The effect of changes in servicescape and service quality perceptions in a maternity unit

Abstract

There is agreement that the servicescape affects perceptions of service quality and this study bears out this conclusion.

Strategies and servicescapes: Delivering user‐focused health care in Europe and China

“…This was uninspiring, sparse, and uncomfortable, and a new environment featuring plants, floor lamps, and comfortable sofas, where people could feel more at ease, was created. With cases such as these, it is difficult not to concur with Holder and Berndt ( ), who suggest that there is now increasing evidence available to indicate that the nature of the servicescape can influence favorably the emotions and physical health of patients.…”

“…Research has demonstrated that the nature of the service-setting patients' experience is one of the most significant determinants of perceived quality, which can lead to both competitive advantage for the provider (Taylor, 1994) and the longterm loyalty of the consumer (Otani, Waterman, Faulkner, Boslaugh, & Dunagan, 2010). This service environment, made up of the tangibles of buildings, furnishings, layouts, and various signs and the intangibles of temperature, color, scent, and music, has been found to impact directly on the perceptions of health-service quality, from the perspectives of physicians, patients, and health-care decision makers (Department of Health, 2005;Holder & Berndt, 2011;Jun, Peterson, & Zsidism, 1998). If we add to this the actions of clinicians and their interactions with users (Fottler, Ford, Roberts, Ford, & Spears, 2000), then there is an entire service setting that represents what the consumer is seeking, and in many cases paying for, from the total health-care experience.…”

Customer Perceptions of Health Examination Service Quality: An Empirical Investigation in South Korea

“…SERVPERF, an alternative methodology to SERVQUAL, appears to have a good fit and more construct-valid explication of service quality [42], [45]. SERVPERF is also actively employed in the context of healthcare services [45]- [47].…”

Racial Disparities in the Tangible Dimension of the Public Health Care in South Africa

“…Patient experience deals with all aspects of the perceptions of patients and their families and ranging from safety, quality of food, friendliness of staff; quality of food to physical surroundings. Perceptions of the physical surroundings are important due to the effect the physical evidence has on patient and on their perceptions of service quality (Harris & Ezeh, 2008;Holder & Berndt, 2011).…”

“…Or as non-living features that comprise the service environment (Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler, 2006;Hofmann, Bateson, Wood & Kenyon, 2009;Countryman & Yang, 2006;Lovelock & Wright, 2002;Holder & Berndt, 2011). It is thus clear that the services that are rendered within the tangible construct (physical environment) may have a significant influence on the satisfaction levels experienced by patients in a public healthcare setting.…”