Validating Service Quality (SERVQUAL) in Healthcare: Measuring Patient Satisfaction Using their Perceptions in Jordan

Abstract

Patient satisfaction in the developing world has not received sufficient interest in the healthcare literature. More importantly, models predicting patient satisfaction seldom incorporates patient perspectives into their measurement providing ill-suited metrics for healthcare administrators to make decisive decisions concerning service quality improvements. The current analysis utilizes original data collected from 336 patients in Jordan. This paper tests whether service quality (SERVQUAL) is suitable to be used in the new context and concluded that SERVQUAL is reliable and valid in supplying stakeholders with reliable and valid information concerning patient satisfaction. Further, the analysis suggests a large gap between perceived and expected services performed by Jordanian hospitals signalling the need to service quality enhancement. The study calls for the adoption of agile and rapid patient screening models in emergency departments to reduce wait times and decrease the number of patients left without being seen. This study constitutes an emerging attempt at better understanding how service quality influences patient satisfaction, and more importantly, introduce affordable and cost-effective solutions capable of improving satisfaction in the short run.