Perceived values on hospital services: A fuzzy logic application

Loyal patients can bring substantial benefits to a hospital. Service quality of a hospital was one of the driving forces to patientsʹ satisfaction and loyalty, but it was a necessary but not a sufficient factor. Recent studies in consumer behavior had proven that the perceived value was the primary determinant of loyal behavior for services. This research focused on identifying the patientsʹ perceived values toward hospitals. To capture with more confidence the misty inner of the patientsʹ value perception, this study adopted the fuzzy logic, a method that had been develop to reflect the fuzzy nature of human mind. Being the first in adopting a fuzzy logic in this context, this research find quality of care and physician competence were the top two value aspects perceived by patients. This was consistent with previous studies, yet some new insights were further revealed. This study used a closeness index to distinguish the best hospital that was otherwise assessed by other methods as similar to the rivalries. Results also indicated that the hospital with superior operation performance was the one received better levels of patientsʹ perceived value. The research brought several managerial implications, particularly in the needs of identifying and correcting marketing myopia.