The Impact of Consumers’ Service Encounter Expectation on Their Service Encounter Perception in Healthcare Services

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D Candidate in Strategic Management, Faculty of Management, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 Ph.D. Marketing Management, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of consumers’ service encounter expectations on their service encounter perceptions in healthcare service (especially in cosmetic surgeries). PAKSERV scale was used for measuring service encounter expectation and perception. CFA analysis was conducted to test and validate the dimensions of PAKSERV scale. The data were gathered from more than 200 health clinics in Tehran city. All the respondents were consumers of cosmetic surgeries in these clinics. Finally, all the analyses were conducted by using 317 questionnaires.
A confirmatory factor analysis successfully confirmed all the dimensions of PAKSERV scale. The results show that consumers’ expectations have a considerable impact on their perceptions in service encounters. It is also revealed that consumers’ perceptions from services are much lower than their expectations, and that they experience low-quality services which may cause dissatisfaction from healthcare services. Tangibility, reliability and assurance are the key issues that they expect, which have not been met successfully in cosmetic services. Furthermore, it should be noted that for providing high-quality services and achieving customers’ satisfaction, healthcare services (i.e. cosmetic clinics) should consider costumers’ expectations with respect to the aforementioned criteria.

Keywords

References

1-    Anderson, R. E. (1973). “Consumer dissatisfaction: the effects of disconfirmed expectancy on perceived product performance”. Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 10, pp: 38– 44.
2-    Baron, S. & Harris, K. (2003). “Services Marketing: Text and Cases”, Palgrave Macmillan, Second Edition.
3-    Boulding, W., Kalra, A., Staelin, R., Zeithaml, V. (1993). “A dynamic process of service quality: from expectations to behavioral intentions”. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 30(1), pp: 7–27.
4-    Brown, S. W., Swartz, T. A. (1989). “A gap analysis of professional service quality”. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 53, pp: 92– 8.
5-    Chase, R. B. & Dasu. S (2001). “Want to Perfect Your Company’s Service? Use Behavioral Science,” Harvard BusinessReview, vol. 79, no. 6, pp: 78-85.
6-    Choi, S. & Mattila, A. S. (2008). “Perceived controllability and service expectations: Influences on customer reactions following service failure”, Journal of Business Research, vol. 61, pp: 24-30.
7-    Clow, K. E., Vorhies, D. W. (1993). “Building a competitive advantage for service firms: measurement of consumer expectations of service quality”. Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 7, pp: 22– 32.
8-    Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. (1981). “Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error”. Journal of Marketing Research, 18, 39-50.
9-    Gronroos, C. (1984). “A Service Quality model and its Marketing Implications”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp: 36-43.
10-Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., and Sinkovics, R. R. 2009. “The Use of Partial Least Squares Path Modeling in International Marketing,” Advances in International Marketing (20), pp. 277-320.
11- Henseler, J., & Sarstedt, M. (2013). Goodness-of-fit indices for partial least squares path modeling. Computational Statistics, 28(2), 565-580.
12- Higgs, B., Polonskya, M. J., Hollick, M. (2005). “Measuring expectations: forecast vs. ideal expectations. Does it really matter?”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 12, pp: 49–64.
13- Kashif, M., Ramayah, T., & Sarifuddin, S. (2016). PAKSERV–measuring higher education service quality in a collectivist cultural context. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 27(3-4), 265-278.
14- Kashif, M., Wan Shukran, S. S., Rehman, M. A., & Sarifuddin, S. (2015). Customer satisfaction and loyalty in Malaysian Islamic banks: a PAKSERV investigation. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 33(1), 23-40.
15- Khadang, H. (2015) “Billion Dollar Iran Surgery Market”. Etelaat Newspaper (in Persian).
16- Luna, D. & Gupta, S. F. (2001). “An integrative framework for cross-cultural consumer behavior”. International Marketing Review, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp: 45-69.
17- Martin, C. L. (1999). “The History, Evolution and Principles of Services Marketing: Poised for the New Millennium”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 17, 324–8.
18- Palmer, A. (2001). “Principles of Services Marketing”, McGraw-Hill International (UK) Limited.
19- Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). "SERVQUAL: A Multiple-Item Scale for Measuring Customer Perceptions of Service Quality". Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, pp. 12-40.
20- Raajpoot, N (2004). “Reconceptualizing service encounter quality in non-western context”. Journal of Service Research, Vol 7(2), pp: 181–201.
21- Saunders, S. G. (2008). Measuring and applying the pakserv service quality construct: Evidence from a South African cultural context”. Managing Service Quality, Vol. 18 No. 5, pp. 442-456.
22- Solomon, M.; Bamossy, G.; Askegaard, S.; Hogg, M. K., (2006). “Consumer Bahviour: A European Prespective, Europe: Prentice Hall
23- Swan, J. E. & Combs, L. J. (1976). “Product Performance and Consumer Satisfaction: A New Concept”. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40, pp: 25-33
24- Sweeney, J. C., Johnson, L. W., & Armstrong, R. W. (1992). “The effect of cues on quality expectations and service selection in a restaurant setting”. Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 6, pp: 15– 22.
25- Tam, J. L. M. (2005) “Examining the dynamics of consumer expectations in a Chinese context”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 58, pp: 777– 786.
26- Zeithaml, V. (1981). “How consumer evaluation processes differ between goods and services”. In: Donnelly, J.H., George, W.R. (Eds.), Marketing of Services. AMA, pp: 39–47.
27- Zeithaml, V., Berry, L.L., Parasuraman, A. (1988). “Communication and control processes in the delivery of service quality”. Journal ofMarketing Science, Vol. 52 (21), pp: 35–48.
28- Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J., & Gremier, D. D. (2009). “Services Marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm”, McGraw-Hill International Edition.
Journal of Business Administration Researches
Volume 10, Issue 19
August 2018
Pages 143-168

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics