Relationship Between Hospital Quality of Service, Customer Satisfaction, and Hospital Repeat and Referral Intentions, Influence Factors and the Mediating Effect of Empathy: Centered at the D Region Superior General Hospital

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence and mediating role of empathy between hospital service quality, customer satisfaction, hospital reuse and recommendation intention. Design/Methodology/Approach - This study analyzed the direct and indirect effects of variables on hospital service quality, customer satisfaction, and intention to reuse and recommend hospitals. In particular, the latent variables of reliability, friendliness, responsiveness, facilities and environment were set as exogenous latent variables, and empathy and customer satisfaction were set as endogenous latent variables, and the indirect effect was verified using empathy as a mediator. Findings - Empathy was found not to mediate the relationship between reliability and customer satisfaction, and a partial mediation was found between friendliness and customer satisfaction. We also found a full mediating effect between responsiveness and customer satisfaction and a partial mediating effect between facilities and environment and customer satisfaction Research Implications - Empathy was found to play an important role in mediating certain aspects of hospital service quality, such as friendliness, responsiveness, and facilities and environment. This suggests that hospitals should consider both emotional and operational aspects of hospital service quality to improve overall customer satisfaction.