Culture, communication and service quality in health care administration: A tale of two hospitals

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a qualitative cross-case analysis of two medium-sized Australian general hospitals moving to a new era of service quality management. The analysis was based on a model of perceptions of organisational culture, communication and quality of patient care. Results showed that the prevailing culture at the two hospitals was quite different, but there was consistency in the relationships between the study variables. In particular, perceptions of culture and communication had an impact on perceptions of quality of care. The results are discussed within the context of previously reported findings.