engleski

Service quality and customer satisfaction in the health care industry - Towards health tourism market

Service quality and customer satisfaction have been extensively researched in the profit sector, but are also important in the non-profit sector. Specialty hospitals and spas operate in the non- profit sector in Croatia, but some of them try to provide a part of their services to the health tourism market. Hospitals that work in the non- profit sector and especially those that see their future in the health tourism market need to pay attention to service quality and customer satisfaction. Although specialty hospitals are a vital segment of the Croatian health system, there has not been enough research regarding service quality and customer satisfaction measurement in that sector. This study investigates service quality measurement using the SERVQUAL model in the case of one specialty hospital for medical rehabilitation. Research results indicate the multidimensionality of the concept and the existence of a gap between patients' expectations and the perceptions of service quality. Patients who perceived a higher level of service quality show greater satisfaction with the services, as well as a higher level of loyalty to the hospital which provides medical services. The contribution of this paper is manifested as an encouragement for managers in specialty hospitals to devote greater attention to service quality and customer satisfaction measurement, especially when their goal is to enter the health tourism market.

Service quality; SERVQUAL; customer satisfaction; health care industry; health tourism

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