ASA University Review, Vol. 8 No.

1, January–June, 2014

Service Quality: An Empirical Study of

Private Hospitals in Dhaka City
Mst. Joynab Siddiqua*
Md. Ariful Haque Choudhury**

Abstract
Service quality has been viewed as a determinant of patient satisfaction. Different dimensions of
service quality have been considered by various researchers. This study identifies components
of service quality of private Hospitals in Dhaka city. The study is exploratory in nature and uses
chi –square test to find out the relationship between different variables to identify the most
important factors of customer satisfaction with service quality. The research methodology is
empirical and a survey of patients (customers) was conducted. The findings reveal that the
overall service quality regarding private hospitals are providing satisfactory service to the
patients without discriminating by income or occupation.

JEL Classification Codes: I10, I11.

Keywords: Patient satisfaction, private hospital, quality, service quality.

Introduction

The quality-management practices by manufacturers and service providers have become

increasingly widespread. Recognition of the differences between manufacturing and services
through the dimensions of intangibility, inseparability, and heterogeneity of service products
(Buttle, 1996; Berry and Parasuraman, 1991; Zeithaml et al,, 1990) has enabled quality-
management practitioners to develop approaches that have proved effective in improving service
quality.

The quality of service—both technical and functional—is a key ingredient in the success of
service organizations (Grönroos, 1984). Technical quality in health care is defined primarily on
the basis of the technical accuracy of the diagnosis and procedures. Several techniques for
measuring technical quality have been proposed and are currently in use in health-care
organizations. Information relating to this is not generally available to the public, and remains
within the purview of health-care professionals and administrators (Bopp, 1990). Functional
quality, in contrast, relates to the manner of delivery of health-care services.

Numerous studies have shown that provision of high-quality services is directly related to
increase in profits, market share, and cost savings (Devlin and Dong, 1994). With competitive

*
Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, ASA University Bangladesh
**
Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, ASA University Bangladesh
16 ASA University Review, Vol. 8 No. 1, January–June, 2014

pressures and the increasing necessity to deliver patient satisfaction, the elements of quality
control, quality of service, and effectiveness of medical treatment have become vitally important
(Friedenberg, 1997). Although the published literature contains many references to quality and
customer perceptions of the medical profession from a clinical perspective, very little research
has been conducted into non-clinical aspects of the quality of health care.

Quality, essence of modern’s life, is an integral part of the development of a country. In case of
healthcare service, every country should build up effective midi care system for their citizens.
Therefore, the perception that people have about the relative quality of health care services in a
country should be favorable. The last few decades have witnessed fast economic growth and
rapid urbanization in developing countries. This along with technological advances, including
revolution in information technology worldwide has led to increased demand and new
expectation of patients.

The quality of service is an important determinant of population health and in this respect
Bangladesh is lagging far behind. Though health is regarded as a fundamental human right,
uniform dispensation of health service facilities to the entire population has not yet been observed
in Bangladesh (Karim, 1998). The prevailing scenario of the healthcare system of the country is
very disappointing that is summarized in the following table:

No. of hospitals
Total number of Government hospitals Government hospitals at No. of private No. of private
government hospitals of secondary and upazila and union registered registered
under MOHFW tertiary levels under levels hospitals and diagnostic
MOHFW clinics under centers under
DGHS DGHS
593 126 467 2,983 5,220

Hospital beds
Total functional beds No. of hospital beds No. of hospital beds in Population per hospital bed
(in MOHFW and under MOHFW private-sector (in (total beds in MOHFW and
registered private (functional) private hospitals registered private hospitals
hospitals): registered by DGHS against estimated population as
of 1 July 2013)
91,106 45,621 45,485 1,699

Physicians/dental surgeons
No. of registered No. of registered dental No. of doctors under Total no. of Estimated
physicians surgeons DGHS doctors in number of
DGHS and doctors
DGFP available in the
(MOHFW) country
64,434(BMDC 2013) 6,034(BMDC 2013) 15,922 16,433 46,951
Cont. Table
Service Quality: An Empirical Study of Private Hospitals 17

Nurses
No. of registered No. of nurses in No. of nurse-midwives No. of trained skilled birth
nurses public sector in public sector attendants
30,516(BNC 2013) 13,235 (DNS 2013) 596 (DGHS 2013) 7,265 (BNC 2013)

Population-health workforce ratio

Population per physician: 3,297 (DGHS 2013)
No. of physicians per 10,000 population: 3.0 (DGHS 2013)
Population per MOHFW’s nurse: 11,696 (DNS 2013)
No. of MOHFW’s nurses per 10,000 population: 0.9 (DNS 2013)
Population per MOHFW’s medical technologist: 27,842 (DGHS 2013) No. of MOHFW’s medical
technologists per 10,000 population: 0.4 (DGHS 2013)
Population per MOHFW’s community health worker: 2,299 (DGHS/DGFP 2013)
No. of MOHFW’s community health workers per 10,000 population: 4.3 DGHS/DGFP 2013
Source: Bangladesh Health Bulletin 3013

Literature Review

Quality is defined as “a degree or level of excellence” (Oxford American Dictionary).The

“official” definition of quality by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the
American Society for Quality (ASQ) is- “the totality of features and characteristics of a product
or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs”(Russell & Taylor:p.637).The dimension
of quality service is more directly related to time, and the interaction between employees and the
customer. Evans and Lindsay identify the following dimensions of service quality: (i) Time and
timeliness, (ii) Completeness, (iii) Courtesy, (iv) Consistency, (v) Accessibility and convenience,
(vi) Accuracy, and (vii) Responsiveness (Russell & Taylor: p.637).

Various scholars have considered different dimensions of service quality. Gronoos (1984)
considers technical, functional, and reputational quality; Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) consider
interactive, physical, and corporate quality; and Hedvall and Paltschik (1989) focus on
willingness and ability to serve and the physical and psychological access to the service. In
conceptualizing the basic service quality model, Parasuraman et al. (1985) identified 10 key
determinants of service quality as perceived by the service provider and the consumer, namely,
reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security,
understanding/ knowing the customer, and tangibility to formulate a service quality framework,
SERVQUAL. Later (in 1988), they modified the framework to five determinants: reliability,
assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness, or RATER. The techniques of customer
satisfaction analysis allow the critical aspects of the supplied services to be identified and
customer satisfaction to be increased (Cuomo 2000).

Table 1 in the next page summarizes the findings in the literature consulted to understand various
determinants of basic service quality.
18 ASA University Review, Vol. 8 No. 1, January–June, 2014

Table 1. Determinants of Quality

Quality Determinants Authors
Technical aspects, functional aspects Gronroos (1984)
Functional Donabedian (1982, 1980)
Gronroos (1984)
Customer perception, customer expectation Czepiel (1990)
Sachdev and Verma (2004)
TCRP Report 100
Customer expectation, customer satisfaction and customer attitude Sachdev and Verma (2004)

According to Cronin and Taylor (1992), expectations for the high quality of services had
increased in the lives of the people due to increase of economic share of service sector in almost
all the economies of the world and it has reached to half sum of GNP’s. Customers played a vital
role in the success or failure of a service or product as their perceptions about the product or
services played a significant role while assessing the quality of that particular services or
products. Therefore, delivering superior quality services to the customers are the key strategies
adopted by most of the organizations to sustain in this competitive environment
(Parasuraman et al., 1985; Zeithaml et al., 1990; Reichheld & Sasser, 1990; Dawkins &
Reichheld, 1990) and this area gain considerable attentions of the research scholars around the
globe, and this debate continues (Nimit and Monika, 2007).Satisfaction of the patients seem to be
the most important factor for the private health care providers (Havva Çaha). Therefore, survival
of any organizations in this highly competitive environment is depending upon the delivery of
superior quality of services to their customers (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Zeithaml
et al., 1990).
Services are basically the interaction of two parties and it occurs between service provider and the
consumers. Mostly, services in healthcare are intangible in nature like expertise of the doctors,
hospital environment, caring staff, cleanliness but sometime it is a combination of intangibles and
tangibles (eyeglasses, a prosthetic device, or prescription drugs, laboratory reports) and this
bundle makes up the service products. Patients view services in terms of their whole experience;
it includes the successful surgery, hospital environment, cleanliness in rooms and wards, special
attentions provided by physicians, nurses, supportive staff, and outstanding follow-up care. In
view of the above discussion the healthcare organizations may define services in terms of needs,
wants of its patients. Services are characterized in to four categories: intangibility, inseparability,
heterogeneity and perishability. These four service characteristics were discussed in the early
literature of service marketing (Rathmell, 1966; Regan, 1963; Shostack, 1977; Zeithaml et al.
1985).

Service Quality

Service quality got considerable attention and interest of both practitioners and researchers during
the last couple of decades in the literature of service quality (Riadh, 2009, Wisniewski, 2001,
Nimit and Monika, 2007). Service quality is conceptualized as the consumer’s perception about
the level of services either it is of high quality or low quality (Zeithaml et al., 1990). Generally,
service quality is assumed to be the difference between customer expectations and perceptions
either it is received or being received by the customer (Grönroos, 2001; Parasuraman et al, 1988).
Service Quality: An Empirical Study of Private Hospitals 19

Although service quality is a topic of discussion by both academician and researchers for the last
couple of decades but still no comprehensive definition has emerged (Wisniewski, 2001).
However, service quality can be viewed as:
• It is the difference between customer expectations and perceptions; expectation means
service provider performance during deliverance of services whereas perception is
measurement of delivery by the service provider (Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988).
• According to Asubonteng et al. (1996, p-24): Service quality can be defined as “the
difference between customers’ expectations for service performance prior to the service
encounter and their perceptions of the service received”.
• According to Gefan (2002), it is a comparison made by the customers between the quality
of services they want to receive and what they actually received from the service
provider.

Hence, service quality is the judgment and consequences of consumers after making comparison
of expectation with the perception of actual services delivered to them by the service organization
(Gronoors, 1984; Berry et al. 1985, 1988) and any lacking between them is represented as a gap.
Measurement of the service quality was another critical issue and number of service quality
models were presented during the last couple of decades but most commonly used is
‘SERVQUAL’ by Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry (1985). According to Parasuraman et al.
(1985), customer perception about the service quality can be determined by five ‘gaps’. The
‘SERVQUAL’ scale was based on gap 5 and original ten dimensions were collapsed in to five
dimensions and 22 items.
Nitin Seth and Deshmukh (2005) (table 1) conducted a comprehensive study to review 19 models
of service quality used till now in different studies in order to measure the service quality in
different service environment.

Table 2: Service Quality Models

SERVICE QUALITY MODEL AUTHOR
1) Technical and functional quality model Gro¨ nroos, 1984
2) GAP model (Parasuraman et al., 1985)
3) Attribute service quality model (Haywood-Farmer, 1988)
4) Synthesized model of service quality (Brogowiczet al., 1990)
5) Performance only model (SERVPERF) (Cronin and Taylor, 1992)
6) Ideal value model of service quality (Mattsson, 1992)
7) Evaluated performance and normed quality model (Teas, 1993)
8) IT alignment model (Berkley and Gupta, 1994)
9) Attribute and overall affect model (Dabholkar, 1996)
10) Model of perceived service quality and satisfaction (Spreng and Mackoy, 1996)
11) PCP attribute model (Philip and Hazlett, 1997)
12) Retail service quality and perceived value model (Sweeneyet al., 1997)
13) Service quality, customer value and customer satisfaction (Oh, 1999)
model
Cont. Table
20 ASA University Review, Vol. 8 No. 1, January–June, 2014

14) Antecedents and mediator model (Dabholkar et al., 2000)

15) Internal service quality model (Frost and Kumar, 2000)
16) Internal service quality DEA model (Soteriou and Stavrinides, 2000)
17) Internet banking model (Broderick and Vachirapornpuk, 2002)
18) IT-based model (Zhuet et al., 2002)
19) Model of e-service quality (Santos, 2003) (Santos, 2003)
Source: Nitin Seth and Deshmukh (2005)

Service Quality in Health Sector

In healthcare organizations, service quality and patients satisfaction is getting considerable

attentions and this issue is considered in their strategic planning process. Patients’ perceptions
about the services provided by a particular health care organizations also effects the image and
profitability of the hospital (Donabedian, 1980; Williams and Calnan, 1991) and it also
significantly effects the patient behavior in terms of their loyalty and word-of-mouth (Andaleeb,
2001). Moreover, increased patients expectations about the service quality had realized the
healthcare service providers, to identify the key determinants that are necessary to improve
healthcare services that causes patients satisfaction and it also helps the service providers to
reduce time and money involved in handling patient’s complaints (Pakdil & Harwood, 2005).
The SERVQUAL instrument developed by Parasuraman et al. (1985) comprised of 22-items
representing five dimensions had been widely used in health care to measure the service quality
and in health care literature ‘SERVQUAL’ is considered as most reliable and valid measurement
of perceived service quality (Reidenbach & Sandifer- Smallwood, 1990; Babakus & Mangold,
1992; Vandamme & Leunis, 1993; Scardina, 1994; Taylor & Cronin, 1994; Lam, 1997; Wong,
2002; Kilbourne et al., 2004).

Objectives of the Research

The main objectives of the study are to examine the service quality of private hospitals in Dhaka
city.

Methodology
This study is grounded in survey data obtained from recipients of health care in Dhaka,
Bangladesh. Data are collected from seventeen private hospitals based in Dhaka. The sampling
technique used is non –probalistic by nature; more specifically, sample was purposively taken to
accommodate a certain number of hospitals.

Questionnaire design
A preliminary version of the questionnaire was developed in English on the basis of past research
and insights from the indepth qualitative interviews. For gathering data, a questionnaire is
designed by closed ended 29 questions and the respondents were 110 patients of different
hospitals. Here, some question answers have been coded like –Exellent=1, Good=2 and Very
poor=3and in case of likert scale were coded like- Strongly Agree=5, Agree=4 , No
Service Quality: An Empirical Study of Private Hospitals 21

opinion=3,disagree=2 and Strongly disagree=1 . At each successive pre-test, feedback was

obtained from approximately 16 hospital users. Such feedback was instrumental in refining the
quality of the measures.

Sampling and data collection

Because of resource and time constraints, and the preliminary nature of this investigation, only
110 interviews were planned from Dhaka city. To obtain a probability sample, considerable
effort was devoted to selecting the appropriate sampling plan. The population was defined as
residents of Dhaka city who had utilized hospital services in the past 12 months. In the absence of
lists from which a random sample could be drawn, stage-wise area sampling was combined with
systematic sampling so that every hospital user in Dhaka city had an equal chance of being
selected. The selected areas included Motijheel, Purana Paltan, Kamlapur, Lalbagh, Gopibagh,
Imamganj, Dhanmandi, Mohammadpur, Lalmatia, Mirpur, Gulshan, Banani, D.O.H.S, Uttora,
Mohakhali, Rampura and Malibagh. There was general consensus that these areas included
different socioeconomic groups of hospital users. Several difficulties were encountered during
data collection. For example, not all of the selected households had a member who was
hospitalized in the past 12 months. Other households did not grant interviews because, being
unfamiliar with research, they were suspicious about the purpose of the study.

Research Hypotheses
Hypothesis no.1
H0: There is no association between occupation levels of the patient and the responsiveness of
receptionist.
Hypothesis no.2
H0: There is no relationship between different level of patient’s income and the responsiveness of
receptionist.
Hypothesis no.3
H0: There is no relationship between occupation levels of the patient and the responsiveness of
nurse.
Hypothesis no.4
H0: There is no relationship between different level of patient’s income and the responsiveness of
nurse.
Hypothesis no.5
H0: There is no relationship between occupation levels of the patient and the care of doctors.
Hypothesis no.6
H0: There is no relationship between different level of patient’s income and the care of doctors.

Analysis
Profile of the respondents
The demographic profile of the respondents is presented in Table I. The largest group of
respondents (56.36%) were aged 20–30 years. The next groups 13.64%, 11.82, and 11.82 were
aged 40-50 years, 30-40years and more than 50years respectively. Smaller group of respondents
was aged less than 20years (6.36%). Female and Male respondents represented 40% and 60%
respectively of the survey population.
22 ASA University Review, Vol. 8 No. 1, January–June, 2014

Table-3: Demographic profile of respondents

Gender n Percentage (%)
Male 66 60
Female 44 40

Occupation n Percentage (%)

Govt. service 5 4.54
Private service 15 13.64
Day labor/Agriculture 5 4.55
Student 49 44.55
Housewife 23 20.90
others 13 11.82

Age group n Percentage (%)

Less than20years 7 6.36
20-30years 62 56.36
30-40 years 13 11.82
40-50 years 15 13.64
More than 50years 13 11.82

Income range n Percentage (%)

Below Tk.5,000 50 45.45
Tk.5,001-10,000 21 19.09
Tk.10,001-20,000 15 13.64
Tk.20,001-40,000 14 12.73
Tk.40,001 and above 10 9.09

Personal income was measured in Bangladesh Taka. When personal income was examined,
45.45% of respondents had an annual income of below Tk. 5,000. The others income groups were
Tk.5001-10000, Tk.10001-20000, Tk.20001-40000, Tk.40001and above were 19.09%, 13.64%,
12.73%and 9.09% respectively. In terms of occupation, the respondents were Government
service, private service, day labor/agriculture, student, housewife and the in terms of percentage
were 4.54%, 13.64%, 4.55%, 44.55%, 20.90% and 11.82% respectively .

Results:
Hypothesis no.1
H0: There is no association between occupation levels of the patient and the responsiveness of
receptionist.

Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 9.144(a) 10 .519
Likelihood Ratio 10.492 10 .398
Linear-by-Linear Association .081 1 .777
N of Valid Cases 110
Service Quality: An Empirical Study of Private Hospitals 23

Here, the p value is .519 that is insignificant at 5% level of significance .So; there is no impact of
occupation levels of the patient on the responsiveness of receptionist.

Hypothesis no.2
H0: There is no relationship between different level of patient’s income and the responsiveness of
receptionist.

Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 13.727(a) 8 .089
Likelihood Ratio 15.663 8 .047
Linear-by-Linear Association 4.547 1 .033
N of Valid Cases 110

Here, the p value is .089 that is insignificant at 5% level of significance. So, there is no impact of
different level of patient’s income on the responsiveness of receptionist.

Hypothesis no.3
H0: There is no relationship between occupation levels of the patient and the responsiveness of
nurse.

Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 11.644(a) 10 .310
Likelihood Ratio 10.908 10 .365
Linear-by-Linear Association .488 1 .485
N of Valid Cases 110

Here, the p value is .310 that is insignificant at 5% level of significance. So, there is no impact of
occupation levels of the patient on the responsiveness of nurse.

Hypothesis no.4
H0: There is no relationship between different level of patient’s income and the responsiveness of
nurse.

Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 8.690(a) 8 .369
Likelihood Ratio 10.570 8 .227
Linear-by-Linear Association 5.828 1 .016
N of Valid Cases 110
24 ASA University Review, Vol. 8 No. 1, January–June, 2014

Here, the p value is .369 that is insignificant at 5% level of significance. So, there is no impact of
different level of patient’s income on the responsiveness of nurse.

Hypothesis no.5
H0: There is no relationship between occupation levels of the patient and the care of doctors.

Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 14.834(a) 10 .138
Likelihood Ratio 14.216 10 .163
Linear-by-Linear Association .445 1 .505
N of Valid Cases 110

Here, the p value is .138 that is insignificant at 5% level of significance. So, there is no impact of
occupation levels of the patient on the care of doctors.

Hypothesis no.6
H0: There is no relationship between different level of patient’s income and the care of doctors.

Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 10.710(a) 8 .219
Likelihood Ratio 11.025 8 .200
Linear-by-Linear Association .012 1 .915
N of Valid Cases 110

Here, the p value is .219 that is insignificant at 5% level of significance. So, there is no impact of
different level of patient’s income on the care of doctors.

Conclusion

Form the above results and discussion, the empirical findings are evident that private hospitals are
aimed at providing better healthcare facilities to the patients. As perceived quality is an important
measure in influencing consumers’ value perception and, in turn, in affecting consumers’
intention to purchase products or services (Bolton & Drew, 1988; Zeithaml, 1998), the findings of
the present study are of importance for hospital administrators in Bangladesh with respect to the
non-clinical aspects of service quality. Similarly, the patient realization about quality of
healthcare drives a greater proportion of the population towards private hospitals in Bangladesh
(Andaleeb, 2000). Results showed that in private hospitals, doctors, nurses and supporting staff
are providing almost same quality service to different level of people with different occupation,
income level and gender as because all of them are spending same amount of money for their
required care. It requires government attentions to formulate regulation regarding private midi
Service Quality: An Empirical Study of Private Hospitals 25

care system. The owners of the health care systems should be careful enough to maintain private
hospitals for the betterment of the people and the government should monitor strongly the quality
aspects of total midi care system to ensure providing better quality services.

Recommendations for further research

This research is based on only some selected private hospitals in Dhaka city. Secondly, this study
is limited to one city only. Therefore, it is needed to develop a comprehensive study in order to
gain clear understanding about the service quality of public and private hospitals. This will
provide more accurate response regarding their perceptions about the services delivered to them.

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