Abstract
The objective of this paper is to propose hypotheses that explore the impact of three patient-centered attributes of patient satisfaction on word-of-mouth communication by patients. With the underpinnings of advertising communications theory, we examine how empathy, responsiveness, and physical environment of a hospital affect word-of-mouth communication and intensity. This conceptual paper lays the foundation for future empirical research that has a potential to yield important and insightful findings. Results from an examination of hypotheses developed in this paper may advance knowledge in this area and assist administrators in improving patient-centered attributes of patient satisfaction that can stimulate positive word-of-mouth communication.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adelman, M. B., & Ahuvia, A. C. (1995). Social support in the service sector: The antecedents, processes, and outcomes of social support in an introductory service. Journal of Business Research, 32(3), 273–282.
Adelman, M. B., Ahuvia, A., & Goodwin, C. (1994). Beyond smiling: Social support and service quality. In Service quality: New directions in theory and practice (pp. 139–171).
Aghamolaei, T., Eftekhaari, T. E., Rafati, S., Kahnouji, K., Ahangari, S., Shahrzad, M. E., et al. (2014). Service quality assessment of a referral hospital in Southern Iran with SERVQUAL technique: Patients’ perspective. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 322.
Anderson, E. W. (1998). Customer satisfaction and word of mouth. Journal of Service Research, 1(1), 5–17.
Anderson, E. W., & Mittal, V. (2000). Strengthening the satisfaction-profit chain. Journal of Service Research, 3(2), 107–120.
Andrade, C., Lima, M. L., Fornara, F., & Bonaiuto, M. (2012). Users’ views of hospital environmental quality: Validation of the perceived hospital environment quality indicators (PHEQIs). Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32(2), 97–111.
Argan, M. (2012). Word-of-Mouth (WOM) as a tool of health communication: A case study of turkey. HealthMED, 216.
Buttle, F. A. (1998). Word of mouth: Understanding and managing referral marketing. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 6(3), 241–254.
Chaniotakis, I. E., & Lymperopoulos, C. (2009). Service quality effect on satisfaction and word of mouth in the health care industry. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 19(2), 229–242.
Chung, J. W., & Lui, J. C. (2003). Postoperative pain management: Study of patients’ level of pain and satisfaction with health care providers’ responsiveness to their reports of pain. Nursing & Health Sciences, 5(1), 13–21.
Coţiu, M. A., Crişan, I. M., & Catană, G. A. (2014). Patient satisfaction with healthcare—a focus group exploratory study. In International Conference on Advancements of Medicine and Health Care through Technology, 5th–7th June 2014, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (pp. 119–124). Springer International Publishing.
Cowley, E. (2014). Consumers telling consumption stories: Word-of-mouth and retrospective evaluations. Journal of Business Research, 67(7), 1522–1529.
Day, G. S. (1971). Attitude change, media and word of mouth. Journal of Advertising Research.
De Matos, C. A., & Rossi, C. A. V. (2008). Word-of-mouth communications in marketing: A meta-analytic review of the antecedents and moderators. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(4), 578–596.
Derksen, F., Bensing, J., Kuiper, S., van Meerendonk, M., & Lagro-Janssen, A. (2014). Empathy: What does it mean for GPs? A qualitative study. Family Practice, cmu080.
Drevs, F., & Hinz, V. (2014). Who chooses, who uses, who rates: The impact of agency on electronic word-of-mouth about hospitals stays. Health Care Management Review, 39(3), 223–233.
Ennew, C. T., Banerjee, A. K., & Li, D. (2000). Managing word of mouth communication: Empirical evidence from India. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 18(2), 75–83.
Ferguson, R. J., Paulin, M., & Leiriao, E. (2007). Loyalty and positive word-of-mouth: Patients and hospital personnel as advocates of a customer-centric health care organization. Health Marketing Quarterly, 23(3), 59–77.
File, K. M., Cermak, D. S., & Prince, R. A. (1994). Word-of-mouth effects in professional services buyer behavior. The Service Industries Journal, 14(3), 301.
Gremler, D. D., & Brown, S. W. (1996). Service loyalty: Its nature, importance, and implications. In Advancing service quality: A global perspective (pp. 171–180).
Fujino, H., Saito, T., Matsumura, T., Shibata, S., Iwata, Y., Fujimura, H., et al.. (2015). How physicians support mothers of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Journal of Child Neurology, 0883073814558334.
Hahn, J. E., Jones, M. R., & Waszkiewicz, M. (1995). Renovation of a semiprivate patient room. Bowman Center Geriatric Rehabilitation Unit. The Nursing Clinics of North America, 30(1), 97–115.
Harmeling, C. M., Magnusson, P., & Singh, N. (2015). Beyond anger: A deeper look at consumer animosity. Journal of International Business Studies.
Harrison-Walker, L. J. (2001). The measurement of word-of-mouth communication and an investigation of service quality and customer commitment as potential antecedents. Journal of Service Research, 4(1), 60–75.
Hartline, M. D., & Jones, K. C. (1996). Employee performance cues in a hotel service environment: Influence on perceived service quality, value, and word-of-mouth intentions. Journal of Business Research, 35(3), 207–215.
Headley, D. E., & Miller, S. J. (1992). Measuring service quality and its relationship to future consumer behavior. Journal of Health Care Marketing, 13(4), 32–41.
Herr, P. M., Kardes, F. R., & Kim, J. (1991). Effects of word-of-mouth and product-attribute information on persuasion: An accessibility-diagnosticity perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 454–462.
Hojat, M., Gonnella, J. S., Nasca, T. J., Mangione, S., Vergare, M., & Magee, M. (2014). Physician empathy: Definition, components, measurement, and relationship to gender and specialty. American Journal of Psychiatry.
Hojat, M., Louis, D. Z., Markham, F. W., Wender, R., Rabinowitz, C., & Gonnella, J. S. (2011). Physicians’ empathy and clinical outcomes for diabetic patients. Academic Medicine, 86(3), 359–364.
Holmes, J. H., & Lett, J. D. (1977). Product sampling and word of mouth. Journal of Advertising Research.
Jani, D., & Han, H. (2013). Personality, social comparison, consumption emotions, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions: How do these and other factors relate in a hotel setting? International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25(7), 970–993.
Jongerden, I. P., Slooter, A. J., Peelen, L. M., et al. (2013). Effect of intensive care environment on family and patient satisfaction: A before-after study. Intensive Care Medicine, 39(9), 1626–1634.
Kaldenberg, D. O., & Becker, B. W. (1999). Evaluations of care by ambulatory surgery patients. Health Care Management Review, 24(3), 73–83.
Khraim, H. S. (2011). The willingness to generate positive word of mouth marketing: The case of students in private universities in Jordan. Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities, 19(2), 273–289.
Kim, J., & Gupta, P. (2012). Emotional expressions in online user reviews: How they influence consumers’ product evaluations. Journal of Business Research, 65(7), 985–992.
Kim, S. S., Kaplowitz, S., & Johnston, M. V. (2004). The effects of physician empathy on patient satisfaction and compliance. Evaluation & The Health Professions, 27(3), 237–251.
Klem, L. (2000). Structural equation modeling.
Lake, J., Wall, M. M., Berman, A. R., Salazar-Schicchi, J., Powell, C. A., Keller, S. M., et al. (2014). Association of patient-provider communication domains with lung cancer treatment. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 189, A3705.
Liu, S., Jiang, C., Lin, Z., Ding, Y., Duan, R., & Xu, Z. (2015). Identifying effective influencers based on trust for electronic word-of-mouth marketing: A domain-aware approach. Information Sciences, 306, 34–52.
Lumby, J., & England, K. (2000). Patient satisfaction with nursing care in a colorectal surgical population. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 6(3), 140–145.
Mannava, P., Durrant, K., Fisher, J., Chersich, M., & Luchters, S. (2015). Attitudes and behaviours of maternal health care providers in interactions with clients: A systematic review. Globalization and Health, 11(1), 36.
Mazzi, M. A., Rimondini, M., Deveugele, M., Zimmermann, C., Moretti, F., Van Vliet, L., et al. (2013). What do people appreciate in physicians' communication? An international study with focus groups using videotaped medical consultations. Health Expectations.
McDaniel, C., Silver, A. Z., Cormier, M., & Moran, M. (2011). Encouraging relaxation for patients and staff in a high-tech environment. Journal of Radiology Nursing, 30(4), 150–152.
McVicar, A. (2003). Workplace stress in nursing: A literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 44(6), 633–642.
Merkouris, A., Papathanassoglou, E. D., & Lemonidou, C. (2004). Evaluation of patient satisfaction with nursing care: Quantitative or qualitative approach? International Journal of Nursing Studies, 41(4), 355–367.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). Servqual. Journal of Retailing, 64(1), 12–40.
Pascoe, G. C. (1983). Patient satisfaction in primary health care: A literature review and analysis. Evaluation and Program Planning, 6(3), 185–210.
Ricciardi, L., Pomponi, M., Demartini, B., Ricciardi, D., Morabito, B., Bernabei, R., et al. (2015). Emotional awareness, relationship quality, and satisfaction in patients with Parkinson’s disease and their spousal caregivers. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 203(8), 646–649.
Russell, R. S., Johnson, D. M., & White, S. W. (2015). Patient perceptions of quality: Analyzing patient satisfaction surveys. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 35(8), 1158–1181.
Schwartz, A., Hasnain, M., Eiser, A. R., Lincoln, E., & Elstein, A. S. (2006). Patient-physician fit: An exploratory study of a multidimensional instrument. Medical Decision Making, 26(2), 122–133.
Shabbir, S., Kaufmann, H. R., & Shehzad, M. (2010). Service quality, word of mouth and trust: Drivers to achieve patient satisfaction. Scientific Research and Essays, 5(17), 2457–2462.
Sheth, J. N. (1971). Word-of-mouth in low-risk innovations. Journal of Advertising Research, 11(3), 15–18.
Siddiqui, Z. K., Zuccarelli, R., Durkin, N., Wu, A. W., & Brotman, D. J. (2015). Changes in patient satisfaction related to hospital renovation: Experience with a new clinical building. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 10(3), 165–171.
Singh, J. (1990). Voice, exit, and negative word-of-mouth behaviors: An investigation across three service categories. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 18(1), 1–15.
Söderlund, M. (1998). Customer satisfaction and its consequences on customer behaviour revisited: The impact of different levels of satisfaction on word-of-mouth, feedback to the supplier and loyalty. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 9(2), 169–188.
Spreng, R. A., & Mackoy, R. D. (1996). An empirical examination of a model of perceived service quality and satisfaction. Journal of Retailing, 72(2), 201–214.
Tzeng, H. M., & Yin, C. Y. (2010). Predicting patient satisfaction with nurses’ call light responsiveness in 4 US hospitals. Journal of Nursing Administration, 40(10), 440–447.
Ulrich, R. S., Zimring, C., Zhu, X., DuBose, J., Seo, H. B., Choi, Y. S., et al. (2008). A review of the research literature on evidence-based healthcare design. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 1(3), 61–125.
Weng, H. C., Steed, J. F., Yu, S. W., Liu, Y. T., Hsu, C. C., Yu, T. J., et al. (2011). The effect of surgeon empathy and emotional intelligence on patient satisfaction. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 16(5), 591–600.
Zachariae, R., Pedersen, C. G., Jensen, A. B., Ehrnrooth, E., Rossen, P. B., & von der Maase, H. (2003). Association of perceived physician communication style with patient satisfaction, distress, cancer-related self-efficacy, and perceived control over the disease. British Journal of Cancer, 88(5), 658–665.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Academy of Marketing Science
About this paper
Cite this paper
Upadhyay, S., Powers, T.L. (2017). Do Attributes of Patient Satisfaction Affect Word-of-Mouth Communication?. In: Stieler, M. (eds) Creating Marketing Magic and Innovative Future Marketing Trends. Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45596-9_158
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45596-9_158
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-45595-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-45596-9
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)