Relationships among lean, service quality expectation and performance in hospitals
International Journal of Lean Six Sigma
ISSN: 2040-4166
Article publication date: 14 July 2021
Issue publication date: 18 February 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the links between lean, service quality expectation (SQE) and service quality performance (SQP) in outpatient departments (OPD).
Design/methodology/approach
The measurement instruments were developed from a comprehensive literature review, then verified by experts and confirmatory factor analysis. Multiple responses were applied to improve the reliability of data obtained from 220 Thai hospitals. The hypotheses were tested with linear regression and path analysis of structural equation modeling.
Findings
It was found that lean has significant positive impacts on all SQP dimensions (i.e. tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) and on overall SQP. SQE has significant positive direct effects on lean and SQP, and has a significant positive indirect effect on SQP through lean.
Originality/value
This is one of the first examples of research to present insights into the relationships between lean, SQE and SQP in OPD.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The institutional review board of Mahidol University approved this research (MU-CIRB 2019/064.2202). The author would like to thank the editor and anonymous referees for their constructive reviews; thank experts for their measurement instrument validation; thank Graham K. Rogers and Parinya Siriattakul for their language editing and valuable comments; and thank respondents, Healthcare Accreditation Institute (Public Organization), College of Public Health Administration of the Ministry of Public Health for support in data collection.
The author declares no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The author receives no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Citation
Vanichchinchai, A. (2022), "Relationships among lean, service quality expectation and performance in hospitals", International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 457-473. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLSS-11-2020-0210
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited