The perceived impact of restructuring on service quality in a health care environment

Abstract

This study evaluates health care employees perceptions of service quality in a hospital environment after the process of restructuring and assesses whether their perceptions are influenced by biographical profiles. A sample of 143 clinical and non-clinical employees from three of the largest regional hospitals within the Ministry of Health in Lesotho was drawn using cluster sampling. Data was collected using an adapted version of SERVQUAL whose psychometric properties were statistically determined. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicate that employees were fairly convinced that the process of transformation undertaken in the health care organization led to enhanced service quality in terms of improved empathy, assurance, responsiveness, tangibles and reliability, although in varying degrees and, reflect areas for improvement.