Comparison of Expectations and Perceptions of Resident European Union (EU) Citizens about Hospital Service Quality in Their Home Countries and Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this research is to reveal the assessment of EU (European Union) citizens residing in Alanya regarding the quality of hospital services in both their own countries and Alanya. The study was carried out face-to-face with a survey method with 295 resident EU (European Union) citizens between June and August 2018 in Alanya. The analysis was done with the SPSS 22.0 package program. 229 (76.60%) of the participants are women and 66 (22.40%) are men, 159 (54%) are German citizens and 30 (10.22%) are British citizens. Expectations of EU citizens regarding hospital service quality are empathy, reliability and assurance, particularly physical assets and accountability. It was found that quality expectations of EU citizens were met in terms of accountability and reliability, whereas expectations related to other dimensions were not satisfied. The overall perception levels of EU citizens regarding hospitals in their own countries are higher than the overall levels of perception of hospitals in Alanya. For this, Hospital managers in Alanya need to pay particular attention to assurance, physical assets and empathy dimensions for better quality health service delivery.