The Relationships among Service Failure, Service Recovery, and Customers’ Satisfaction and Trust at International Hospitals: A case in Vietnam

The Relationships among Service Failure, Service Recovery, and Customers’ Satisfaction and Trust at International Hospitals: A case in Vietnam

Quoc Nghi Nguyen^a*, Van Tung Huynh^b anh Van Nam Mai^a

^aCan Tho University, Can Tho City, Viet Nam

^bCan Tho City Institute for Socio – Economic Development Studies, Can Tho City, Viet Nam

Abstract: The objective of this study is to demonstrate the relationships among the severity of service failure, service recovery, customer satisfaction and loyalty towards the Vietnamese international hospital system. The research data were collected from 303 customers who have used services and experienced service failures at international hospitals. Applying the Structural Equation Modeling, the study pointed out that service failure includes three dimensions, which are system failure, request failure, and behavior failure. Meanwhile, service recovery is made up of three dimensions which are distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice. The severity of service failure positively affects service recovery and service recovery puts a powerful impact on customer satisfaction, thereby increasing their trust in international hospitals in Vietnam.

Keywords: service failure, service recovery, satisfaction, trust, international hospital.

Introduction

Service failure is any mistake, omission, or incident that occurs during the service delivery process (Namasivayam and Hinkin, 2003). While trying hard, even the best service provider is certainly unable to eliminate service failures (Gursoy et al., 2007). Service failures may occur in all service activities, affecting the turnover and reputation of the service provider. When a service failure occurs, customers often have negative emotions including anger, frustration, irritability, anxiety, dissatisfaction, disappointment, and regret (Smith and Bolton, 2002). At this time, the customer is dissatisfied with the service and pays attention to what the service provider will do to deal with the problem, in other words, they are concerned about how the service recovery will be made. If service failures are not handled promptly by the service provider, this may result in losing revenue and customers (Liu et al., 2000; Maxham, 2001). A good service recovery strategy will positively impact on the business results of the service provider (Tax and Brown, 1998).

Vietnam with the continuous economic growth in the period of 2015-2019, has become an impressive destination for investors, especially the field of high-quality medical services. The image and quality of medical services at international hospitals in Vietnam are increasingly improved to meet customers' needs. However, due to the special characteristics of the health sector, service failures are an inevitable problem for international hospitals. In particular, if customers highly evaluate the service quality of an international hospital, service failures cause a greater impact on their satisfaction with the hospital. To enhance the situation, international hospitals always consider that service recovery is important. This study was conducted to assess the effect of service failure on service recovery, customer satisfaction and loyalty in Vietnamese international hospitals.

Source: The  relationships  among  service  failure,  service  recovery,  customer  satisfaction  and  trust  at international hospitals: A Case in Vietnam