Quality dimensions of the customer satisfaction: the empirical research of government hospitals support services in Sabah State, Malaysia

Alin, J. M., Juin, V., Kim Man, M. M. and Harun, A. H. (2009) Quality dimensions of the customer satisfaction: the empirical research of government hospitals support services in Sabah State, Malaysia. Pranjana: The Journal of Management Awareness, 12 (1). pp. 1-15. ISSN 0971-9997

Abstract/Summary

Service quality is defined as a form of attitude. Service quality (customer perspective) can be evaluated by comparing consumers’ expection on the service (before) and their perceptions of the service performance (after service was delivered). In SERVQUAL model, the gap between the expected and perceived service are the service performance satisfaction. We measured the gap between expected or perception on the five dimensions of service quality -i.e-tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy with customer satisfaction (testing SERVQUAL model) in nine Government Hospitals in Sabah, Malaysia. The assessment was carried out on perceptions, expectations and satisfactions of hospital staffs with the services rendered under Hospital Support Services. Data on perceptions and expectations of five quality dimensions were collected and statistically analyzed to ascertain customers’ satisfaction on technical and functional quality. The results show that there is a significant difference between expected and perceived service quality on each of the quality dimensions.