Examination of the Predictive Power of Service Quality Dimensions on Customer Satisfaction with Health Services in Rwanda
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47941/jbsm.2803Keywords:
Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, Health Services, Predictive Power, Service Quality MeasurementAbstract
Purpose: The study examined whether the five service quality dimensions predict the satisfaction with health services in Rwanda and their predictive abilities.
Methodology: The quantitative research approach was employed to collect data for this study. The population of the study was 17,842,187 individuals who sought services from different health facilities from which a sample of 487 was chosen using a probability sampling method. Data were merged and cleaned to ensure quality before the actual analysis. The analysis of data was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and exported to Microsoft Excel for categorization of responses and easy manipulation of the data. Multiple linear regression analysis was employed to test how the service quality dimensions are associated with customer satisfaction with health services and the predictive power of each dimension.
Findings: Hypotheses tests were carried out and results showed that, all the five service quality dimensions are predictors of customer satisfaction with health services. As a result, the null hypotheses were rejected and alternative hypotheses were accepted. If the service quality dimensions are arranged in order of their predictive power beginning with the highest predictor; they can be ordered as Empathy, Assurances, Reliability, Tangibles and Responsiveness.
Contribution to Theory, Policy, and Practice: The research showed significant relationship between the five service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction with health services which has not been measured before. It also showed the predictive power of each of the dimensions which highlights where more efforts should be invested to improve satisfaction with health services in Rwanda. More efforts should be invested in those dimensions that predict satisfaction of customers more than others in case resources to improve all are not sufficient in a particular period of time.
Downloads
References
Adeinat, I. (2019). Measuring service quality efficiency using DINESERV. International
Journal for Quality Research, 13(3), 591-604.
Adel, I., & Imène, G. (2019). The Short and Long Run Causality Relationship Between
Public Health Spending and Economic Growth: Evidence from Tunisia and Morocco. Journal of Economic Development, 44(3), 19-39
Afrashtehfar, K. I., Assery, M. K., Bryant, S. R., & Isola, G. (2020). Patient satisfaction in
medicine and dentistry. International Journal of Dentistry, 2020, 1–10. https:// doi.org/10.1155/2020/6621848
Agnihotri, R., Yang, Z., & Briggs, E. (2019). Salesperson time perspectives and customer
willingness to pay more: roles of intraorganizational employee navigation, customer satisfaction, and firm innovation climate. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 39(2), 138-158.
Al Fraihi, K. J., & Latif, S. A. (2016). Evaluation of outpatient service quality in Eastern
Saudi Arabia. Patient's expectations and perceptions. Saudi medical journal, 37(4), –428. https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2016.4.14835
Amir Azlan Hamzah, & Mohd Farid Shamsudin. (2020). Why Customer Satisfaction Is
Important to Business?. Journal of Undergraduate Social Science and Technology, 1(1). Retrieved from http://abrn.asia/ojs/index.php/JUSST/article/view/58
Al Owad, A., Islam, M., Samaranayake, P., & Karim, A. (2022). Relationships between
patient flow problems, health care services, and patient satisfaction: An empirical investigation of the emergency department. Business Process Management Journal, 28(3), 684–712. https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-11- 2020-0523
Ampaw, E. M., Chai, J., Liang, B., Tsai, S. B., & Frempong, J. (2020). Assessment on health
care service quality and patients’ satisfaction in Ghana. Kybernetes, 49 (12), 3047–3068. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-06-2019- 0409
Andersson, M., Boateng, K., & Abos, P. (2024). Validity and Reliability: The extent to which
your research findings are accurate and consistent. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384402476_Validity_and_Reliability_The_extent_to_which_your_research_findings_are_accurate_and_consistent
Black, B. (2000). The application of SERVQUAL in a district nursing service. Scotland:
PTM Publishers. 42.
Brekke, K.R., & Straume, O.R. (2017). Competition policy for health care provision in
Norway. Health Policy, 121(2):134–40.
Camilleri, D., & O'Callaghan, M. (1998). Comparing public and private hospital care service
quality. International journal of health care quality assurance incorporating Leadership in health services, 11(4-5), 127–133. https://doi.org/10.1108/09526869810216052
Carducci, B. J., Nave, C. S., Mio, J. S., & Riggio, R. E. (2020). The Wiley encyclopedia of
personality and individual differences. Volume II, Measurement and assessment. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119547167
Coccia, M. (2019). Intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to support motivation and performance
of public organizations. Journal of Economics Bibliography, 6 (1), 20–29.
https://doi.org/10.1453/jeb.v6i1.1795
Coccia, M., & Igor, B. (2018). Rewards in public administration: A proposed classification.
Journal of Social and Administrative Sciences, 5(2), 68–80.
Cronin, J. J., & Taylor, S. A. (1992). Measuring service quality: A reexamination and
extension. Journal of Marketing, 56(3), 55–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299205600304
Cruz, V., & Mendes, L. (2019). The influence of service quality on behavioural intentions in
developing countries: A cross-sectional study in Cape Verde’s public hospitals. International Journal for Quality Research, 13(2), 361. https://doi.org/10.24874/ IJQR13.02-08
Cull, R., Xu, L. C., Yang, X., Zhou, L. A., & Zhu, T. (2017). ‘Market Facilitation by Local
Government and Firm Efficiency: Evidence from China’. Journal of Corporate Finance, 42(C), 460-480
Dagger, T. S., Sweeney, J. C., & Johnson, L. W. (2007). A hierarchical model of health
service quality: Scale development and investigation of an integrated model. Journal of Service Research, 10(2), 123–142.https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670507309594
Dixon, J. (2021). Improving the quality of care in health systems: towards better
strategies. Israel journal of health policy research, 10(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13584-021-00448-y
Donabedian, A. (2005). Evaluating the quality of medical care. Milbank Mem Fund Q, 83(4),
-729.
Fatima, T., Malik, S. A., & Shabbir, A. (2018). Hospital healthcare service quality, patient
satisfaction and loyalty. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 35(6), 1195–1214. https://doi.org/10. 1108/IJQRM-02-2017-0031
Ghali, Z., Garrouch, K., & Aljasser, A. (2023). Drivers of Patients' Behavioural Intention
toward Public and Private Clinics' Services. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 11(16), 2336. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11162336
Goumairi, O., Aoula, E., & Souda, S. B. (2020). Application of the SERVQUAL Model for
the Evaluation of the Service Quality in Moroccan Higher Education: Public Engineering School as a Case Study. The International Journal of Higher Education, 9(5), 223-229
Gunawan, I. (2022). Customer Loyalty: The Effect Customer Satisfaction, Experiential
Marketing and Product Quality. KINERJA: Jurnal Manajemen Organisasi dan Industri, 1(1), 35-50.
Habibi, A., & Rasoolimanesh, S. M. (2021). Experience and service quality on perceived
value and behavioral intention: Moderating effect of perceived risk and fee. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 22(6), 711–737. https://doi.org/10.1080/1528008X. 2020.1837050
Hanefeld, J., Powell-Jackson, T., & Balabanova, D. (2017). Understanding and measuring
quality of care: dealing with complexity. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 95: 368–374.
Itumalla. R., Acharyulu, G. V. R. K., & Shekhar, B. R. (2014). Development of HospitalQual:
a service quality scale for measuring in-patient services in hospital, Operations and Supply Chain Management, 7(2), 54-63of Educational Research
Jallow, A. (2020). The Role of Health on Economic Development. International Journal of
Health Statistics, 1(1):7-14. https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2997-1969.ijhs-20-3658
Jonkisz, A., Karniej, P., & Krasowska, D. (2021). SERVQUAL Method as an "Old New"
Tool for Improving the Quality of Medical Services: A Literature Review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(20), 10758. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010758
Juwaheer, T. D., & Kassean, H. (2006). Exploring quality perceptions of health care operations:
a study of public hospitals of Mauritius. J Hosp Mark Pub Rel., 16(1–2): 89-111. doi: 10.1300/J375v16n01_07.
Juwaheer, T. D., & Kassean, H. (2006). Exploring quality perceptions of health care operations:
a study of public hospitals of Mauritius. Journal of hospital marketing & public relations, 16(1-2), 89–111. https://doi.org/10.1300/J375v16n01_07
Karnia, R. (2024). Importance of Reliability and Validity in Research. Psychology and
Behavioral Sciences, 13(6), 137-141. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20241306.11
Kaur, K. N., Niazi, F., Thakur, R., Saeed, S., Rana, S., & Singh, H. (2023). Quality assessment
of global health care system in the shadow of COVID-19: - a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 23(1), 979. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15840-3
Lee, D. and Kim, K.K. (2017). Assessing healthcare service quality: a comparative study of
patient treatment types. International Journal of Quality Innovation, 3(1). [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40887-016-0010-5
Lee, W. H., & Cheng, C. C. (2018). Less is more: A new insight for measuring service
quality of green hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 68, 32-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.09.005
Lim, L. G., Tuli, K. R., & Grewal, R. (2020). Customer satisfaction and its impact on the future
costs of selling. Journal of Marketing, 84(4), 23-44.
Luft, J., Jeong, S., Idsardi, R., & Gardner, G. (2022). Literature Reviews, Theoretical
Frameworks, and Conceptual Frameworks: An Introduction for New Biology Education Researchers, CBE—Life Sciences Education, 21(3). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.21-05-0134
Malik S. A., Akhtar F., Raziq M. M., & Ahmad M. (2020). Measuring service quality
perceptions of customers in the hotel industry of Pakistan. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 31(3-4), 263–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2018.1426451
Morales-Burton, V., & Lopez-Ramirez, S. A. (2022). Rethinking Healthcare Quality and
Prestige: Is This a Manager's Number One Problem?. Frontiers in public health, 10, 863383. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.863383
Murdifin, H., Imaduddin, M., Zulfikar, S. A., & Aditya, H. P. K. (2019). The Application of
SERVQUAL Distribution in Measuring Customer Satisfaction of Retails Company. Journal of Distribution Science, 17(2), 25-31
National Land Authority (2022). Report of the land services seekers for all districts. Kigali,
Rwanda.
Nekoei-Moghadam, M., & Amiresmaili, M. (2011). Hospital services quality assessment:
hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, as a tangible example of a developing country. International journal of health care quality assurance, 24(1), 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1108/09526861111098247
Ngo, V., & Hieu, V. (2020). Customer agility and firm performance in the tourism industry.
Tourism. 68(1), 68-82.
Nguyen, N. X., Tran, K., & Nguyen, T. A. (2021). Impact of service quality on in-patients’
satisfaction, perceived value, and customer loyalty: A mixed-methods study from a developing country. Patient Preference and Adherence, Volume 15, 2523–2538. https://doi.org/ 10.2147/PPA.S333586
Nyandekwe, M., Nzayirambaho, M., & Kakoma, J. B. (2020). Universal health insurance in
Rwanda: major challenges and solutions for financial sustainability case study of Rwanda community-based health insurance part I. The Pan African medical journal, 37, 55. https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2020.37.55.20376
Ozyilmaz, A., Bayraktar, Y., Isik, E., Toprak, M., Er, M. B., Besel, F., Aydin, S., Olgun, M.
F., & Collins, S. (2022). The Relationship between Health Expenditures and Economic Growth in EU Countries: Empirical Evidence Using Panel Fourier Toda-Yamamoto Causality Test and Regression Models. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(22), 15091. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215091
Pakurár, M., Haddad, H., Nagy, J., Popp, J., & Oláh, J. (2019). The Service Quality Dimensions
that Affect Customer Satisfaction in the Jordanian Banking Sector. Sustainability, 11(4), 1113. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11041113
Parasuraman, A. P., Zeithaml, V., & Berry L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality
and its implication for future research (SERVQUAL). J Mark. 49:41– 50. doi:10.2307/1251430
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale
for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64(1), 12.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V., & Berry, L. (1988). SERVQUAL: a multiple-item scale for
measuring consumer perceptions of service quality, J. Retailing, 64(2), 12-40.
Pathiratne, S. U., Khatibi, A., & Md Johar, M. G. (2018). CSFs for Six Sigma in service and
manufacturing companies: an insight on literature. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 9(4), 543-561.
Ramya, N., Kowsalya, A., & Dharanipriya, K. (2019). Service Quality and its Dimensions.
EPRA International Journal of Research & Development (IJRD), 4(2), 39-41.
Safariena Ilias, & Mohd Farid Shamsudin. (2020). Customer Satisfaction and Business
Growth. Journal of Undergraduate Social Science and Technology, 2(2). Retrieved from http://abrn.asia/ojs/index.php/JUSST/article/view/60
Salem, O. & Kiss, M. (2023). Using the Servqual model to assess service quality of internet
service providers: evidence from Jordan. Oradea Journal of Business and Economics, 8(1), 61–71.DOI:10.47535/1991ojbe165
Sugiarto, S., & Octaviana, V. (2021). Service Quality (SERVQUAL) Dimensions on Customer
Satisfaction: Empirical Evidence from Bank Study. Golden Ratio of Marketing and Applied Psychology of Business, 1(2), 93 – 106
Valenzo-Jiménez, M. A., Lázaro-López, D. A., & Martínez-Arroyo, J. A. (2019). Application
of the SERVQUAL model to evaluate the quality in the transportation service in Morelia, Mexico. DYNA, 86(211), 64-74.
Yarmak, V., & Rollnik-Sadowska, E. (2022). Research themes on the quality of public services
exemplified by healthcare services — a bibliometric analysis. Engineering Management in Production and Services, 14(2), 82–94. https://doi.org/10.2478/emj2022-0018
Zakari, A. A., & Ibrahim, U. A. (2021). Impact of customer satisfaction on business
performance of SME’s in Nigeria. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147- 4478), 10(5), 46–51. https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v10i5.1291
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr. Kalisa Edward, Mr. Mulindwa Anatole

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.