No abstract

Purpose The customer experience quality (EXQ) cannot be measured by using traditional tools to investigate service quality. There is a need to use new tools to directly measure EXQ from a customer perspective. The current study aims to contribute in this domain of knowledge and validate EXQ scale by linking it to marketing outcomes of satisfaction, loyalty and word of mouth in Malaysian private healthcare settings. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data from 330 randomly selected Malaysians, visiting private hospitals in the city of Kuala Lumpur. The data analysis is performed by confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modelling – SEM – procedures. Findings The results reveal that two dimensions of EXQ scale moments of truth and peace of mind are highly valued by customers. Furthermore, the EXQ perceptions significantly contribute to satisfaction and loyalty. In a mediating relationship, the customer satisfaction is found to be a positive and significant variable. Practical implications Healthcare marketing policymakers should emphasize on recruitment of frontline staff – individuals with strong interpersonal skills and expertise who are able to create a memorable customer service experience. Originality/value The study is an original contribution to the existing body of knowledge – generally in services marketing literature and specifically in the field of healthcare marketing with a focus on customer experience in a developing country context of Malaysia.

The increasing numbers of public and private hospitals have resulted in the competitive environment in healthcare industry. This situation needs cooperation and support from the hospitals to focus on setting up compelling hospital image and providing satisfaction to the patients to ensure and secure their loyalty. Therefore, providing a high Service Quality will ensure the patients' satisfaction and loyalty to keep on tapping the service provided. This study reports on a research finding that undertakes to analyze the effect of Image and Service Quality provided by the hospital towards patients' satisfaction and loyalty in public hospital in Terengganu. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypothesis model in the study. The finding of this study illustrates that although hospital image did not have any effect on the patients' loyalty, but it had a big impact on patients' satisfaction. Furthermore, patients' satisfaction had a big impact towards patients' loyalty. This study also clarifies that the Service Quality provided by the hospital had a direct influence on the patients' satisfaction and loyalty. Hence, a high service quality provided by the hospital will influence patients' satisfaction and loyalty and a positive and compelling hospital image is an important factor to ensure the patients' satisfaction.

The objectives of the study were two-folds: firstly, to ascertain the effect of life satisfaction on substance abuse among Malay youth. Secondly, to identify the role of delinquency on the relationship between life satisfaction and substance abuse. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among youths at the youth programmes using a two-step sampling technique: area sampling and systematic sampling. The research hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modelling. The findings of the study revealed that there is no significance relationship between life satisfaction and substance abuse. There is a significant inverse relationship between life satisfaction and delinquency. Moreover, delinquency has a positive significant influence on substance abuse. The use of Bootstrapping analysis proved that delinquency plays a full mediating role in the relationship between life satisfaction and substance abuse. This study concluded that to reduce substance abuse, efforts should be undertaken to reduce delinquency behaviour by increasing youth life satisfaction.

Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is a powerful multivariate statistical analysis technique which combines both factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. It is capable of analysing the inter-relationships among latent constructs simultaneously in a model. These latent constructs are measured using certain number of items in a questionnaire. Covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM) or full SEM have become the choice for many researchers in a variety of disciplines because of their ability to evaluate complex relationships using parametric statistical approach. Researchers could also opt for Variance-based SEM (VB-SEM) or Partial Least Square-SEM (PLS-SEM) when their data failed the parametric assumptions such as multivariate normality distribution and minimum sample size. However, the approach of VB-SEM or PLS-SEM is a non-parametric instead of a parametric approach in CB-SEM. This article compared the performance of both SEM approaches using the same dataset to validate the Measurement Model for Maqasid Syariah Quality of Life (MSQoL). The findings of both analyses suggested that CB-SEM or full SEM is more appropriate to validate and confirm the MSQoL measurement model.