Rone-Adams, S; Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA. srone@nova.edu.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was investigate the relationship between service values of employees and management, and the effect on customer satisfaction. SUBJECTS: Subjects for this study were obtained from a National Rehabilitation Corporation. The sample was taken from 21 outpatient PT facilities in Florida and Georgia. Two groups of subjects consisted of 21 supervisors who supervised the daily operation of the PT professionals at the facilities and 36 licensed PTs, who did not have a management role in the facility. METHODS & MATERIALS: This study used a correlational design of three variables: management values, employee values, and customer satisfaction. Data was collected through the use of survey research. The customer satisfaction survey was currently being used by the Rehabilitation Corporation. The values of the managers and the PT professionals were measured using a semantic differential instrument developed by Braulich (1990). The supervisor at each facility administered the instrument to the PT professionals according to written instructions provided and returned the survey to the researcher via mail. Customer satisfaction data was collected from the corporation for the same period in which the value congruence data was collected. ANALYSES: For each outpatient facility a customer satisfaction score and a value congruence score was calculated. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlations between shared value scores and customer satisfaction scores were calculated. Regression analysis was used to ascertain the correlation between the two variables. Additionally, a paired t-test was performed to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in the service quality values between the management and PT professionals. RESULTS: The T-test showed that there were no significant differences between the values of the managers and the PT professionals. The correlation coefficient between satisfaction and value congruence where r= 0.041 and p=0.859, suggested no significant relationship existed between the variables of value congruence and customer satisfaction. Regression of the value congruence scores and customer satisfaction scores, where r = 0.041, and R squared = .002, suggested that 2% of the variability in values congruence is explained by customer satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this research are similar to the results found by Dobson (1996) and Davis (1997) both of which conducted their research in the hospital industry across multiple hospital departments and found no relationship between shared values and customer service quality perceptions. Additional research is needed to further investigate the influences that value congruence has on the organizational outcomes. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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