To read this content please select one of the options below:

Equating the expected and perceived service quality: A comparison between public and private healthcare service providers

Asma Shabbir (Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad, Pakistan)
Shahab Alam Malik (Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad, Pakistan)
Saquib Yusaf Janjua (Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad, Pakistan)

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

ISSN: 0265-671X

Article publication date: 4 September 2017

1922

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate patients’ views toward the perceived service quality of public and private healthcare service providers. Determinants of healthcare service quality were compared by carrying out a GAP analysis to equate perceived and expected services and examined differences in the service quality.

Design/methodology/approach

The study sample comprises 310 inpatients of public and private healthcare service providers. Self-administered questionnaires were used along a five-point Likert scale and analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. GAP analysis was used to observe the difference between expectations and perceived service quality.

Findings

A cross-sectional study revealed significant quality gaps between the expected and perceived services of public and private healthcare service providers; conversely patients’ expectations are not fully met in both types of hospitals. Private hospitals surpassed in terms of overall perceived service quality from their counterparts. Perceived services were found better in terms of physician medical services in public sector hospitals, while rooms and housekeeping services were found better in terms of private sector hospitals.

Practical implications

The result can be used by both public and private healthcare service providers to restructure their quality management practices which could only be possible through effective management commitment, regular patients’ feedback and translucent complaint procedures.

Originality/value

The study conceptualizes the expected and perceived hospital service quality dimensions as an eight-dimensional framework. A comparison between public and private sector hospitals is made to get a better understanding about the differences in the perceived healthcare services among two sectors. Consequences of the study will aid hospital managers and policy makers to get a fuller picture of healthcare services in order to contrive enhancement practices.

Keywords

Citation

Shabbir, A., Malik, S.A. and Janjua, S.Y. (2017), "Equating the expected and perceived service quality: A comparison between public and private healthcare service providers", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 34 No. 8, pp. 1295-1317. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-04-2016-0051

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles