DRIVERS, INHIBITORS AND IMPLICATIONS OF EFFECTIVE COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT AMONG HEALTHCARE INSTITUTION IN AN EMERGING ECONOMY: A CASE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA HOSPITAL.

Authors

  • Joseph Ofori Acheampong Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
  • Kwame Ameyaw Domfeh Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47604/ijlg.1387

Keywords:

Complaint Management, Contingency theory, Healthcare, University of Ghana Hospital

Abstract

Purpose: Complaint Management (CM) is significant in improving the quality of healthcare service delivery. There is a dearth of knowledge regarding CM in healthcare service in Ghana. This paper aims at exploring the drivers, inhibitors, implications and influence of leadership on effective CM in healthcare service delivery.

Methodology: A qualitative methodology was used. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 purposively selected informants. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically.

Findings: The evidence suggests that there are some notable drivers, inhibitors, and implications of CM in healthcare service delivery. The study found that customer complaint, customer satisfaction, customer feedback, customer loyalty, customer retention, quality assurance, competitive advantage, compensation, culture, and speedy recovery are the drivers to effective CM in healthcare service delivery. However, regarding the factors that inhibit effective CM in healthcare service delivery, the study found insufficient skilled personnel, inadequate technology, lack of infrastructure, inadequate resources/funds and lack of oversight responsibility or control, lack of accountability, unresponsiveness, and unacceptance of mistakes/complaint. The study provides insight that effective CM has significant implications on customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer retention/commitment, institutional reputation/image, organisational performance, profitability, and good staff attitude. The results of the research corroborate the perception that leadership style influences the effectiveness of CM in healthcare service delivery.

Recommendation: The study strongly recommend the establishment of CM department with the requisite logistics and accessories to promote effective handling of complaint. Additionally, it endorses training programmes on building strategies to enhance effective CM which will go a long way toward allowing service providers to form strong emotional bonds with their patients. The focus of such a program should be on instilling in frontline staff who deal with disgruntled/dissatisfied customers the necessity of adopting the study's findings into their complaint handling process.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Atinga, R. A., Abekah"Nkrumah, G., & Domfeh, K. A. (2011). Managing healthcare quality in Ghana: a necessity of patient satisfaction. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 24 No. 7, pp. 548-563. https://doi.org/10.1108/09526861111160580

Bennett, R. and Savani, S. (2011), "Complaints"handling procedures of human services charities: Prevalence, antecedents, and outcomes of strategic approaches", Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 484-510. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604521111159799

Bendall-Lyon, D., & Powers, T. L. (2001). The role of complaint management in the service recovery process. The Joint Commission journal on quality improvement, 27(5), 278-286. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1070-3241(01)27024-2

Berson, Y., Nemanich, L. A., Waldman, D. A., Galvin, B. M., & Keller, R. T. (2006). Leadership and organisational learning: A multiple levels perspective. The leadership quarterly, 17(6), 577-594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.003

Breitsohl J., Khammash M., Griffiths G. (2014) Online Complaint Communication Strategy: An Integrated Management Framework for e-Businesses. In: Martínez-López F. (eds) Handbook of Strategic e-Business Management. Progress in IS. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39747-9_38

Brouard, F., & Larivet, S. (2010). Essay of clarifications and definitions of the related concepts of social enterprise, social entrepreneur and social entrepreneurship. Handbook of research on social entrepreneurship, 29-56.

Chand (2018). 4 Different types of leadership styles. Retrieved on 20th March 2021 from https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business-management/4-different-types-of-leadership-styles/2550

Chi, C. G. Q., Wen, B., & Ouyang, Z. (2020). Developing relationship quality in economy hotels: the role of perceived justice, service quality, and commercial friendship. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 29(8), 1027-1051. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2020.1748158

Cowan, J. and Anthony, S. (2008). "Problems with complaint handling: expectations and outcomes", Clinical Governance: An International Journal, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 164-168. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777270810867366

Estelami, H. (2000). Competitive and procedural determinants of delight and disappointment in consumer complaint outcomes. Journal of service research, 2(3), 285-300. https://doi.org/10.1177/109467050023006

Filip, A. (2013). Complaint management: A customer satisfaction learning process. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93, 271-275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.09.188

Grainer, M., Noble, C. H., Bitner, M. J., & Broetzmann, S. M. (2014). What unhappy customers want. MIT Sloan Management Review, 55(3), 31.

Henneberg, S. C., Ashnai, B., Gruber, T., Naud, P., & Reppel, A. (2008). Using Means-end Approaches to Understand Business Complaint Management. Manchester IMP Research Group. Retrieved on 20th March, 2021 from https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.607.1871&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Holland, R. C. (2000). Citizen complaints against police: the volume received, and the complaints classification system used by the Queensland Police Service, Australia. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 24(1), 31-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2000.9678651

Homburg, C., & Fürst, A. (2005). How organisational complaint handling drives customer loyalty: an analysis of the mechanistic and the organic approach. Journal of Marketing, 69(3), 95-114. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.69.3.95.66367

Istanbulluoglu, D., Leek, S. and Szmigin, I.T. (2017), "Beyond exit and voice: developing an integrated taxonomy of consumer complaining behaviour", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 51 No. 5/6, pp. 1109-1128. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-04-2016-0204

Johnston, R., & Mehra, S. (2002). Best-practice complaint management. Academy of Management Perspectives, 16(4), 145-154. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2002.8951342

Johnston, R. (2001). Linking complaint management to profit. International journal of service industry management, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 60-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/09564230110382772

Johnston, R., & Mehra, S. (2002). Best-practice complaint management. Academy of Management Perspectives, 16(4), 145-154. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2002.8951342

Lacanster, H. (2016). What Is Complaint Management and Why Do You Need It? Retrieved on 21st March, 2021 from https://www.issuetrak.com/blog/what-is-complaint-management-and-why-do-you-need-it/

Mensah, A. F. (2012). Customer complaint behaviour towards mobile telephony services-cases of mtn and tigo Ghana. International Journal of Business and Social Research (IJBSR), 2(4), p182. Retrieved on 21st March, 2021 from https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.680.1792&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Mensah, J. K. B. (2017). Effectiveness of customer complaint handling and its impact on customer retention: the case of Unibank Ghana Limited (Doctoral dissertation). http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/10468

Nguyen, H. N. (2010). The impact of leadership behaviours and organisational culture on knowledge management practices in small and medium enterprises. Griffith University. Retrieved 21st March 2021 from https://researchrepository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/365771/NguyenH_2010_02Thesis.pdf?sequence=1

Nimako, S. G., Gyamfi, N. K., & Wandaogou, A. M. M. (2013). Customer satisfaction with internet banking service quality in the Ghanaian banking industry. International journal of scientific & technology research, 2(7), 165-175. ISSN 2277-8616

Nimako, S. G., & Mensah, A. F. (2014). Exploring customer dissatisfaction/satisfaction and complaining responses among bank customers in Ghana. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 6(2), 58. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijms.v6n2p58

Nwagbara, U. (2011). Leading by interaction in educational organisations: The imperatives of leadership communication and complaint management. Lumina, 22(2), 1-1.

Ofori-Okyere, I., & Kumadey, G. (2015). An assessment of service failures and customer complaints management in the delivery of health care in the Municipal Hospitals in Ghana. International Journal of Business and Marketing Management, 2(1), 31-42.

Phau, I. and Baird, M. (2008), "Complainers versus non"complainers retaliatory responses towards service dissatisfactions", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 26 No. 6, pp. 587-604. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634500810902848

Ponsignon, F., Smart, P.A. and Maull, R.S. (2011). "Service delivery system design: characteristics and contingencies", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 324-349. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443571111111946

Ramphal, R. (2016). A complaints handling system for the hospitality industry. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 5(2), 23-50. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22735

Schrank, G. (2011). The Top 5 Issues in Complaint Management. Retrieved on 20th March, 2021 from https://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Web-Exclusives/Viewpoints/The-Top-5-Issues-in-Complaint-Management--75942.aspx

Shortland, D. B., & Stone, C. (2011). How to manage a complaint. Paediatrics and Child Health, 21(1), 42-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paed.2010.10.001

Smith, J. S., Jayaram, J., Ponsignon, F., & Wolter, J. S. (2019). "Service recovery system antecedents: a contingency theory investigation", Journal of Service Management, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 276-300. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-01-2018-0026

Stone, M. (2011). Literature review on complaints management. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 18(2), 108-122. https://doi.org/10.1057/dbm.2011.16

Tan, P. K., Mohd Suradi, N. R., & Saludin, M. N. (2013, April). The impact of complaint management and service quality on organisational image: A case study at the Malaysian public university library. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1522, No. 1, pp. 1447-1453). American Institute of Physics. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4801300

Trappey, A. J., Lee, C. H., Chen, W. P., & Trappey, C. V. (2010, June). A framework of customer complaint handling system. In 2010 7th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (pp. 1-6). IEEE. DOI: 10.1109/ICSSSM.2010.5530119

Tronvoll, B. (2012). A dynamic model of customer complaining behaviour from the perspective of service"dominant logic. European journal of Marketing, Vol. 46 No. 1/2, pp. 284-305. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090561211189338

Voss, C., Perks, H., Sousa, R., Witell, L., & Wünderlich, N. V. (2016). Reflections on context in service research. Journal of Service Management, 27(1), 30-36. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-04-2015-0115

Walker, H., & Brammer, S. (2012). The relationship between sustainable procurement and e-procurement in the public sector. International Journal of Production Economics, 140(1), 256-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2012.01.00

Yin, K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed). SAGE

Yoon, M. H., & Suh, J. (2003). Organisational citizenship behaviors and service quality as external effectiveness of contact employees. Journal of business research, 56(8), 597-611. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(01)00290-9

Yukl, G. (2008). How leaders influence organisational effectiveness. The leadership quarterly, 19(6), 708-722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.09.008

Downloads

Published

2021-10-06

How to Cite

Acheampong, J. ., & Domfeh, K. (2021). DRIVERS, INHIBITORS AND IMPLICATIONS OF EFFECTIVE COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT AMONG HEALTHCARE INSTITUTION IN AN EMERGING ECONOMY: A CASE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA HOSPITAL . International Journal of Leadership and Governance, 1(2), 1 – 18. https://doi.org/10.47604/ijlg.1387

Issue

Section

Articles