Customers’ Perception Towards Accountability of Diagnostic Centres: Evidence from India

Abstract

Introduction

A deeper comprehension of accountability is beneficial for identifying and fostering tactics to boost accountability and raise the standard of healthcare. The main objective of the present paper is to measure the level of customers’ perception of accountability of healthcare diagnostic service providers and to identify the factors that influence the perception of accountability of healthcare diagnostic service customers.

Methods

A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 393 customers of various diagnostic centers in the city of Guwahati from the state of Assam in India. The reliability of the data was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha. Statistical tests were used for the mean, percentage, standard deviation, etc. Factor analysis was performed to find out the factors affecting customers’ perception of accountability.

Results

It was found that the overall level of perception of the customers with respect to the accountability of diagnostic centers in Guwahati is of high level. The study reveals four variables that affect how customers perceive the accountability of diagnostic service providers. These are Competency, Responsiveness, Compliance with protocol, and Problem-solving approach.

Discussion

Significant contributions have been made by the present study in terms of the development of a scale to measure customers’ perception of accountability of diagnostic centre, and the development of a theoretical model to explain this accountability.

Keywords:

• accountability
• healthcare
• diagnostic centers
• customers’ perception

Ethical Statement

1. Full name of the ethics committee

(a) Prof. Vijaishri Tewari, Professor, Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj, India

(b) Prof. Vrijendra Singh, Professor, Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj, India

(c) Dr Shailendra Kumar, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj, India

(d) Dr Anurag Singh, Associate Professor, Institute of Management, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

2. It is hereby declared and confirmed that informed consent was obtained from the study participants;

3. It is hereby declared and confirmed that the guidelines outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki were followed.

Acknowledgments

The first author thanks the Apollo Clinic for providing her opportunity to pursue this research.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare that there are no competing interests in this work.

Additional information

Funding

There is no funding to report.