Title: Service quality measurement: implications for healthcare sector in Bulgaria

Authors: Bistra Vassileva; Antonio José Balloni

Addresses: University of Economics-Varna, 77 Knjaz Boris I Blvd., Varna 9002, Bulgaria ' Centro de Tecnologia da Informação Renato Archer (CTI), Rodovia Dom Pedro I, Km 143,6, Amarais, Campinas, SP, 13069-901, Brazil

Abstract: The aim of the paper is to present the service quality situation in hospitals in North-Eastern Planning Region in Bulgaria. Our intention was to assess the gap between the expected and perceived healthcare service quality in hospitals. To meet these goals we conducted a study using prospective questionnaire provided by the GESITI project [management of system and information technology in hospitals (GESITI, 2013a)] and SERVQUAL scale. The results helped us to summarise the challenges for Bulgarian hospitals to diminish the 'quality gap' as well as to identify the critical factors for achieving high quality level of healthcare services. Several recommendations and implications for future research are defined at the end of the study.

Keywords: Bulgaria; quality management; SERVQUAL; healthcare services; service quality measurement; hospitals; perceived quality; expected quality; healthcare management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAUDIT.2015.070511

International Journal of Auditing Technology, 2015 Vol.2 No.3, pp.207 - 228

Received: 09 Jun 2014
Accepted: 29 Sep 2014
Published online: 09 Jul 2015 *

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