This is a descriptive, comparative study to determine factors influencing service quality perceived by internal and external customers of dental hospitals on the degree of loyalty. There were 214 internal customers and 303 external customers of dental hospitals located in Seoul, Korea. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire between June 18 and July 6 of 2012. All statistical analyses were performed with the t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation and stepwise regression.
The results of this study were as follows.
1. The loyalty scores for general characteristics were significantly higher in male internal customers than in female internal customers. The loyalty scores according to age were significantly higher in the 30 and younger age group than in the other age groups. The loyalty scores for general characteristics were not significantly different among the external customers.
2. The overall service quality related to the degree of loyalty was 5.28 in the internal customers, while it was 5.71 in the external customers. The internal customers showed a tangibility of 5.61, a reliability of 5.24, a responsiveness of 4.91, an assurance of 5.40 and a sympathy of 4.89. The external customers showed a tangibility of 5.97, a reliability of 5.71, a responsiveness of 5.47, an assurance of 5.77 and a sympathy of 5.26.
3. Significant correlations between service quality and the degree of loyalty in terms of the aforementioned 5 factors were found in the internal (r = 0.44 ~ 0.76) and external customers (r = 0.58 ~ 0.76).
4. In the internal customers, factors for service quality related to the degree of loyalty were assurance (ß = 0.41), sympathy (ß = 0.33) and reliability (ß = 0.17) in decreasing order. In the external customers, assurance (ß = 0.47), sympathy (ß = 0.39), tangibility (ß = 0.16) and responsiveness (ß = -0.12) in decreasing order. Assurance and sympathy were found to be the most important factors for service quality in both the internal and external customers.
Based on our results, the degree of loyalty related to the aforementioned 3 factors was 66.8% in the internal customers, and that related to the aforementioned 4 factors was 67.1% in the external customers. Therefore, long-term and repeated instructions should be given to internal customers in order to establish an effective service quality standard. If the satisfaction of internal customers is raised through awards for good staff-members, kind employees and suggestions for system improvement, improvement in service quality as well as the satisfaction of internal customers may have a positive effect on a significant improvement in the perception of service quality in external customers, which favorably influences improvement in hospital management.