STAFFS PERCEPTIONS OF IMPORTANT INDICATORS AND SELF-ASSESSMENT OF HOSPITAL FOOD SERVICE OPERATIONS PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Background: Performance measurement is a critical component of managerial performance in the healthcare food service industry. Managers have challenges in improving performance at hospital food service operations because organisational success must begin with the identification of variables that influence accurate assessment. The aims of this study are to assess staff perceptions of key indicators as well as their self-evaluation of hospital food service performance. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was carried out utilising a reliable self-administered questionnaire that had been validated in previous research. Respondents were selected from food service staff at Malaysian hospitals using inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data analysis was performed using IBM SPPS version 26.0 software. The sociodemographic data was examined, and the means of importance and performance indicators were compared using a paired-sample t-test. The Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) grid was generated by combining the means of importance and performance scores.  Results: The survey was completed by 160 people in total. According to the gap analysis, there was a significant difference between the staff's evaluation of the hospital food service operation’s performance and their perception of the importance indicators of food service attributes (p<0.01). Five indicators are identified by the IPA grid; indicators 5, 7, 8, 10, and 17 fall into the "Concentrate here" quadrant. Conclusion: The findings suggest that hospital food service providers should focus on using a variety of food ingredients, evaluating their menus, and monitoring the health and cleanliness of their staff in order to improve their service quality.