Linking quality and performance. Quality orientation can be a competitive strategy for health care providers.
Many organizations are not convinced a quality orientation pays off and are looking for ways to link quality with performance. The authors' exploratory study found that a quality orientation is a differentiating factor between low-performing and high-performing general service hospitals. They also developed a quality scale to assess the performance implications of quality-based strategies in the health care industry. Successful health care organizations (1) develop a strategic quality orientation at the management level, (2) support the pursuit of quality at the contact level, and (3) monitor external customers' perceptions of quality.
Rapert
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Babakus
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D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003363:Cost Control; D004465:Economic Competition; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D008330:Management Audit; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States