The effect of service encounters on patient satisfaction and behavioral intention in private healthcare organizations

The competition in private healthcare industry has intensified based on increasing expenditures and the number of organizations recently. Private healthcare institutions have focused on customer satisfaction and loyalty to achieve a competitive advantage. The study utilizes service encounters to investigate patient satisfaction and behavioral intention. The study aims to reveal the role of service encounters in private healthcare organizations in patient satisfaction and behavioral intention. Research also aims to uncover whether the magnitude of structural paths differs from reputation levels of private hospitals. According to the purpose of the study, data were obtained from patients, including two private hospitals (high vs. low reputation), who purchased healthcare services at least once in the last six months. Finally, the sample constitutes 1023 valid data (high reputation=471, low reputation=552). Frequency analysis, missing value analysis, validity and reliability analysis, structural equation analysis, multigroup analysis were conducted. The study explored call center experience among pre-core service encounters indirectly affected patient satisfaction and behavioral intention. However, online and social experiences did not. As core service encounters, physician and nursing interaction, trust, accessibility, and perceived sufficient waiting influenced patient satisfaction and behavioral intention, though physical evidence and supportive staff interaction did not. In the post-core stage, patient satisfaction impacts behavioral intention. Additionally, in terms of the result of multigroup analysis, those effects were equivalent for high and low reputations.