MODIFICATION OF 'SERVPERF' AS A TOOL FOR SERVICE QUALITY EVALUATION: A STUDY IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN BANGALORE

摘要

Service quality assessment is one of the major challenges faced by healthcare administrators today. Parasuraman et al. (1988) has defined service quality as "a global judgment or attitude relating to the overall excellence or superiority of the services". The difference between customer expectations regarding a service to be received and perception of the service to be received has been conceptualized as service quality (Parasuraman et.al.1988, Gronroos 2001). Consequently, providing high service quality to customers, offers a firm an opportunity to differentiate it self and gain a competitive advantage in the market (Wang.2003). Especially in healthcare management, the perception of the patient with respect to the perceived service quality is more important compared to the actual quality of service provided by the healthcare providers. This is the basis on which consumers decide on purchase, repurchase and recommendation of service to others (Paul and Anantharaman 2003).