Service Quality, Customer Loyalty and Customer Retention among Private Health Care Services in Mbarara City

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationships between service quality, customer loyalty, and customer retention within private healthcare facilities in Mbarara City. It specifically focused on how service quality affects customer retention and loyalty, and how loyalty in turn influences retention. A cross-sectional design was used, with data collection and analysis conducted quantitatively. The study encompassed 36 operational private healthcare centres, with their customers serving as the subjects of the investigation. The study distributed self-administered closed-ended questionnaires to the participants, and the data collected was later processed and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS), version 21. To address the research objectives, Pearson correlation was utilized to examine the relationships between the variables under investigation, while Ordinary Least Square regression was employed to assess the model's predictive capability. The study revealed a noteworthy positive relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, as well as a significant positive correlation between customer loyalty and customer retention. However, it was determined that the link between service quality and customer retention was not statistically significant. Therefore, there is a need for private healthcare management to focus on service quality to improve customer loyalty. This means that activities related to the reliability of the health staff, positive responsiveness of the doctors and other employees in the health centres, ensuring that the patients are assured of quality service and equipping the health facility with the right machines that can test and treat diseases, this will help in improving customer loyalty hence customer retention among private health care services in Mbarara City.