Service Quality,patient Satisfaction And Loyalty In Private Hospitals.a Test Of A Hierarchical Model With Mediation Effect

As healthcare is becoming increasingly competitive in the marketplace,studying patient experience could certainly help practitioners to better understand patient perspectives of service delivery and improve patient satisfaction.It is necessary to consider the ability to meet the patients’ expectations because managers and practitioners rely on patients’ needs and views for the market competition.The intent of this research is to assess a hierarchical model with mediating effect on patient loyalty in the private health care industry of Ghana.Service quality was defined by five general factors identified in the SERVQUAL model.In this study,patient satisfaction serves as the mediator in the relationship between the exogenous construct(service quality)and the endogenous construct(patient loyalty).The study focused on outpatients,using convenience sampling method,and sent a questionnaire to 700 outpatients who had received medical services in four selected private hospitals and 562 completed data were analyzed.Structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 3 was adopted to test the constructs in order to measure how the quality of services stimulate the loyalty intentions of patient towards private hospitals with and without mediation of patients satisfaction.Findings depict that private healthcare service providers are endeavoring to deliver well-improved healthcare services to their customers.It is found that there is a significant relationship between service quality and patients’ satisfaction,which has a significant relationship with patients’ loyalty.Patient satisfaction was postulated as a complementary partial mediator of the relationship between service quality and patient loyalty.Results confirmed that better quality of healthcare services inclines to build satisfaction,which leads to the loyalty of patients to the hospital.It presents a clear picture of patient’s behavioral attitudes;satisfaction and loyalty intentions towards the quality of healthcare services.Patient satisfaction being confirmed as a complementary partial mediator between service quality and patient loyalty highlights the efficient role satisfying patients’ play in achieving patient loyalty to the hospital.From a theoretical prism,the present study furthers our knowledge of private hospital services by empirically examining the relationship among service quality,patient satisfaction,and loyalty in Ghana’s private hospitals.Reflecting the rising level of competition,managers are constantly seeking to develop a loyal patient base so that these content and well-served patients would serve as ambassadors for the growth of the hospital and recommend new patients to the hospital.The results of this study will help hospital managers to develop effective strategies to ensure that patients are provided with high-quality medical services.This study is sufficient to provide policy guidance to private health professionals.Thus,better quality service increases patient satisfaction,and consequently encourages intentions to revisit and recommend to others.In conclusion,the hierarchical model with mediating effect on patient loyalty was an efficient model and although service quality can directly affect patient loyalty,the satisfaction of patient serves as a complementary mediator,which increases the impact of service quality on patient loyalty.