Interrelationships among quality enablers, service quality, patients’ satisfaction and loyalty in hospitals

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Sadeh

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to clarify how enablers of quality management can secure the satisfaction and loyalty of patients through increasing service quality in hospitals. Design/methodology/approach The current study conducted a review of the existing literature to identify operational dimensions of the research variables. As a result of the review, 17 dimensions were identified; five European foundation for quality management enablers, five SERVQUAL service quality dimensions, four patients’ satisfaction elements and three patients’ loyalty components. To evaluate interrelationships among these 17 research dimensions, decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory technique was applied using experts’ opinions. Findings Several key relations were found among research dimensions. Research findings could provide a scientific insight for hospital managers to understand how they could increase the level of patients’ satisfaction and loyalty through high-quality services provided by quality management enablers. Research limitations/implications This study has been conducted based on the expert’s opinions from private hospitals located in Tehran and Alborz provinces, Iran. Although the results could be useful for hospital managers in different places and could provide them a valuable insight and knowledge, findings are limited to Iranian private hospitals. Originality/value It is taken for granted that patients’ satisfaction and loyalty could increase as a result of high-quality medical and treatment services in hospitals. On the other hand, offering excellent services meeting all the needs and expectations of customers could be consequence product of quality management enablers. Even though satisfaction and loyalty of customers, i.e. patients, is the primary target of quality management, there is little research in the literature as to how enablers of quality management can secure the satisfaction and loyalty through increasing service quality in hospitals. The gap is more critical because the specialized dimensions of four research variables have not been previously integrated into a coherent framework and interrelationships among them have not been studied and clarified in detail. The current study attempts to bridge this gap.

The current research is both exploratory and descriptive in nature, with a primary focus on SERVQUAL aspects of service quality in private hospitals. The study used a quantitative technique to analyze primary and secondary data, and 255 people were interviewed as part of the sample. Patients' perceptions of the quality of service provided by private hospitals are varied, according to the survey. The perceptions of service recipients are positive in certain areas, such as reliability and responsibility, but negative in others, such as cost and communication. The major parameters impacting the total service quality of private hospitals were identified using regression analysis. In terms of service reliability, the most important factors determining patients' overall service quality are concentration (a composite of 11 measures) and responsiveness (a composite of 9 measures). The study found that the quality of hospital treatments is determined by the incentive system in place at these institutions. Because private hospitals are not funded and rely on revenue from customers, the relevant authorities should be more motivated to deliver high-quality services to patients in order to better satisfy their requirements.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debby Willar ◽  
Vaughan Coffey ◽  
Bambang Trigunarsyah

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of quality management systems (QMSs) of Grade 7 (G-7) Indonesian construction companies. This includes the initial motives that have driven the development of QMSs, barriers to effective QMS implementation, the current practice and integration of QMS-ISO 9001 principles and elements, and the performance of contractors implementing such QMSs. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted involving 403 respondents (Quality Management Representatives, Managers, and Project and Site Engineers) from 77 G-7 as well as ISO 9001 certified Indonesian construction companies. Findings – The main motive for G-7 contractors in establishing and implementing ISO 9001 based QMSs are identified as being to effectively and efficiently control project activities. Respondents apparently do not often experience problems related to QMS implementation. However, issues of management attitude and purpose are identified as barriers that may affect effective QMS implementation. The study highlights the ISO 9001 principles and elements that still require to be more critically applied by G-7 contractors in order to fully implement and improve their current QMS effectiveness. The findings also suggest that, although certified, many G-7 contractors have not yet achieved a satisfactory level of performance to be truly competitive in global markets outside Indonesia. Originality/value – To date, only limited research has been conducted into the application of ISO 9001 in the Indonesian construction industry. The research findings reinforced the value of pursuing more effective QMS implementation. They also support current attempts to introduce ISO 9001 QMSs to a much wider base of Indonesian construction companies, particularly small and medium sized contractors and builders.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 600-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debajani Sahoo ◽  
Tathagata Ghosh

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the motives that enforce consumers to find out the major determinants that frame healthscape in private healthcare service that leads to their satisfaction in a developing country like India. Design/methodology/approach – The generic motive dimensions are identified using an exploratory factor analysis. Next the reliability and validity of the factors are established followed by regression analysis using SPSS 20.0 s/w. Findings – This paper identifies six healthscape motives in the private healthcare sector named as service personnel conduct and cleanliness, service delivery and facilities, ambience, location and look, appealing decoration, and upgraded safety service, out of which only service delivery, ambience, location, and decorations contribute the most to build customer satisfaction as per their significance value. Research limitations/implications – The various dimensions of healthcare motives should be viewed as the levers of improving hospitals’ service quality in the minds of its present and future customers. This finding can offer valuable insight to the forthcoming as well as existing developer who are planning to have their healthcare service presence in India. Practical implications – This study suggests some important strategic guidelines for service positioning and market segmentation of healthcare services as per customer requirements. In the recent past, availing services from hospitals were purely utilitarian in nature. Customers were more inclined to get proper and timely services and cared more about the service quality of the healthcare service provider. Originality/value – This paper is among the few works done on understanding private healthcare service delivery process in India and customer satisfaction level from those Hospitals. This study addresses the gap by identifying a set of dimensions that are relevant to customers for a unique healthcare experience.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Famiyeh ◽  
Amoako Kwarteng ◽  
Samuel Ato Dadzie

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm’s reputation in terms of product and service quality, management performance and attractiveness as well as reputation on overall performance from a developing country’s environment. Design/methodology/approach The partial lest squares structural equation modeling was used to study the relationship between CSR and firm’s reputation as well as the overall organizational performance using a survey of informants from Ghana. Findings Using data from firms in Ghana, the study demonstrates that CSR initiative by firms will have a positive relationship with firm’s reputation in terms of product and service quality, management performance and attractiveness as well as overall performance. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that enhanced reputation by firms through social responsibility initiatives will lead to firms’ overall performance from the Ghanaian business environment. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this work is the source of the data originating from only executives from Ghana where managers are sometimes skeptical giving out such information; this might have some influence on the results. In addition, there could be potential endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity issues. It is therefore recommended that future studies should consider these issues to check as to whether the same results could be achieved. Specifically, results indicate that when organizations invest in CSR initiatives, they are likely to achieve product quality, improved management performance and an attractiveness as well as overall performance. Practical implications The research shows how CSR initiatives can enhance firm’s reputation and overall performance of a firm. Originality/value The work illustrates and provides some insights and builds on the literature in the area CSR and reputation from a developing country’s environment.


Author(s):  
Gurel Cetin ◽  
Fevzi Okumus

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate tourists’ experiences of local hospitality and offer a typology of Turkish hospitality based on perspectives of international tourists. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with tourists visiting Istanbul, Turkey. Interview transcripts were content-analyzed and -coded under different themes that characterize local hospitality. Findings The research findings revealed 64 items describing local Turkish hospitality. These were grouped under four distinct themes: sociability, care, helpfulness and generosity. Research limitations/implications Using the factors of local Turkish hospitality identified in this paper, future studies might measure the impacts of these antecedents of local hospitality on tourist satisfaction and positive behaviors such as loyalty and word of mouth in a quantitative study. Exploring local hospitality in different destinations with different characteristics might also reveal valuable insight into variance and intensity of local hospitality. Practical implications The research findings have implications for both commercial hospitality and destination management. By leveraging the local hospitality elements in their operations and human resources management practices, the commercial hospitality firms might create strong emotional bonds with their guests and create loyalty through these relationships. Destination planning and management might also adopt the findings to facilitate interactions between the hosts and tourists for more positive experiences for both sides to emerge. Social implications Destinations exposed to heavy visitation may not have the same level of hospitableness toward visitors. Hence, impact of tourism activity on local quality of life should be monitored and managed. Originality/value Despite hospitality having been researched in numerous previous studies, local hospitality has not yet been fully explored in tourism. This study presents and discusses empirical findings and offers a typology of local Turkish hospitality.


Author(s):  
Nor Azilah Husin ◽  
Hendra Lukito ◽  
Athirah Noor Aisyahmohd Nizam ◽  
Nur Qhairunnisa Mohamed Rashid ◽  
Nurul Anis Halid

Malaysian healthcare is nominated as one of the best healthcare providers in the world. However, does this fact reflect the patients' satisfaction? Therefore, this research aims to investigate whether empathy, competency, and service quality influence patients' satisfaction in healthcare services in Selangor, Malaysia. Primary data are collected using a self-administered questionnaire and a sample of 206 patients from four government and private hospitals in Selangor. Data were analysed through descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. The findings show that empathy has the strongest relationship (β= .403) followed by service quality with (β=.284) and competency (β= .176). All factors also influenced patients' satisfaction. All identified variables contribute to a big amount of variances (R2=66.8percent) to the overall hospital performance that makes its client happy and satisfied. The understanding patients' satisfaction will lead to many improved services. Practically, this study can contribute to a better experience for patients and knowledge for hospitals to strive for a better service healthcare provider.


Kybernetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 3047-3068
Author(s):  
Enock Mintah Ampaw ◽  
Junwu Chai ◽  
Biru Liang ◽  
Sang-Bing Tsai ◽  
Joseph Frempong

Purpose With the exigencies of health-care service quality to actualize sustainable socio-economic and developmental aspirations, in both peripheral and core countries, this paper aims to provide empirical evidence on health-care service quality and its precursor – patients’ satisfaction, and continuous service utilization. Design/methodology/approach A total of 398 screened questionnaires were analyzed from selected hospitals of the Koforidua, Ghana. Findings from the structural equation modeling showed a significant association among perceived quality, patients’ satisfaction and tangibility. Contrary to the expectations, the results did not show a significant association among the constructs – perceived quality, safety and empathy. Again, the model fit indices collaboratively showed that the hypothesized model overwhelmingly “fit” the sample data, and further proved the predictive robustness of the model. Findings The results of the analysis demonstrate that patients were discontent with empathy and safety measures at the hospitals. However, tangible and perceived quality were identified as significant predictors of patients’ satisfaction. Originality/value There is a dearth of empirical investigations on the assessment of health-care service quality and patients’ satisfaction in developing economies such as Ghana. Therefore, the implication of the study will equip the top hierarchy of the Health System of Ghana in achieving their mission, and objectives in line with quality service delivery. In particular, MoH and GHS can embark on a routine exercise to audit the hospitals for re-accreditation, and provide CCT cameras to improve safety and security conditions at the hospitals, while enforcing the culture of receptive hospital environment to improve empathy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 590-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swapnarag Swain

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to compare perceived service quality of public/government and private medical college hospitals.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a descriptive, cross-sectional and research design. The research sample includes 340 in patients from six medical college hospitals located in the state of Odisha, India. Primary data are collected through a structured closed ended questionnaire containing 66 items on 1–7 point Likert scale. Statistical tools like factor analysis and ANOVA are performed with the help of SPSS-17 software to analyze the collected data.FindingsThis study identifies 13 dimensions of perceived hospital service quality. The comparative study indicates better performance of public/government hospitals across the technical dimensions of perceived service quality, whereas private hospitals report better performance across majority of the functional dimensions.Originality/valueIn the Indian healthcare system, public hospitals provide low-cost healthcare targeted toward low to middle socio-economic population whereas, large corporate private hospitals provide high-cost healthcare targeted toward high-income group. So the comparison between them produces an obvious result indicating better service quality in private hospitals. Present study minimizes this gap by comparing the service quality of public and private medical college hospitals. Medical colleges ensure access to health services for a larger group of people. Thus, similarity in the segment of population receiving medical services in public and private medical colleges is higher, making the comparison of perceived service quality fairer.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafikul Islam ◽  
Selim Ahmed ◽  
Mahbubar Rahman ◽  
Ahmed Al Asheq

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of various service quality dimensions, namely reliability, responsiveness, visibility, employee commitment and access to service on customer satisfaction in the private banking sector of Bangladesh. The research also investigates the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty and effect of demographic variables on customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers distributed 320 self-administered survey questionnaires among private banks' customers in Bangladesh and obtained 200 useable responses with a 62.5% valid response rate. The research data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) approaches. Analysis of variance and logistic regression have also been used to obtain the supplementary findings.FindingsThe research findings indicate that visibility, responsiveness and employee commitment have positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction, whereas reliability and access to service are found to have insignificant influence on customer satisfaction of private banking services. The findings of this study also revealed that customer satisfaction has positive and significant relationship with customer loyalty. But except respondents' occupation type, all other demographic variables have no statistically significant relation with customer satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThe research focused solely on the private banking sector of Bangladesh, and thus the results may not be applicable to other service sectors.Originality/valueThis study conducted on customers' perception of private banking services is based on extended service quality dimensions and its relationship with customer satisfaction towards loyalty. The present research findings are anticipated to offer the guidelines for improving the customer satisfaction and loyalty of private banking services in Bangladesh as well as other countries.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 360-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Edward Baldwin

Purpose – This longitudinal research project seeks to monitor and report on the levels of patient satisfaction with the delivery of dental care provided by the Australian Unity Dental Centres (AUDC), which offer private dental care to people within Australia. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the above issue. Design/methodology/approach – The primary data gathering medium employed in this research was a survey based upon the SERVQUAL instrument. The research compares results obtained from the initial 2000 survey with the results of surveys conducted through to 2012. The key question addressed in this report is: how have patient perceptions of the service quality of care received at AUDC changed between the 2000 and 2012 survey periods? Findings – The level of expected service has improved over the study period, as has the level of perceived service delivered. A number of areas that would benefit from further improvement are identified and matched to specific actions that are being implemented by the business. Practical implications – A principal objective of the AUDC is to provide high-quality dental care to the patients. This objective can be best pursued through a regime that recognises that high-quality clinical outcomes are often dependent upon patients following recommended treatment pathways. This dependency pre-supposes that patients understand the treatment pathway's compliance requirements and, further, agree to comply with them. Originality/value – No other research projects have utilised eight iterations of SERVQUAL over a 13-year period in the dental service delivery sector.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document