Conceptualization and validation of customer participation in health care: a study on chronic illnesses management
Abstract
Purpose
Contrary to want-based services, customer participation has got lesser attention in high-credence services like health care. Customer participation for patients with chronic illnesses could be life-threatening and goes beyond the service organization’s physical environment. Realizing the importance of transformative service research in health-care services, this study aims to propose and validate the conceptualization of customer participation for patients with chronic illnesses.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses sequential exploratory research design with mixed method research. The first phase is a qualitative exploration of the nature and meaning of customer participation by synthesizing theory and insights from semi-structured interviews (N = 75) with doctors, patients and paramedical staff. Next, survey data (N = 690) of patients with chronic illnesses is used to validate the proposed conceptualization. Finally, nomological validity was also tested on an additional survey data set (N = 362) using SEM and FsQCA.
Findings
The findings reveal that health-care customer participation is a three-dimensional behavioral construct in which a customer can participate by sharing information, involving in decision-making and ensuring compliance. The study also demonstrates that customer participation is a critical driver of satisfaction with life and perceived control on illness.
Practical implications
The research provides policy guidelines for owners and operators of health-care organizations in developing frameworks for collecting participation data, which can be used in strategies for seeking customer participation.
Originality/value
The research conceptualizes and validates “customer participation” as a multidimensional higher-order construct for patients with chronic illnesses, rarely focused in services marketing and management research on health care.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors express their sincere appreciation for the invaluable contributions of Professor Sylvie Llosa and Lionel Nicod (Researchers at CERGAM) in the meticulous item generation and finalization process for developing the scale on customer participation in health care services. Authors are profoundly grateful to all their respondents, including doctors, patients, and paramedical staff, as well as the hospitals for their cooperation in providing exceptionally valuable data. Their contributions have been instrumental in providing insights that are both beneficial to practitioners and enriching for academics.
Citation
Junaid, M., Goudarzi, K., Rasheed, M.F. and N’Goala, G. (2024), "Conceptualization and validation of customer participation in health care: a study on chronic illnesses management", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-07-2023-0270
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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