Abstract
This study developed and tested theory to better understand the marketing construct of service quality, in a hospital setting. Marketing theory proposed that positive relationships exist between patients' perceptions of service quality and the following independent variables (a) nurses' perceptions of human resource practices, (b) nurses' perceptions of autonomy in practice, (c) patient satisfaction with nursing care, and (d) patients' perceptions of organizational climate for service. The sample was comprised of 102 nurse-patient dyads who were recruited at a metropolitan university hospital. The patient sample was primarily made up of white (86.2%), married (80.4%), men (61.8%) whose ages ranged from 24 to 83 years. The nurse sample was comprised of predominantly white (64.7%), staff nurses (94.1%) who were mostly women (93.1%). Hypotheses testing employed correlational and regression statistical techniques. No statistically significant relationships were found between patients' perceptions of service quality and (a) nurses' perceptions of human resource practices (r =.11, p =.13), or (b) nurses' perceptions of autonomy in practice (r =.08, p =.22). Strong positive relationships were found between patients' perceptions of service quality and (a) patient satisfaction with nursing care (r =.74, p $<$.0001) and (b) patients' perceptions of organizational climate for service (r =.71, p $<$.0001). The multiple regression hypothesis testing did not support a four-variable model; however, a two-variable model explained 66% of the variance in service quality (F (2,99) = 32.91, p $<$.01). Two nurse variables, human resource practices and autonomy in practice, although theoretically related to service quality, failed to explain variance in service quality. Based on alternate theoretical and methodological explanations it can be concluded that selected marketing propositions concerning service quality may not be generalizable to acute care hospitals. The patient variables of patient satisfaction with nursing care and patients' perceptions of organizational climate for service both demonstrated considerable power in explaining variance in service quality. Therefore, it can be concluded that patients' perceptions of selected variables are important components of marketing theory that have meaningful application in acute care hospitals because of their strong bearing on service quality.
Sigma Membership
Alpha Tau, Phi Nu
Type
Dissertation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Cross-Sectional
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Nursing Management, Nursing Care, Patient Perceptions
Advisors
Yarcheski, Adela
Degree
PhD
Degree Grantor
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Degree Year
1996
Recommended Citation
Niedz, Barbara A., "An investigation of the relationship of nurses' perceptions of human resource practices and autonomy in practice and patients' perceptions of satisfaction with nursing care and organizational climate for service" (2019). Dissertations. 748.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/dissertations/748
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
None: Degree-based Submission
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2019-03-01
Full Text of Presentation
wf_yes
Description
This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 9628983; ProQuest document ID: 304326277. The author still retains copyright.