Priority nonconformity and service quality analysis of hospitals in Thailand: a care provider perspective

Abstract

PurposeThe objectives of this research are to investigate service quality expectation, perception and satisfaction in outpatient departments and to propose the priority nonconformity index (PNCI) to assess overall prioritization of efforts in relation to expectations.Design/methodology/approachSERVQUAL has five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. It was used to gather data from multiple-responding care providers in 220 Thai hospitals nationwide. Paired-samples t-test and importance-performance analysis (IPA) were used for analysis. The PNCI was initiated to evaluate the overall conformity between expectation and perception and to suggest strategies for improvement.FindingsIt was found that assurance is the most important and the best performed dimension with the least dissatisfaction. Tangibility is the least important and the least performed dimension with the most dissatisfaction. From gap analysis, there are significant negative gaps in overall service quality, all dimensions and all indicators. IPA found assurance and responsiveness as strengths, and this suggests transfer of excessive resources from empathy to enhance reliability. PNCI of Thai hospitals is 0.8 and this has suggested similar strategies to IPA.Originality/valueFindings from this study can be employed to develop strategic policy to improve Thai hospitals as a whole. The newly developed PNCI can be used as an indicator to assess efficiency of resource allocation to fit better with customer requirements.