SERVICE QUALITY ASYMMETRIC EFFECT ON PATIENT SATISFACTION FOR PRIMARY HEALTHCARE SERVICES

Primary health care services delivery and its effects on patient satisfaction are very important for healthcare managers as it affects healthcare results and organizations operational expenses’ management. Patient satisfaction is typically view it as a multidimensional construct. The purpose of this study is to exploit the theoretical frameworks of three-factor theory in order to identify the service delivery factors affecting patient satisfaction formation and to investigate whether there is an asymmetric service quality-satisfaction relationship. Regression analysis with dummy variables was used to analyze the responses of 407 primary healthcare services’ users, which were collected via personal interviews using a properly designed questionnaire. The results showed empirical support to the three-factor theory in the context of primary health care services by confirming the asymmetric relationship between service delivery performance assessment and patient satisfaction. Implications for practice and directions for future research are then discussed.