Education for Job Performance and Attitude of Receptionists in General Hospital Front Desk

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1 , pp Education for Job Performance and Attitude of Receptionists in General Hospital Front Desk Yeon Suk Oh 1, Mi Joon Lee 2, Bum Jeun Seo 3 1 Manager, Department of Groval Corperation, SungAe General Hospital 2 Lecturer, Department of Nursing, Hanyang University 3 Student, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University , 222 Wangsimniro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul , Korea. mijoon63@naver.com *Corresponding Author: Mi Joon Lee Abstract. This study looked into the relationship between individual job attitudes and job performance of the reception window staff working with the customers in general hospitals in Seoul. It aims to provide baseline data about hospital management through effective human resource management. Methods: The subjects of this study were the staff in charge of tasks such as payments, receipts, consultations for first medical examinations, issuance of certificates, procedures for hospitalization and discharges, medical consultations, reception window for descriptions of examinations, outpatient reception window, industrial accidents and traffic accidents at general hospitals in Seoul. Sampling was done with a total of 350 persons, and 319 copies were analyzed. Through a self-administered questionnaire survey, a five-point scale was used. Results: It was found that the job attitudes of the reception staff in charge of customer service encounters in hospitals had a correlation with work performance. Thus, it was confirmed that their job attitudes had a significant positive impact on job performance. Conclusion: In the relationships with the factors affecting job performance, it turned out that responses to customers at eye-level in job attitudes and adaptive knowledge performance in adaptive work performance had the biggest effects on job performance. It is noted that customer-oriented dispositions and the element of learning orientation of the staff working at the reception window in hospitals are important. Therefore, applying this to the education and training of employees to work at the reception window in hospitals in future recruitment will improve their job performance. Keywords: Customer orientation, Learning orientation, Adaptive performance, Job performance 1 Introduction Recently, the environment surrounding medical services has changed rapidly. Especially, the hospital is known as a highly human resource dependent organization. Above all, since the reception window is the service that customers first encounter ISSN: ASTL Copyright 2015 SERSC

2 they visit the hospital for the first time; they can feel the hospital s overall impression immediately through that. Since the level of customer satisfaction is determined in a short time when they see the employee who provides the service, the importance of the Moment Of Truth (MOT), at which the customer and the employee make contact, has come to the fore (Kim, Seong-Ho et al., 2012). Szymanski (1988) verified the effects of skill or knowledge to understand the customer s needs on performance. In addition, in South Korea, there was a study of hospital employees satisfaction with the overall internal service (Kim, Seong-Ho et al., 2012), but there were not enough in-depth studies of its relationship with the hospital reception staff s job performance, reflecting their distinctiveness. Thus, this study attempted to understand the factors affecting job performance of the employees working the hospital s service area, the reception window. Especially, it is important for the reception window workers at hospitals to figure out and understand the needs of the patients, the customer, based on customer-oriented attitudes and appropriate medical knowledge and provide them with services at eye-level. Therefore, this study will use the results as baseline data for the enhancement of customer satisfaction and the maximization of business performance by selecting staff members and reassigning work through an inquiry into employees at the customer service areas, as one of the customer services. 2 Method 2.1 Study Design This study looked into the relationship between job attitudes and job performance of the hospital reception staff, which the customers, the patients, in general hospitals encounter first, using a self-administered questionnaire survey. This study reviewed preceding research on the job performance of the employees in the service industry, and using the study of Spiro and Weitz (1990) who reported that job performance of salespersons differs depending on their approach in the relationship with customers, this study took the hospital reception staff s work performance customized to the customers based on medical knowledge as mediating factors of an adaptive work performance important for job performance. Through a factorial analysis on the theoretical basis of Yun, Dong-gi (2005), this study divided job attitude into the dimensions of customer orientation such as customized responses and efforts to maintain customer relationship and that of learning orientation such as pursuing up-to-date knowledge and business application. In addition, adaptive work performance was composed of adaptive response performance reflecting customer orientation and adaptive knowledge performance reflecting learning orientation. 120 Copyright 2015 SERSC

3 2.2 Subjects of Study This study selected the persons in charge of payments, receipts, consultations for first medical examinations, issuance of certificates, procedures for hospitalization and discharges, medical consultations, reception window for the description of examinations, outpatient reception window, industrial accidents and traffic accidents at 15 general hospitals in Seoul as a population. 2.3 Research Tools This study defined customer orientation, learning orientation, adaptive work performance and job performance through a review of preceding studies. Also, a measurement tool was drawn up in plain language after a review of two doctors in business administration, referring to the preceding studies. For measurements, a fivepoint Likert scale was used, and points were set as follows: (1: Never, 2: Not likely, 3: Neutral, 4: Likely, and 5; Very likely) Customer Orientation Through a literature search and data collection process, customer orientation was defined as attitudes and behaviors of the hospital reception staff working in the department of customer service encounters, to support patients uses of a medical institution such as responding to them and their needs. A measurement tool was composed of a total of 11 questions: customized responses (7 questions) and efforts to maintain customer relationships (4 questions), and its content validity was verified by 10 heads of the administration department. On a five-point Likert scale, a higher score was interpreted as higher customer orientation. The reliability of this study was Cronbach s alpha,.84 for customized response and Cronbach s alpha,.79 for efforts to maintain customer relationships Learning Orientation Learning orientation was defined as the hospital reception staff s disposition to acquire all the knowledge necessary for reception window work, such as the latest medical policy and knowledge, and skills in customer counseling and improving their own skills. A measurement tool was composed of a total of six questions: pursuing up-to-date knowledge (4 questions) and business application (2 questions) (Yoon, Dong-gi, 2005). On a five-point Likert scale, a higher score was interpreted as higher learning orientation. The reliability of this study was Cronbach s alpha,.84 for pursuing up-todate knowledge and Cronbach s alpha,.84 for business application. Copyright 2015 SERSC 121

4 2.3.3 Adaptive Performance Adaptive performance was assumed to have two aspects, the learned knowledge and customer-oriented response, and defined as changing work behaviors while in interaction or not based on essential information and knowledge about situations. A measurement tool was composed of eight questions: adaptive response performance (4 questions) and adaptive knowledge performance (2 questions). On a five-point Likert scale, the higher the score, the higher the customer orientation became. The reliability of this study was Cronbach s alpha,.80 for adaptive response performance and Cronbach s alpha,.81 for adaptive knowledge performance Job Performance The hospital reception staff s job performance was defined as the customer satisfaction and revisit degree perceived by them, which was composed of four questions. The higher the point on a five-point Likert scale, the higher customer orientation became. The reliability of this study was Cronbach s alpha, Data Collection Methods and Ethical Considerations A total of 350 persons were the subjects of sampling of data collection in this study. A survey was conducted with those who understood and agreed with the purpose of the study for 25 days from May 1 through May 25, Of them, 319 copies (collection ratio: 91.1%) were selected as the subjects of the final analysis, excluding the survey data in which there was a refusal of response or unreliable response. 2.5 Data Analysis The computational processing of the collected data was conducted using SPSS/Win ver Result 3.1 Effect of Job Attitude on Adaptive Response Performance As a result of a multiple regression analysis to analyze the effect of job attitude on adaptive response performance, it was found that regression equation had a statistically significant effect (R² =0.32, F=37.47, p<.001), and customized response (β=0.24, p<.001), pursuing up-to-date knowledge (β=0.13, p<.05), efforts to maintain customer relationships (β=0.22, p<.001) and business application (β=0.15, p<.01) had statistically significant effects. 122 Copyright 2015 SERSC

5 3.2 Effect of Job Attitude on Adaptive Knowledge Performance As a result of a multiple regression analysis to analyze the effect of job attitude on adaptive knowledge performance, it was found that regression equation had a statistically significant effect (R²=0.36, F=45.00, p<.001), and customized response (β=0.26, p<.001), pursuing up-to-date knowledge (β=0.22, p<.001), efforts to maintain customer relationships (β=0.12, p<.05) and business application (β=0.20, p<.001) had statistically significant effects. 3.3 Effect of Adaptive Work Performance on Job Performance As a result of a multiple regression analysis, it was found that regression equation had a statistically significant effect (R2=0.30, F=67.63, p<.001) at a confidence level of over 99.9%. By each independent variable, it was found that adaptive response performance (β=0.24, p<.001) and adaptive knowledge performance (β=0.37, p<.001) was statistically significant at a confidence level of over 99.9%. 3.4 Effect of Work Performance on Job Performance As a result of a multiple regression analysis, it was found that regression equation had a statistically significant effect (R²=.36, F=28.93, p<.001), and customized response (β=.19, p<.01), adaptive response performance (β=.15, p<.05) and adaptive knowledge performance (β=.24, p<.001) were statistically significant. 4 Conclusion To sum up the above results, this study looks into the effects of customer-oriented and learning-oriented job attitudes of the hospital reception window staff whose importance has been overlooked, on the hospital s ultimate job performance. The hospital reception window is the first hospital service encountered when a customer visits a hospital, which determines the formation of awareness of the hospital s overall service quality. In particular, this study proposes customer orientation and learning orientation as two factors of the hospital reception staff s job attitude. Customer orientation means a service-oriented mindset to pay attention to a customer s needs while learning orientation means an attitude to have proper medical knowledge and counseling skills. Customized service for customers can be achieved when these two factors are prepared as essential factors. Copyright 2015 SERSC 123

6 References 1. Kim, S. H., Kim, Y. H., and Kim, J. M. : The Effects of Internal Service Quality Factors on Customer Orientation in Small and Medium Hospitals, Korean journal of hospital management, 17(2), pp (2012) 2. Yoon, D. G.: Influence of the individual characteristics of sales persons on adaptive selling activity. PhD Dissertation, University of Dongguk, School, (unpublished) (2005) 3. Spiro, Rosann L. and Barton A.: Weitz, Adaptive Selling: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Nomological Validity, Journal of Marketing Re-search, 27(February), pp (1990) 4. Szymanski, David M.: Determinants of Selling Effectiveness: The Im-portance of Declarative Knowledge to the Personal Selling Concept, Journal of Marketing, 52(January), pp (1988) 5. Weitz, Barton A., Harish Sujan, and Mita Sujan: Knowledge, Motivation, and Adaptive Behavior A Framework for Improving Selling Effectiveness, Journal of Marketing, 50(October), pp (1986) 124 Copyright 2015 SERSC