Service quality effect on satisfaction and word of mouth in the health care industry

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to study the effect of service quality (SQ) dimensions on satisfaction and word of mouth (WOM) for maternities in Greece.Design/methodology/approachBased on Parasuraman et al.'s SERVQUAL variables, the authors tried to identify the effects of each variable to satisfaction and WOM. Data were collected through field research among 1,000 mothers who have given birth to a child during the last five years, and the data were analysed using SEM.FindingsThe results suggest that, in addition to “satisfaction”, the only service quality dimension that directly affects WOM, is “empathy”. In addition, “empathy” affects “responsiveness”, “assurance” and “tangibles” which in turn have only an indirect effect to WOM through “satisfaction”.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations relate to the use of a non‐probability sample and the restricted geographical area of the field research. This study contributes to the body of academic knowledge by shedding more light into the role of SQ dimensions, and especially “empathy”, in the WOM for maternities.Practical implicationsAn understanding of the effect of SQ dimensions in satisfaction and WOM is important to maternities' marketing managers because it offers them the opportunity to take certain actions for improving customers' satisfaction and increase their intention to use positive WOM.Originality/valueThe paper manages to identify the effects of SQ dimensions on satisfaction and WOM, especially in the health care marketing sector.

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“…In a context of strong competition, health managers face the challenge of measuring not only the financial performance (costs, revenues, profitability) but also the quality of service provided, in order to increase the competitiveness of their institutions. 37 Thus, the policy implications are clear.…”

The Effects of Travel Service Quality on Organization Perceived Value, Satisfaction and Word-Of-Mouth—A study in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

“…It was emphasized that the importance of customer-oriented services, which asked employees to put their customers' concerns on top, would directly lead to positive WOM about the travel agents (Macintosh, 2007). Also, EMPA was noticed as a significant antecedent of WOM in other service industries such as healthcare (Chaniotakis & Lymperopoulos, 2009), which stressed the role of building customer-employee relationships based on empathy in shaping recommendation behaviors.…”

Customer Perceptions of Health Examination Service Quality: An Empirical Investigation in South Korea

“…SERVQUAL is based on the expectancy disconfirmation model [32], which states that evaluation of service quality by comparing the gap between prior expectations of what the service should provide and perception of service received [33]- [35]. SERVQUAL has been extensively employed in healthcare service research including acute care [36], physicians' service [37], nursing service [38], [39], cancer center [22], and maternity hospitals [40] in numerous countries as shown in Table II. Many literatures have pointed out the need for measuring quality expectations in SERVQUAL.…”

“…For this reason, pre-test is actively used in quality studies of healthcare service ( [22], [29], [40]). The survey questionnaires were distributed to five outpatients, who had recently experienced health examination service for invaluable feedback.…”