The antecedents of patient satisfaction: Evidence from super-specialty hospitals in Tiruchirappalli in India

ABSTRACT

This study explores the determinants of patient satisfaction in the healthcare industry in a developing country. The effect of healthcare services, supportive services, and auxiliary services were conceptualized in three models. After checking the measurement properties of the survey instrument, the hypotheses were tested using the data collected from 748 in-patients from five super specialty hospitals in Tiruchirappalli in southern India. The physicians’ services, intensive care unit (ICU) services, operation theatre (OT) services, and outpatient department (OPD) services had a significant positive influence on patient satisfaction. The results also suggest supportive services, including nurse, technical, and administrative services, played an essential role in increasing patient satisfaction. Finally, patients were satisfied with the registration process, transportation, and housekeeping services, including cleanliness in the hospitals. The results did not find support for pharmacy services, emergency services, and hospital security impacting patient satisfaction. The findings provide recommendations for the administrators of healthcare units to improve patient satisfaction.

KEYWORDS:

• Healthcare services
• supportive services
• patient satisfaction
• healthcare industry
• India

Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Hamido Fujita, the Editor-in-Chief, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions for the earlier version of the manuscript.

Date on which the research proposal was approved by ethics committee

This is not applicable.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

The data will be available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Heena Kausar Dawood-Khan

Heena Kausar Dawood-Khan obtained her Ph. D from Bharathidasan University. She is working as a Lecturer in the Department of Commerce, Government Arts & Science College, Karambakkudi, Pudukkotai (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University), Tiruchirappalli, India. Her research has been published in national and international journals. Her research interests include healthcare management, human resource management, and organizational behavior.

Shaik Mohamed Naina

Shaik Mohamed Naina is Associate Professor of Commerce in Jamal Mohamed College (Autonomous), Affiliated to Bharathidasan University. His research has been published in several national and international journals that include Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of Asia Business Studies, and Global Business Review. His research interests include human resource management, knowledge management, healthcare management, and organizational behavior.

Satyanarayana Parayitam

Satyanarayana Parayitam is a Professor of Strategic Management in Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. His research has been published in top-tier journals such as: Journal of Management, International Journal of Conflict Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of World Business, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Personnel Review, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, International Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of Transport Geography, Computers in Human Behavior, Behaviour & Information Technology, and Journal of Consumer Behavior.