The relationship between facilities management service quality and patients’ health-care experience: the mediating effect of adequacy of health-care resource

Abstract

Purpose With challenges in health-care facilities management (FM) and adequacy of health-care resources constraints in most developing countries, improving patient’s health-care experience has become of strategic importance in public health-care delivery. This paper aims to investigate the mediating effect of adequacy of health-care resources on the relationship between the quality of health-care FM services and patient’s health-care experience. Design/methodology/approach This cross-sectional study adopts a quantitative approach based on a questionnaire survey conducted on 660 patients of three teaching hospitals in Ghana. In total, 622 valid questionnaires were used for data analysis using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Findings The mediating effect of adequacy of health-care resources on the relationship between responsiveness and tangibility and patients’ health-care experience were supported, while that of empathy, reliability and assurance were not supported. The relationship between and adequacy of health-care resources and patients’ health-care experience was also supported. Research limitations/implications The study limitation is that it was only the teaching hospitals that were surveyed. In future studies, a comparative analysis can be conducted between both public and private hospitals. Other constructs and relationships such as the mediating effect of the quality of health-care administrative process on the relationship between FM service quality and patients’ health-care experience as well as the moderation effect of adequacy of health-care resource on the relationship between FM service quality and patients’ health-care experience can also be tested. Future studies on the same subject can use health-care workers as the respondents of the study. Practical implications The result should inspire health-care managers to prioritize attention on health-care FM to create and sustain a decent health-care environment. Facilities managers should ensure standards are not compromised by keeping health-care resources in good condition through the organisation and management of resources. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the pioneer studies to test the mediating effect of adequacy of health-care resources on the relationship between patient’s health-care experience and health-care FM service quality. The proposed framework can be adapted to various sectors and countries as this empirical validation extends knowledge.