Quality of service in the retail drug setting: An examination of expectations and perceptions

Today's retail pharmacy environment has been characterized as being highly competitive and constantly changing. Pharmacy managers are continually searching for an advantage that will give them a competitive edge within their respective markets. The price attribute may soon lose its primary position as a pharmacy patronage motive, due to new competitive pressures from within the marketplace and the proliferation of third-party prescription drug plans. High levels of service quality have been attributed to the financial success of other service industries. This study investigated the quality of service within the retail pharmacy setting.; A telephone survey of retail pharmacy patrons (n = 409) and retail pharmacists (n = 52) was conducted. A twenty-six item three dimensional instrument was developed to measure the quality of service (QOS) as assessed by both retail pharmacy patrons and retail pharmacists. The PHARM-SERVQUAL scale was both reliable and valid. Perceived quality (PQ) and expected quality (EQ) measures were used to calculate QOS as a difference score (QOS = PQ {dollar}-{dollar} EQ), as well as to provide valuable diagnostic insight into the adequacy of particular features of the service delivery blueprint, within both chain and independent pharmacies.; The investigation of a possible gap between the patrons' assessments of QOS and the pharmacists' assessments of QOS, demonstrated than other variables in addition to the QOS variable, needed to be analyzed. Although there was not a significant difference between the mean QOS scores between the patrons and pharmacists, the PQ and EQ scores were significantly different. The PQ and EQ means were also found to be significantly different across all three dimensions of service quality measured by the PHARM-SERVQUAL scale, between the patrons and pharmacists.; Distinct differences were also identified between the chain and independent pharmacies. The independent pharmacies had a significantly higher mean QOS score than did the chain pharmacies. This observation was due to the independent patrons' higher assessment of the reliability/assurance dimension. It was concluded that the PHARM-SERVQUAL instrument was well suited for measuring the quality of service construct within the retail pharmacy setting, and offered the researcher a valuable diagnostic tool with which to improve retail pharmacy service delivery systems.