The Flower of Service Concept and Its Influence on the Customer Satisfaction: Case Study of Jordanian Private Hospitals Sector
Service and service quality is becoming the hottest topics within the institutions and organizations that present services to their customers regardless of their orientation and field of interest. Generally speaking, services appear as core services which are the basic benefit that a customer gets from purchasing a certain item/service and supplementary services which are the non-routine services that follow the process of acquiring the item/service. Through the literature there appeared an interest in caring for the level of core services on the expense of supplementary services. In that sense, the current study aimed at examining the influence of 'flower of service' dimensions–as supplementary service dimensions-on customer satisfaction within the private hospitals and healthcare givers in Jordan. The sample of the study consisted of (431) individuals who are benefiting from services of private hospitals. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed on the sample which consisted of questions regarding the service quality within the private hospitals in Jordan based on the dimensions of 'flower of service'. The results of the study indicated that the dimensions of the flower of services appeared to be influential on the satisfaction of customers which included (Information, Order Taking, Consultation, Hospitality, Billing Payment) while two dimensions were found to be not influential (Exception , Safe Keeping). It was recommended through the study that the management should increase the awareness among its employees of the difference between the supplementary service and the core service and how each one of them is important in its own way. In addition to that, there should be extra care about the importance of service quality which can take place through the awareness that can be spread through the quality control department. Also, it was recommended that –based on respondents' opinion – to increase the level of hospitality within the private hospitals and present more effective payment solutions for patients and their families considering that a person is mainly waiting to be charged in accordance with the service that they get.