Conceptualization of Customer Experience within the NHS England hospitals:
A Netnography study

Mswaka, Alexis

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Conceptualization of Customer Experience within the NHS England hospitals: A Netnography study

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Mswaka, Alexis (2019) Conceptualization of Customer Experience within the NHS England hospitals: A Netnography study. DBA thesis, University of Gloucestershire. doi:10.46289/AZIC3378

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.46289/AZIC3378

Abstract

The research topic focuses on identifying the critical dimensions and attributes of customer experience (CE) from a customer's view and the significant factors that influence positive and negative CE within the context of NHS England hospitals. This research is vital to the healthcare sector for several reasons. To improve the CE, NHS hospital management must consider the following: What defines the dimensions and attributes of CE? How are CE formed? And how important is it where the service experience takes place? CE is a relatively new phenomenon, particularly in NHS Hospital trusts compared to private healthcare providers and corporations. In an ever-changing healthcare market, the New Public Management (NPM) market-based model advocates treating citizens or patients like customers in public services. The Francis Inquiry has recently addressed the significant failings in care identified at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in England. It has been pivotal in raising the importance of patient experience (Francis, 2013). This research will attempt to fill this gap by first identifying the underlying critical dimensions and attributes of CE within the context of NHS England hospitals. Second, identify the factors that significantly influence positive and negative CEs within the NHS England hospital context. Finally, a holistic conceptual framework for CE in NHS England hospitals should be developed. The findings of this research will potentially assist managers in acute NHS England hospital trusts in understanding how their customers assess the CEs of their service. By developing the theoretical model and definition framework, this research will also offer common terminology and a shared mindset of CE constructs in the context of NHS hospitals. The research lies with the interpretivist paradigm’s ontological and epistemological assumptions. This research is designed to generate questions to explore rather than to test a model or hypothesis. This study is inductive and examines individual or collective customers’ perspectives (thoughts and feelings) across NHS England hospitals, based on voluntarily written stories posted on the NHS Choices website. Qualitative patient stories data were collected from the NHS Choices feedback website and analysed using an innovative hybrid approach combining netnography and Critical Incident content analysis procedures. The researcher faces difficulties in reaching real customers or patients and interviewing them face-to-face to discuss their experiences after their hospital stay ends due to ethical issues; ethnography overcame those barriers. The research identifies and describes iii 30 dimensions and 131 subcategories (attributes) that underlie the CE concept in healthcare and presents them in a holistic classification or conceptual framework. The framework also suggests a relationship between customer experience, service quality, satisfaction, customer co-creation, customer centricity, and loyalty behaviours. This research will also provide common terminology and a shared mindset regarding CE constructs within the NHS hospital context. The framework assists managers and healthcare professionals in defining, evaluating, and improving the memorable customer experiences of patients and their carers. The main contributions of this study lie in, first, a holistic classification framework for CE in healthcare; second, attributes and dimensions that extend existing health service quality models and CE models; third, significant factors that influence positive or negative customer experiences in hospitals; fourth, dimensions and attributes that contextualise the generic concept of customer experience to healthcare.

Item Type:

Thesis (DBA)

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