Identification and Analysis of Dentists Service Quality in Saudi Arabia
Author(s): Badr Majed Othman*
Abstract
Objectives (background): Saudization has been gradually introduced in the private sector by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to reduce unemployment. Vision 2023 goals include lowering the unemployment rate from 11.6% to 7% and increasing the private sector’s contribution from 40% to 65% of gross domestic product by 2030. The SERVQUAL model is used to assess customer perceptions of service quality and retail organizations through five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. This study aims to measure the effect of quality dimensions on patient willingness to be treated by and satisfaction with Saudi dentists. The focus of this research is to determine which quality dimensions affect patients being treated by Saudi dentists the most. This research will provide strategic operational objectives to enhance service quality in dental market. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with a random sample. A total of 478 participants (306 male and 172 female) were included in the study. An electronic questionnaire was formulated with a scale from 0 to 5 using the servqual model to tackle reliability, assurance, accountability, empathy, and treatment quality of Saudi dentists. The dimensions were measured to determine which quality dimensions affect overall satisfaction and willingness to visit Saudi dentists. Results: Results were analyzed by the statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 21, Chicago, Illinois, USA). The weighted scale was 3.95, 3.93, 3.83, 3.22, 3.89 out of 5 for reliability, assurance, accountability, empathy, and treatment quality of Saudi dentists respectively. Furthermore, the weighted scale was 3.9 and 3.86 for the overall satisfaction and willingness to visit Saudi dentists respectively. Conclusion: - Participants strongly agree with the reliability, assurance, accountability, and treatment quality of Saudi dentists, while the empathy dimension showed a significant effect on participants’ perception of satisfaction and willingness to visit these dentists.