Abstract
A good service climate in the workplace can be regarded as an important aspect of employee satisfaction. This study was an attempt to validate the association between service climate, level of satisfaction, and patient satisfaction at a public hospital in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. Two key hypotheses were tested: (1) the relationship between service climate and job satisfaction; and (2) the linkage between job satisfaction and patient satisfaction. The current study has its theoretical basis on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory (Maslow, 1968) and Herzberg’s two-factor theory (Herzberg, 1987), and Social Exchange Theory (SET) (Blau, 1964; Homans, 1961). A quantitative research approach was adopted for the study. The study collected data from two surveys: the employee survey and patient survey. From these two surveys, the final samples achieved were 115 nurses and 212 patients, representing a 70% and 65% response rate, respectively. Data were analysed using correlations, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), and the Chi-square statistic techniques. Consistent with past studies, the current study found the linkage between service climate and the two levels of job satisfaction of nurses at the hospital to be moderate. The current study demonstrated that there is greater potential to achieve the desired outcomes of job satisfaction if the hospital focuses more on improving several aspects that were identified to be lacking in the current study. Contrary to other past studies, the current study found that patient satisfaction was negatively influenced by intrinsic job satisfaction. Patient satisfaction, however, was found to be positively influenced by extrinsic job satisfaction. Lastly, the current empirical investigation found no evidence to support the notion that the association between service climate factors and level of job satisfaction is influenced by demographic factors of gender, age, and educational qualification. Recommendations for hospital management were made based on the findings from the empirical investigation. To this end, managers must give maximum attention to the quality of service being delivered by nurses as it is more advantageous for the service climate. This entails the management of the hospital ensuring that nurses are informed about the patients' opinions of service quality and patients are asked their opinions to evaluate the service quality.