Health Care

Impact Of Service Quality And Patient’s Satisfaction On Patient Loyalty

Literature Review

Customer satisfaction is the sole purpose of every organization, as it is the basic foundation of every mission statement. It is the ultimate goal of every organization to achieve maximum customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is termed as the feeling of pleasure or disappointment caused by comparing a product’s real performance with the expected performance.

In this section, we will explain the definitions and concepts that are related to the research questions mentioned in the introduction. We explain this to them with the help of research work that has already been done by the researchers. The researchers have already worked to explore different dimensions that can increase the satisfaction level of a patient and, hence, increase patient loyalty. Based on the literature, research gaps and theoretical framework are described in this section, and the proposed research model consists of one dependent, one independent, and one mediator.

Service Quality

Service quality is termed as the measurement of the gap between the perceptions and expectations of customers about the service. Most companies measure the quality of their services as feedback and make corrective measures in order to provide the best quality services (Parasuraman et al., 1985). Service and quality are two different things that help to gain commitment and satisfaction. The main goal of any company or organization doing business in the market is to make its customers, and the customers who are satisfied by your services will automatically become loyal. Therefore, while expecting satisfied and loyal customers, providing high-quality service and facilities is mandatory (Richard, 2002). Service is an activity or task that is used to benefit customers by making some adjustments accepted by the customer (Piercy et al., 2002). Customer service is raised to support the core product of the company (Zeithaml, 2000). The comparison between the expectations and performance experience in using the service will result in the consumer’s assessment and is highly important (Gronroos, 1990). User experience can be differentiated into three categories: technical quality, functional quality, and corporate image. Technical quality is the quality that can be felt, service delivery is referred to as functional quality, and the image of the company is referred to as a corporate image. If the expectations of the consumer are according to what he actually felt after taking benefit from the services, it means that the quality of services is good. In other words, we can say that if the consumer’s impression is positive, it means that the customer is satisfied with the service provided. If the perceived quality is below the expectations of the consumer, then the quality of services must be low.

Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is referred to as a specific evaluation of the services provided by the company; it is assessed by the experience of the consumer during the process of service delivery. Satisfaction involves the feeling of happiness or disappointment, which is derived from the comparison of impressions between the actual service delivery and the expected service delivery (Kotler, 2003). Many researchers have found that patient satisfaction cannot be equated with customer satisfaction or consumer satisfaction. The marketing conceptual models do not easily fit many common medical situations and scenarios (Newsome and Wright, 1999). There is a difference between a consumer’s expectations and a patient’s expectations. The role played by the patient’s expectations, perceptions and disconfirmations are not yet understood. There are many authors who claim that the patients feel or experience themselves as a part of the healthcare system, and it is possible that the patient may act silent and not evaluate the provided service during the treatment. The patient may have some complex, relevant, and important beliefs that cannot be expressed in terms of satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Williams, 1994). William stated that the results to assess a patient’s satisfaction should be interpreted in the context of the total number of assumptions or expectations the patient possesses, by which the patient actually means satisfied. It is explored that patient satisfaction acts as a health indicator by comparing patient satisfaction with the general health status, and it is assumed that patient satisfaction may benefit as a health indicator (Mpinga, Chastonay, 2011). Further, it was concluded that patient satisfaction can be used to indicate a patient’s health status.

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