Purpose The purpose of this paper is to better understand the influence of service quality and corporate image of Brazil’s National Cancer Institute (INCA) on the satisfaction of its outpatients. Design/methodology/approach The study is quantitative, with data collected from a self-administered structured questionnaire answered by a sample of 434 outpatients of Hospital do Câncer I, the largest and oldest hospital operated by the INCA. The data were treated with covariance-based structural equation modeling. Findings The results indicated that the corporate image of the INCA was the main factor having a positive influence on the patients’ satisfaction, followed by the quality of the services rendered by physicians and the quality of the hospital’s facilities. Originality/value The study shows that unlike indicated by the theory, quality does not have a direct impact on satisfaction with the nursing services, but rather an indirect impact via corporate image. Even though part of the explanation can be the fact that only outpatients were surveyed, who have less interaction with the nursing team than do inpatients, this result shows the strength of the hospital’s corporate image regarding patients’ satisfaction. Besides this, the study identified that hospitals with a strong corporate image transmit to patients the perception that they are being treated by technically qualified professionals, thus increasing the chances of cure and reduced suffering. This is fundamental for patients’ satisfaction, as most are unable to understand the technical attributes of the service. The study adds to the scarce Brazilian literature on the causal relation between the image of hospitals and their patients’ satisfaction.

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Purpose: To understand the public value that the website Operação Serenata de Amor [Love Serenade Operation], based on open government data, can generate for society. Originality/value: Researchers are investigating public value generation through digitally transformed public services, i.e., public value directly generated by the government. However, the literature needs a better understanding of this phenomenon through digital technologies, based on open public data, developed by non-governmental actors, such as the Operação Serenata de Amor website. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a qualitative approach to understand and describe the public value generated by Operação Serenata de Amor. The data were collected through citizen comments about the website’s initiatives on social media and in articles published on the internet. The data were analyzed through content analysis. Findings: The Operação Serenata de Amor generated public value by doing, facilitating, and stimulating social control. It was also identified that the site added value to society by increasing citizens’ ability to exercise social control. However, this work was limited to analyzing data collected on the internet. In future studies, researchers may collect data through interviews with citizens to understand, with more details, the public value generated by the website.

RESUMOO presente estudo objetivou compreender como os serviços públicos prestados por intermédio da plataforma digital Meu INSS podem construir ou desconstruir valor público aos cidadãos. O estudo adotou a abordagem qualitativa para entender e descrever o valor público gerado pela plataforma Meu INSS. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas com 10 usuários do INSS. A análise de dados ocorreu por meio da análise de conteúdo. Os resultados mostraram que a plataforma Meu INSS foi um importante ator tecnológico na construção de valor aos usuários, principalmente pela agilidade, praticidade e comodidade de se consumir os serviços do INSS em âmbito digital. Ademais, as experiências negativas dos usuários com os serviços fornecidos nas unidades físicas do INSS ampliaram a importância que os cidadãos atribuíram à plataforma. Todavia, a desconstrução de valor por meio dos serviços digitais do INSS também aconteceu, principalmente por causa da dificuldade de usar a plataforma, erros técnicos, lentidão na navegação e suporte operacional inadequado. Por fim, esta pesquisa proporcionou uma avaliação dualista dos atributos positivos e negativos do serviço público digital prestado pelo INSS, mostrando que o significado de valor percebido pelos cidadãos foi dinamicamente construído e desconstruído durante o uso do serviço público digital.