Service quality in community pharmacy: an exploration of determinants.

BACKGROUND Although various instruments have been developed to measure customer satisfaction with community pharmacy services, there is limited research regarding pharmacy staffs' understanding of service quality and its determinants. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to explore the perceptions of pharmacy staff regarding the factors that constitute a high level of service quality using the service quality determinants proposed by the Conceptual Model of Service Quality. METHODS Structured interviews were conducted with 27 pharmacy assistants and 6 pharmacists in 3 community pharmacies in Sydney. The interview questions focused on the participants' perceptions of consumer expectations, the translation of these perceptions into service quality specifications, the actual service delivery, and the communication to customers. RESULTS From the pharmacy staff perspective, service quality is significantly limited by insufficient internal communication and control processes that impede role clarity and the resolution of conflicting role expectations among customer service personnel. Participants indicated that these problems could be alleviated through the implementation of more transparent, realistic, measurable, and accepted quality specifications by pharmacy management. CONCLUSIONS The study indicates that the extent to which pharmacy management sets, maintains, and communicates service quality specifications to staff directly affects role clarity, role conflict, and organizational commitment among customer service staff, which in turn directly influence the level of service quality provided to the customers.