Measuring Service Quality in Hospitals: Scale Development and Managerial Applications

Many of the most important concepts in marketing are multifaceted. Yet, the traditional approach to measuring complex constructs like service quality has proven inadequate. This article uses second order confirmatory factor analysis to validate a domain specific conceptualization of service quality in the health care area. This methodology offers two advantages for managers. First, it allows for analysis of the problem at three levels of abstraction. Second, the underlying theory upon which the conceptualization is based provides important strategic direction for solving identified problems. An illustrative example using economics of information theory is provided.