Antecedents and outcomes of patient satisfaction in healthcare: A conceptual model

Abstract

This study develops a conceptual model and establishes the relationships between the variables, both influencing and affected by patient satisfaction. The authors conducted a thor ough search for peer-reviewed articles obtaining a final sam ple of 64 studies. Service quality was found to be the only antecedent influencing patient satisfaction, while patient satis faction was found to impact trust, loyalty and word of mouth, also mediating the influence of service quality on these varia bles. While the study integrates the scattered literature, from a practical standpoint it exhibits how increased patient satis faction plays a key role in influencing patient trust, loyalty and word-of-mouth.