Development of multidimensional scale for healthcare service quality (HCSQ) in Indian context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically validate a multidimensional scale for measuring healthcare service quality (HCSQ), based on modified Brady and Cronin's hierarchical service quality model. The study also investigated HCSQ and its ability to predict important service outcomes through two different models. In the first model, direct effects of service quality dimensions, namely physical environment quality (comprising ambient condition, social factor and tangibles), interaction quality (comprising attitude and behaviour, expertise and process quality) and outcome quality (comprising waiting time, patient satisfaction and loyalty) on image are measured. In the second model, direct effects of physical environment quality (comprising ambient condition, social factor and tangibles), interaction quality (comprising attitude and behaviour, expertise and process quality) on service quality through outcome quality (comprising waiting time, patient satisfaction and loyalty) are measured. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 400 indoor patients of five departments', namely general medicine, surgery, pediatrics, orthopedics and gynecology and ENT of a tertiary public hospital of North India using stratified sampling. Findings – The study supports both the models for measuring HCSQ. Structural equational modelling is used to test the hypotheses relating to direct and indirect effects in the two models. Research limitations/implications – The major limitations of the study include selection of only inpatients and use of non‐financial performance measures. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the development of multiple dimensional holistical service quality models in the healthcare sector.