Customers' Precedence for Service Quality Dimensions in Indian Private Healthcare Setting: A Ridit Approach.

Changes in demographic and sociocultural environment, improved health awareness, and information technology have considerably changed the outlook of healthcare sector in India. While both the public and the private healthcare sectors have priority of increasing access while minimizing costs, they try hard to achieve goals without letting the quality suffer. Customers with rising disposable income no longer have faith in the public healthcare system and are willing to migrate to the private healthcare sector, which is more professional, technology savvy, and trustworthy. However, there are enough loopholes in the private healthcare sector that are yet to be plugged. The purpose of this research study was to identify and assess the relative importance of the diverse service quality dimensions and prioritize them to draw meaningful conclusions. Survey responses from 370 customers were analyzed using factor analysis to find underlying relationships between the survey items. This allowed the individual items to be placed into related groups. Independently, a ridit analysis was conducted to determine the relative importance of each item to the survey respondents. Based on the ridit analysis a priority ranking was assigned to each item. An analysis was then undertaken of the degree to which the items grouped into each particular factor tended to have high or low priority rankings. The results of the study may be helpful to the managers of the private healthcare sector to focus their strategies and plan their efforts in line with the findings to gain superior customer satisfaction and retention.

Customer perceived service quality, satisfaction and loyalty in Indian private healthcare.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to analyse how perceived service quality and customer satisfaction lead to loyalty towards healthcare service providers. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: In total, 475 hospital patients participated in a questionnaire survey in five Indian private hospitals. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, regression and correlation statistics were employed to analyse customer perceived service quality and how it leads to loyalty towards service providers. FINDING: Results indicate that the service seeker-service provider relationship, quality of facilities and the interaction with supporting staff have a positive effect on customer perception. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Findings help healthcare managers to formulate effective strategies to ensure a better quality of services to the customers. This study helps healthcare managers to build customer loyalty towards healthcare services, thereby attracting and gaining more customers. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This paper will help healthcare managers and service providers to analyse customer perceptions and their loyalty towards Indian private healthcare services.