Examining the role of service climate in health care

Abstract

Purpose – Using a modified version of the service profit chain, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of service climate (SC) by exploring predictors of SC (i.e. service training (ST), managerial practices (MP), physical design (PD), and job design ( JD), job satisfaction ( JS), and employee empowerment) on service quality (SQ), client satisfaction (CS) with service, and client empowerment (CE). The larger proposition being that certain structural variables, through their impact on SC have the potential to positively influence outcomes in health care.Design/methodology/approach – Registered nurses (N=180) from emergency departments across one province in Canada provided information about internal SQ (i.e. ST, MP, PD, and JD), JS, feelings of empowerment, and SC. Furthermore, these nurses provided information on external SQ, CS with service, and CE by responding to questions from the vantage point of the client. The data were analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences; ...