Using fuzzy gap analysis to measure service quality of medical tourism in Taiwan

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is intended to create a model to measure quality of service, using fuzzy linguistics to analyze the quality of service of medical tourism in Taiwan so as to find the direction for improvement of service quality in medical tourism.

Design/methodology/approach

The study developed fuzzy questionnaires based on the characteristics of medical tourism quality of service in Taiwan. Questionnaires were delivered and recovered from February to April 2014, using random sampling according to the proportion of medical tourism companies in each region, and 150 effective samples were obtained. The critical quality of service level is found through the fuzzy gap analysis using questionnaires examining expectations and perceptions of customers, as the direction for continuous improvement.

Findings

From the study, the primary five critical service items that improve the quality of service for medical tourism in Taiwan include, in order: the capability of the service provider to provide committed medical tourism services reliably and accurately, facility service providers in conjunction with the services provided, the cordial and polite attitude of the service provider eliciting a sense of trust from the customer, professional ability of medical (nursing) personnel in hospital and reliability of service provider.

Originality/value

The contribution of this study is to create a fuzzy gap analysis to assess the performance of medical tourism service quality, identify key quality characteristics and provide a direction for improvement and development for medical tourism service quality in Taiwan.

Citation

Ho, L.-H., Feng, S.-Y. and Yen, T.-M. (2015), "Using fuzzy gap analysis to measure service quality of medical tourism in Taiwan", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 28 No. 7, pp. 648-659. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-06-2014-0072