An international and comparative study of perceived justice in Mexican, Puerto Rican and Spanish hospitals

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to test a construct of perceived justice and its dimensions in negative service encounters across Mexican, Puerto Rican and Spanish hospitals. Also to compare similarities and differences of perceived justice in negative service encounters in these countries. Design/methodology/approach – Includes Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Spaniards who have experienced service failures at hospital settings. A descriptive research design was followed and a self-administered questionnaire was applied to gather the data from respondents. The researchers applied convenience sampling, and a pre-screening of respondents was included to verify that respondents were appropriate to participate in the study. A total number of 937 usable questionnaires were obtained from the hospital settings. Findings – The empirical findings across three Spanish-speaking countries indicate that the construct of perceived justice in negative service encounters consists of merely 15 items, divided into three dimensions, namely, distributional, interactional and procedural. Research limitations/implications – The empirical findings provide satisfactory validity and reliability across three countries, but there are acknowledged research limitations. These offer an opportunity for further research to verify or falsify the validity, reliability and generalization of the current findings. Practical implications – Service providers may use the three-dimensional construct of perceived justice as a guide when developing, implementing and managing processes and procedures of service failures in negative service encounters. Originality/value – The current international study in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Spain complements and fortifies previous research and existing theory of perceived justice in negative service encounters, and possible actions of complaint handling as well as service recovery.