Measuring the Effect of Healthcare Service Quality Dimensions on Patient’s Satisfaction in The Algerian Private Sector

There is a gap in marketing literature related to impact of service quality dimensions on perceived service quality and patient satisfaction, in the private healthcare industry. The healthcare system is responsible for improving the general population's health in a country. To differentiate from competitors, the quality of service is mainly considered a critical success factor for hospitals (Azmit et al., 2017). Therefore, competition is essential for improving quality and patient satisfaction in healthcare institutions (Kitapci et al., 2014). This article aims to determine the relationship between health service quality dimensions and patient satisfaction in the healthcare sector. Specifically, the paper seeks to find out the most critical dimensions of service quality, which is used to evaluate the characteristics of private healthcare service quality as perceived by patients. A field study was carried out on a sample of 208 patients in Tlemcen city in Algeria. The questionnaire developed for this study was based on a SERVQUAL model specifically, based on Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, (1985) variables that identified the influence of five dimensions (i.e., reliability, tangibility, assurance, responsibility, and empathy) in healthcare service environments on patient satisfaction. The results have found after the application of structural equation modelling that: reliability, tangibility, assurance, responsibility was more significant in contributing to patient satisfaction, while empathy was not significant. This indicates that patients tend to have a positive perception about the health service if they consider the perceived quality of the health service to be credible, reliable, tangible, and responsive, even though they may feel that the health provider does not empathize with them. Hence, healthcare industry practitioners can consider this model as an instrument to assess healthcare and help improve their service quality. Therefore, service provider managers can use this instrument to assess private hospital service quality in Algeria and other African countries.