Service quality, patient satisfaction and loyalty in the Bangladesh healthcare sector
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
ISSN: 0952-6862
Article publication date: 12 June 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate service quality, patient satisfaction and loyalty in Bangladesh’s healthcare sector. It identifies healthcare quality conformance, patient satisfaction and loyalty based on demographics such as gender, age and marital status. It examines the differences between public and private healthcare sectors regarding service quality, patient satisfaction and loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors distributed 450 self-administered questionnaires to hospital patients resulting in 204 useful responses (45.3 per cent response rate). Data were analysed based on reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, independent samples t-tests, ANOVA and discriminant analysis using SPSS version 23.
Findings
Findings indicate that single patients perceive tangibles, reliability, empathy and loyalty higher compared to married patients. Young patients (⩽20 years) have a higher tangibles, empathy and loyalty scores compared to other age groups. The authors observed that private hospital patients perceive healthcare service quality performance higher compared to patients in public hospitals.
Research limitations/implications
The authors focussed solely on the Bangladesh health sector, so the results might not be applicable to other countries.
Originality/value
The findings provide guidelines for enhancing service quality, patient satisfaction and loyalty in the Bangladesh healthcare sector and other countries.
Keywords
Citation
Ahmed, S., Tarique, K.M. and Arif, I. (2017), "Service quality, patient satisfaction and loyalty in the Bangladesh healthcare sector", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 30 No. 5, pp. 477-488. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-01-2017-0004
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited