SERVQUAL: A tool for measuring patients' opinions of hospital service quality in Hong Kong

Abstract

The service quality measurement scale (SERVQUAL) has been widely used in research to measure quality of service. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the use of SERVQUAL for measuring patients' perceptions of health care quality in Hong Kong. The paper also examines the validity, reliability and predictive validity of SERVQUAL and analyzes its applicability to the health care sector in Hong Kong. The results indicate that SERVQUAL appears to be a consistent and reliable scale to measure health care service quality. However, the proposed five dimensions of SERVQUAL are not confirmed. The results also indicate that perceived health care service performance generally falls short of expectations except in the physical elements of service quality. Timely, professional and competent services are what patients expect from health care providers.