The Mediating Role of Patient Satisfaction in Respect to the Aspects of Perceived Service Qualities and Their Loyalty (Case Study: Private Hospitals in Mashhad)

Hospitals, like every other business, need to keep clients and their loyalty in order to be successful. One way of improving patient satisfaction and loyalty is focusing on the aspects of service qualities. Therefore, the aim of this study is investigating the mediating role of patient satisfaction in respect to the aspects of perceived service qualities and their loyalty in private hospitals in Mashhad. For evaluating the perceived quality of services, Servqual model has been used in remedial hygienic section. Research method is survey-applied in nature. The data has been gathered through a questionnaire distributed to the patients hospitalized in one of the private hospitals in Mashhad for at least one day. Construct validity was evaluated through conducting confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbachʹs alpha coefficients of greater than .70 confirmed the questionnaireʹs reliability. Collected data was analyzed by conducting structural equation modeling in Amos software. According to the results, five aspects of service qualities have a significant and positive effect on patient satisfaction and “guarantee” has the greatest effect. Effect of satisfaction on loyalty was also confirmed.