Service Quality, Trust, and Outpatient Satisfaction under Waiting Pressure: Evidence from Multiple Care Settings

Data were collected from outpatients in Taiwan immediately following the completion of their medical consultation, while they were waiting to complete administrative procedures such as payment or medication collection. This timing was selected to ensure that respondents’ evaluations reflected recent and salient service experiences, including interaction quality, process performance, and waiting conditions during the outpatient visit. A proportionate sampling strategy was employed to ensure balanced representation across the three levels of healthcare institutions. Trained research assistants approached eligible patients in outpatient waiting areas, explained the study purpose, and obtained informed consent prior to questionnaire administration. Inclusion criteria required respondents to be at least 18 years of age, to have completed the current outpatient visit, and to be able to read Chinese. Consistent with recommended guidelines for SEM and multi-group analysis (Kline, 2016), data were collected using a combination of paper-based questionnaires and mobile QR-code surveys to accommodate different respondent preferences. Of the 381 questionnaires returned, 345 valid responses were retained after excluding incomplete or ineligible cases, yielding an effective response rate of 90.55%. The final sample comprised patients from medical centers (N = 111), regional hospitals (N = 114), and clinics (N = 120).