SERVICE QUALITY AND PATIENT SATISFACTION AS PREDICTORS OF LOYALTY AMONG PATIENTS IN PUBLIC HOSPITALS IN MAKURDI METROPOLIS

Abstract

This study investigated service quality and patient satisfaction as predictors of loyalty among patients in public hospitals in Makurdi metropolis. The study adopted cross-sectional survey design where two hundred and fifty (250) patients consisting of 143 (57.2%) males and 107 (42.8%) females were selected. Their ages ranged from 19-43years with a mean age of 31.60years (SD=8.248). Accidental sampling was used to draw the participants for the study. The quality-of-care questionnaire, patient satisfaction scale and the patient loyalty questionnaire were used for data collection. Simple linear regression, multiple linear regression and hierarchical regression analysis were used for hypothesis one, two and three respectively. The result revealed that service quality significantly predicted loyalty among patients. The result also revealed that patient satisfaction significantly predicted loyalty among patients. The result also revealed that service quality and patient satisfaction are significant joint predictors of loyalty among patients when demographic variables were controlled. It was recommended that poor service quality associated with many public hospitals should be eradicated. This can be done if health workers of public hospitals such as doctors and nurses are re-sensitized by trained workplace (industrial and organizational) psychologists on the essence of service quality in customer retention and the need to adopt better strategies of providing medical services. The implication of the finding is that more patients will be willing to patronize public hospitals if the quality of service is improved and their threshold of satisfaction is met.