Transforming Frontline Healthcare Services: The Role of Digital Service Innovations in Patient Experience
(A2025-126185)

AUTHORS

Vivienne Schünemeyer, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena; Nicolas Zacharias, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

ABSTRACT

Patients’ service quality and well-being depend on their experiences with frontline services. Due to patients’ diverse needs and wants, as well as their expectations of service delivery depending on their personal health situation, providing these services poses a significant challenge. With the advent of digitalisation, digital service innovations offer an opportunity to enhance patient experience. Two experimental studies show that the type of service interaction at the touchpoints reception and waiting room influences patients’ perceived service quality and health-related behaviour in different ways. While human contact remains crucial at both touchpoints, in waiting room, the implementation of digital elements in service delivery exceed patients’ expectations, leading to greater satisfaction and compliance. Using social cognition concept, expectation-confirmation-theory and needs-congruency-model, we explain our findings. Our findings yield important implications for designing frontline services at different touchpoints and contribute to a better understanding of patients’ perspectives on service interactions at these touchpoints.