Customer perception of service quality and business perfomance of an organization: a comparative case of selected public and private health care institutions in Tanzania

A recent survey conducted in Dar es Salaam indicates that 8 in 10 patients are satisfied with the service they received from private health facilities, compared to 6 in 10 patients that report satisfaction with public health facilities. The main aim of the study was to determine and compare the customers’ perception of service quality and its implication on non-financial-business performance in both private and public health care institutions. The study used SERVQUAL model as the main theory and supplemented by disconfirmation Theory. This study used holistic strategy as the strategy of inquiry. This study used non-probability sampling procedures. The primary and secondary data were employed and 8 owners of health care institutions, 40 staffs and 70 patients/clients of these health care institutions were selected as representatives. This study applied qualitative data analytical techniques due to the nature of the variables being studied in the study. Qualitative data was presented in explanation from the findings from the interviews. In general, the study found that customer perception of service quality for both private and public health facilities have influence on the business performance. However, the influence of customer perception of service quality was