What is it about?
The purpose of the study is to analyse the influence of inertia and group conformity on loyalty in healthcare. The methodology is quantitative, with a structural equation model developed from the literature and tested with cross-sectional data from a patient online survey.
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Why is it important?
Although patient loyalty to a health care provider has become a ‘key success factor’ in the increasingly competitive health care sector, previous research on patient loyalty has ignored some of its important influencing variables and has arrived at contradictory results. This research is the first to study the influence of inertia and group conformity on customer loyalty in health care, and the first to do so, in any service sector, from the perspective of Maslow's theory of human motivation. The study discovers that the strength of the impact of inertia (and of group conformity) on loyalty depends on the importance of the customer need that the service industry satisfies, in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This study has several implications to health care providers, regulatory authorities, patients and reference groups.
Perspectives
Healthcare providers can exploit the stronger effect of inertia in healthcare through development of inertia-based loyalty policies. Regulatory authorities should be vigilant to ensure that these policies are not detrimental to patients. ‘Inert’ patients must become responsible for assessing their loyalties. Authorities and reference groups must stimulate customer loyalty assessments, and assist by providing impartial information.
Carlos JF Cândido
Universidade do Algarve
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Inertia, group conformity and customer loyalty in healthcare in the information age, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, June 2020, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/jstp-08-2019-0184.
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