An Investigation of Service Quality—Willingness to Recommend Relationship across Patient and Hospital Characteristics

Abstract

This study investigates onto which dimensions of service quality have more impact on patients’ overall quality perceptions of a hospital and seeks to determine the nature of relationship between service quality and patients’ willingness to recommend a hospital to their friends and family. The study also uncovers if the levels of service quality and recommendation behaviours and the relationship between service quality and recommendation behaviour exhibit similar patterns among male versus female, black versus white patients and small/medium versus large hospitals. Data gathered via mail questionnaires and phone interviews from a large sample of the patients of a hospital system in the Southern United States serve as the study setting. Results are presented and their implications are discussed. Avenues for future research are offered.