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KMID : 0904520110290010259
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Health and Medical Sociology
2011 Volume.29 No. 1 p.259 ~ p.277
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The Factors Influencing Patients’ Loyalty to Large Hospitals Located in Busan
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Lee Kyung-Soo
Kim Jun-Ho
Kim De-Hi
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Abstract
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The medical industry significantly affected by structural factors, such as diversification of the medical demand and the quantitative increase of medical institutions is demanding changes in medical institution management. This study in terms of on large hospitals located in Busan and analyses using medical institutions and the patients’ hospital selecting factors. It was made to see association between customer loyalty and cost-benefit satisfaction and subjective recognition perceived by patients analyze what factors of patients selecting medical institutions significantly affected.
Structured questionnaires were used to randomly sample customers visiting hospitals concerned during the period of the research; excepting copies with non-responses and missing data, 698 were collected. Reliability analysis and factor analysis were carried out to test for reliability and validity of items, along with structural equation modeling analysis to see causal relations between variables and t-test and ANOVA to see differences in 10 variables by respondents’ statistical characteristics.
Path analysis between factors affecting customer loyalty, satisfaction with doctors, external recognition, medical administrative service, and medical service were found to directly affect customer loyalty not through mediating factors among 7 independent variables affecting customer loyalty.
In contract, geographical access and satisfaction with the staff affected customer loyalty through patients’ internal recognition, and geographical access, physical environment, and satisfaction with the staff affected customer loyalty through the mediating factor of cost-benefit satisfaction.
Among mediating factors, cost-benefit satisfaction had negative effects directly on customer loyalty but had positive effects indirectly on it through internal recognition at 0.117 (0.294×0.399).
Patients’ internal recognition of medical institutions (.399) and satisfaction with doctors (.315) had more significant effects on customer loyalty than other factors directly affecting customer loyalty; satisfaction with doctors ((.265×.399)+.315=.420) was the factor with the highest level of total effects including both direct and indirect effects.
This study investigated four university hospitals in Busan, followed by empirical analysis, and is significant in that it identified customer orientation factors for selecting hospitals among local residents and researched their preference for each hospital; on this ground, making hospital management efficient and establishing hospital marketing policies will increase chances for patients to choose hospitals in Busan.
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KEYWORD
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customer loyalty, medical institution selection factor, cost-enefit satisfaction, ustomer orientation factor
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