Analysis of the gap between customers' perceptions and employees' expectations of service quality based on fuzzy SERVQUAL logic (case study: Mofid children's hospital in Tehran, Iran)

Due to the importance of transcendental service quality in achieving success, the question that is always asked is, 'how can the service quality in hospital businesses be assessed?'. The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess the factors affecting hospitals' service quality besides assessing the presence or absence of dissension among patients' perspectives and staffs' viewpoints. After studying the literature, the factors affecting hospitals' service quality are identified and the significance of these factors has been examined from the perspective of patients and staff through a questionnaire. Statistical tests and analysis revealed significant differences between the patients' perspectives and staffs' viewpoints on the provided services. Assessing service quality using the fuzzy SERVQUAL model showed that although staff, in comparison to patients, considered the current service unfavourable, the patients evaluated the available service quality was higher than the average level. On this basis and according to the patients' viewpoints, these three following factors were identified as the most essential components for improving and developing the hospitals' businesses.