Patient satisfaction and brand loyalty in health-care organizations in India
| Date | 03 January 2017 |
| Pages | 73-87 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-09-2015-0157 |
| Published date | 03 January 2017 |
| Author | Vinay Sharma |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,International business |
Patient satisfaction and brand loyalty in
health-care organizations in India
Vinay Sharma
Vinay Sharma is based at
the Indian Institute of
Management Kashipur,
Kashipur, India.
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to examine the major factors affecting patients’ satisfaction and loyalty at a
health-care organization in India.
Design/methodology/approach –A conceptual model has been developed that includes the
behavioural dimensions of total quality management (TQM), patient satisfaction and loyalty. This study
is exploratory in nature and has used the existing literature to build the conceptual model.
Findings –A solution for improving the quality of health-care services can be found in the application
of total relationship management and TQM, together with a customer orientation strategy.
Practical implications –The results can be used creatively by hospitals to re-engineer and redesign
their quality management processes and reorient the future directions of their more effective health-care
quality strategies.
Originality/value –In this research, a study is described involving a new instrument and a new method
which assure a reasonable level of relevance, validity and reliability, while being explicitly
change-oriented.
Keywords Quantitative method, Service quality, Patient satisfaction, Services, Healthcare services
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Health care has become one of India’s largest sectors – both in terms of revenue and
employment. Health care comprises hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing,
telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance and medical equipment. The Indian
health-care sector is growing owing to its strong coverage, a broadening array of services
and increasing expenditure by public and private players [India Brand Equity Foundation
(IBEF), 2015].
The Indian health-care delivery system is categorised by its two major components – the
public and the private. The government, i.e. the public, health-care system comprises
limited secondary and tertiary care institutions in key cities and focuses on providing basic
health-care facilities in the form of primary health-care centres in rural areas. The private
sector provides the majority of secondary, tertiary and quaternary care institutions with a
major concentration of these being in metropolitan, tier-I and tier-II cities.
India’s competitive advantage lies in its large pool of well-trained medical professionals.
India is also cost-competitive compared to its peers in Asia and Western countries. The
cost of surgery in India is about one-tenth of that in the USA or Western Europe. The Indian
medical tourism industry is presently pegged at US$3bn per annum, with tourist arrivals
estimated at numbering 230,000. The Indian medical tourism industry is expected to reach
US$6bn by 2018, with the number of people arriving in the country for medical treatment set
to double over the next four years. With greater number of hospitals becoming accredited
and receiving recognition, there has been an increased awareness amongst the
health-care service providers of the need to provide quality health care, to improve the
Received 5 September 2015
Revised 24 December 2015
Accepted 30 December 2015
DOI 10.1108/JABS-09-2015-0157 VOL. 11 NO. 1 2017, pp. 73-87, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1558-7894 JOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES PAGE 73
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