Song ◽  
Kubilay Gok ◽  
Sherry Moss ◽  
Nancy Borkowski
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Avoidance Behaviour ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Interpersonal Processes ◽  
Conflict Task ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Results

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the conditions in which subordinates, after making a mistake, are more likely to engage in feedback avoidance behaviour (FAB), a set of behaviours that could ultimately jeopardise patient safety in a health care context. Design/methodology/approach This study used a sample of 183 independent leader-subordinate dyads in the health care service sector. For this study, a multiple mediator model in which three types of conflict (task conflict, relationship conflict and process conflict) were tested and acted as mediating mechanisms that transmitted the effects of perceived dissimilarity to FAB. Findings The results supported the mediating role of two of the three forms of conflict and highlighted the consequences of dissimilarity between supervisors and subordinates in the healthcare setting. Research limitations/implications One of the noteworthy limitations of this study was that this study used cross-sectional time-lagged data. Future research should use a more rigorous longitudinal approach such as a cross-lagged design (Whitman et al., 2012) to explore the dynamic nature of dyadic relationships over time. Practical implications An important implication of our study results suggests that health care leadership development training should provide opportunities to increase awareness of the tendency of leaders to treat subordinates perceived as dissimilar more negatively. Originality/value These results contribute to our understanding of the interpersonal processes between subordinates and their supervisors, which could have a significant impact on organisational outcomes in the health care setting.

The effects of service quality and perceived price on revisit intention of patients: the Malaysian context

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 541-558
Author(s):  
Kim Piew Lai ◽  
Yuen Yee Yen ◽  
Chong Siong Choy
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Revisit Intention ◽  
Medical Fees ◽  
Perceived Price

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effects of service quality and perceived price (monetary and behavioural price) on the revisit intention of patients to hospitals, as well as the mediating role of perceived price on the relationship between service quality and revisit intention. Design/methodology/approach This paper distributes questionnaires to outpatients in three major cities in Malaysia, namely, Penang, Melaka and Johor. Patients who were in the foyer, dispensary area and waiting area were intercepted where their responses were sought. The responses obtained from 400 patients were analysed using the structural equation modelling technique. Besides analysing the path coefficients, this study has examined the common method variance, bias and indirect effects of the relationships. Findings The results suggest that patients pay more attention to certain values in their search for the best health-care service and subsequently move on to new values. Pricing is an effective strategy to promote favourable behavioural intentions amongst patients. Better service quality is reflected in the reasonableness of monetary costs incurred by patients in acquiring health-care services. Patients who received poor services will be more likely to compare such services to the medical costs incurred to ascertain the worthiness of the amount paid. In addition, service quality also influences how patients perceive spending their time and efforts (waiting for nurses and physicians, as well as queueing in hospitals) as worthy and vice-versa. Their revisit intention will also be affected by the extent of which they invest their time, energy and efforts to search for relevant information. Practical implications The hospitals which desire to charge additional fees should enhance their service quality to reflect price equity. This is imperative in view of the pricing structure which can be relatively complex in subsequent follow-up treatments that may affect the decision of patients on the sources of health-care services. Originality/value Given the inevitable increase in medical fees, the perceived price can be a key determinant to the overall judgement patients had in terms of the health-care services received and the time and efforts sacrificed. However, the importance of monetary price and the behavioural price is still relatively unstudied, particularly their influence on revisit intention in the health-care setting.

Health care service quality: a journey so far

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1893-1927
Author(s):  
Raghav Upadhyai ◽  
Neha Upadhyai ◽  
Arvind Kumar Jain ◽  
Hiranmoy Roy ◽  
Vimal Pant
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Measurement Strategies

PurposeHealth care service is a widely researched area. Several established models and instruments measuring health care service quality (HCSQ) are available in the published academic literature. The objective of this article is to summarize this vast pool of available knowledge under the themes of HCSQ, its determinants and measurement strategies.Design/methodology/approachSixty-three available published studies in peer reviewed journal combed in EBSCO and Google Scholar database have been examined and presented in exemplary literature review.FindingsThe findings have been segregated under the themes of HCSQ, its dimensions and determinants. It can be deduced from the findings that in spite of health care being a professional service, the user defined service quality takes center stage.Originality/valueRather than the seeker of care, the authors call for further research by taking a dyadic view of professional exchanges and including providers' perspectives of care in service quality evaluations as well.

Patient loyalty model

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sik Sumaedi ◽  
I Gede Mahatma Yuda Bakti ◽  
Tri Rakhmawati ◽  
Nidya Judhi Astrini ◽  
Medi Yarmen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Behavioral Control ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Subjective Norm ◽  
The Other ◽  
Perceived Behavioral Control ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Patient Loyalty ◽  
Service Institution

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the simultaneous effect of subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and trust on patient loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data were collected through survey. The respondents of the survey are 157 patients of a health-care service institution in Bogor, Indonesia. Multiple regressions analysis was performed to test the conceptual model and the proposed hypotheses. Findings – The findings showed that subjective norm and trust influence patient loyalty positively. However, this research also found that perceived behavioral control does not influence patient loyalty significantly. Research limitations/implications – The survey was only conducted at one health-care service institution in Bogor, Indonesia. In addition, convenience sampling method was used. These conditions may cause that the research results can not be generalized to the other contexts. Therefore, replication research is needed to test the stability of the findings in the other contexts. Practical implications – Health-care service institutions need to pay attention to trust and subjective norm to establish patient loyalty. Originality/value – This study is believed to be the first to develop and test patient loyalty model that includes subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and trust.

The Perceptions and Usage Intention of a Telecare System: An Empirical Study in Taiwan

2011 ◽  
Vol 467-469 ◽  
pp. 1056-1065
Author(s):  
Hui Lung Hsieh ◽  
Chung Hung Tsai ◽  
Bi Kun Chuang
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Individual Privacy ◽  
Telemedicine Technology ◽  
Patient Health ◽  
Biomedical Technologies

With the growing number of aging population and chronic illnesses, how to help elderly residents access the health care service timely is a challenge for health care institutions in Taiwan. Recent advances in information, communication and biomedical technologies have combined to allow the development of various types of telemedicine technology designed to enhance or expand the health care services of elderly residents. However, most telecare studies focused only on medical care or development of technology rather than on comprehensive evaluation of residents’ (or patients’) perception about service processes. The purpose of this study was to explore rural residents’ perceptions and usage intention of a telecare system after they have used it. Results from this exploratory study showed that most elderly people have never heard or touched telecare systems before the study was conducted. However, the general perceptions of such systems included improvement of interacting with medical staffs, safety protection, convenient care, and one needed item of services in daily life. Especially, the mostly risk perception was privacy risk, that is, data confidentiality and individual privacy. Generally, most elderly residents evaluated their telecare experiences and perceptions as being positive. Besides, most elderly resident were willing to use the telecare system without fees. However, they felt risky about confidentiality and privacy toward this technology. To improve trustworthy perception of this novel technology, telecare providers should implement appropriate safeguards to protect patient health information exchanged in a telecare setting. Also, the physicians/nurses should take the time to communicate with the residents, especially in the form of education, about the benefits of technology. To optimize the effectiveness of this promising technique, more research on the relationship between residents’ (or patients’) perceptions and influences of technology will need to be conducted continually in future.

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