Improving the satisfaction and loyalty of BPJS healthcare in Indonesia: a Sharia perspective Alifah Ratnawati, Widiyanto bin Mislan Cokrohadisumarto and Noor Kholis Department of Management, Universitas Islam Sultan Agung, Semarang, Indonesia Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to analyze how to improve the satisfaction and loyalty of Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial Kesehatan (BPJS) health patients in Indonesia based on services in Islamic hospitals, where the service quality was analyzed from a Sharīʿah perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The sample for this study was 470 Muslim patients from BPJS health, 248 from large Islamic hospitals and 232 from small Islamic hospitals in Central Java, Indonesia. Overall, the respondents were from five large hospitals and five small hospitals. The study used eight service quality variables that were modified from the SERVQUAL, PAKSERV and CARTER models. All the variables used indicators of Sharīʿah principles and tested their effects on satisfaction and loyalty. Findings – The results of the study showed that the insurance system has been proven to significantly increase the satisfaction and loyalty of BPJS health patients. This means that the efforts of the Indonesian Government to improve the level of health by establishing BPJS can benefit the community. Satisfaction can also be increased through the variables of reliability, empathy and responsiveness, while the loyalty of BPJS Health patients is strongly influenced by satisfaction. The sincerity variable can increase the satisfaction and loyalty of BPJS health patients in small hospitals, but not in large hospitals. On the other hand, the variable of compliance can increase the satisfaction and loyalty of BPJS health patients in large hospitals, but not in small hospitals. Originality/value – The insurance system implemented in Indonesia can influence the improvement of satisfaction and loyalty. Also, hospitals that are fair in serving patients and that apply amanah (trust), tabligh (responsiveness) and are fast in handling BPJS health patients’ complaints are important indicators that need attention from BPJS health and hospitals. These indicators can form variables that can increase satisfaction and loyalty. Keywords Satisfaction, Service quality, Loyalty, Sharia perspective, BPJS health Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction In early 2014, the Indonesian Government established the Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial Kesehatan (BPJS) Health (Social Security Organizing Agency). BPJS health is a state- owned enterprise specifically assigned by the government to organize health care guarantees for all Indonesians. In running its business, BPJS health collaborates with state and private hospitals, pharmacies, primary clinics and other health institutions. BPJS health is health insurance which does not seek profit and is more concerned with protecting the wider community in Indonesia, both Muslim and non-Muslim. In Islam This research was supported by “Kemenristekdikti Indonesia” (Ministry of Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia) in 2019. The authors thank for the grant given for this research. Improving the satisfaction and loyalty Received 8 January 2020 Revised 23 March 2020 24 April 2020 Accepted 27 April 2020 Journal of Islamic Marketing © Emerald Publishing Limited 1759-0833 DOI 10.1108/JIMA-01-2020-0005 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1759-0833.htm