The effect of service quality, fairness, reputation and perceived value on patient's loyalty in Malaysian private hospitals

Healthcare providers' quality becomes a serious problem in Indonesia thereby leading many Indonesians to seek medical treatment in Malaysian private hospitals. Nevertheless, Malaysian private hospitals are not equally delivering the expected quality services to the patients, thus leading to short time visits for health screening purposes only. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to examine the factors that can predict Indonesia patients’ loyalty to private hospitals in Malaysia. Specifically, it aims at examining the direct and indirect relationship between healthcare service quality, service fairness, hospital reputation, and patients’ perceived value on patients’ loyalty. The inconsistent findings from previous literature regarding the relationship among these constructs motivated this research. The study used Means-end and Social Exchange theories as underpinning theories to explain the relationship between the variables of the study. The study also employed questionnaires to collect data from 537 Indonesians who attended private hospitals in Malaysia. Smart PLS-SEM version 3.2.8 was used to analyze the collected data. The result proved that healthcare service quality, service fairness, and hospital reputation are positive significant predictors of patients’ perceived value. Patients’ perceived value positively and significantly influenced patients’ loyalty. Also, perceived value has a significant and positive mediating effect on the relationship between healthcare service quality, service fairness, hospital reputation, and patients’ loyalty. The research highlights the importance of perceived value in establishing loyalty and this indicates that Indonesian patients are value-oriented. Thus, it is recommended that private healthcare providers prioritize value creation and delivery as their top agenda. Conclusively, the researcher extensively discussed the findings, implications, and the limitations of the study, and equally made recommendations for future research to broaden the scope of the research in terms of the variables, population, and methodology