Yucheng Zhang, Long Zhang, Xin Zhang, Miles M. Yang, Shanshan Zhang, Shyh-Jane Li and Yu-Ying Huang
Drawing on social identification theory, this research aims to explore an important mechanism – patients’ perceived empathy from a hospital, which is defined as caring…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on social identification theory, this research aims to explore an important mechanism – patients’ perceived empathy from a hospital, which is defined as caring, individualized attention provided by the hospital – that explains how service quality influences patients’ loyalty to the hospital.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a structural equation modelling framework to estimate the mediation relationship between service quality and patient loyalty using two studies based on hospital employees and patients.
Findings
In Study 1, hospital staff survey data showed that service quality enhanced patients’ perceived empathy from the hospital. In Study 2, the authors confirmed and extended the findings of Study 1 by using patient survey data that suggested that patients’ empathy mediated the relationship between service quality and patients’ loyalty to the hospital.
Originality/value
The results of the two studies suggested that service quality increased patients’ empathy, which in turn improved patients’ loyalty to a hospital. The results extend the customer loyalty literature by exploring the critical antecedents and mechanisms of customer loyalty in the healthcare context. The studies interpret healthcare phenomena from the service aspect of fulfilling patients’ unique needs and providing a good hospital service experience. Moreover, the authors offer an insightful approach to explaining the service quality–patient loyalty linkage in the healthcare industry. Important theoretical and managerial contributions and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Details
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Yu‐Ying Huang and Shyh‐Jane Li
The concept of postponement has been developed over many years. Past empirical research has been conducted almost entirely in Western countries. This paper aims to investigate the…
Abstract
Purpose
The concept of postponement has been developed over many years. Past empirical research has been conducted almost entirely in Western countries. This paper aims to investigate the current status of postponement applications in Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) to ascertain the effects of some determinants (i.e. environmental uncertainty, production techniques, and information system (IS) maturity) on postponement application.
Design/methodology/approach
A field survey of big manufacturers of electronic/information technology, clothing, and electric appliances is conducted. A total of 106 usable responses are received from 411 surveys yielding a satisfactory response rate of 25.8 percent.
Findings
The result indicates that the number of applications of postponement in Greater China is growing and the incidence of postponement applications is higher than in the Western countries. Environmental uncertainty, production techniques, and ISs maturity have have positive effects on applications of postponement techniques. Some specific postponement strategies for the three industries studied are noted.
Originality/value
From an exploratory perspective, the findings present in this paper may be useful in the sense that they give a broad and general picture of the current situation of the use of postponement in certain industries in Greater China.
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Keywords
Shyh‐Jane Li, Yu‐Ying Huang and Miles M. Yang
The existence and form of interaction effects between service quality and satisfaction are still uncertain. The main purpose of this study is to examine whether satisfaction…
Abstract
Purpose
The existence and form of interaction effects between service quality and satisfaction are still uncertain. The main purpose of this study is to examine whether satisfaction moderates the relationship between service quality and behavioral intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire was distributed to the out‐patients of 12 regional hospitals (the middle level) in Taiwan.
Findings
The findings show that the forms of moderators played by satisfaction are not always the same under different dimensions of service quality (i.e. reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy). Satisfaction positively moderates the influence of reliability/empathy on behavioral intentions, but negatively moderates the relationships between responsiveness/assurance and behavioral intentions.
Originality/value
This study reveals the moderating role of satisfaction in the translation from service quality to behavioral intentions in health care services. Moreover, the natures of the moderating effects are not the same for different service quality dimensions.