Determinants of satisfaction and dissatisfaction among preventive and curative medical tourists: a comparative analysis
by Babu P. George, Tony L. Henthorne, Alvin J. Williams
International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research (IJBHR), Vol. 2, No. 1, 2010

Abstract: The burgeoning global medical tourism market now demands a more sophisticated approach to market analysis and subsequent market segmentation. The current paper offers a systemic view of medical tourism, with primary focus on the antecedents of customer satisfaction levels, ultimately leading to stronger strategic and operational marketing programmes for practitioners. As global marketers seek to capitalise on the growth in medical tourism, it is instructive to better understand the determinants of satisfied experiences. Thus, the paper posits hypotheses integrating the concepts of customer satisfaction and medical tourism. Through survey methods, findings indicate that preventive medical tourists achieve satisfaction from the performance level of ancillary tourist services and dissatisfaction from the less than satisfactory performance of medical services. Concomitantly, curative medical tourists achieve satisfaction from superior medical services and dissatisfaction from inferior delivery of tourist services. In addition to offering strong managerial implications, the study also provides a discussion of theoretical expansions based on the findings.

Online publication date: Tue, 23-Nov-2010

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research (IJBHR):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com