Title: The relationship between income level and medical tourism service quality expectations

Authors: Jose F. Moreno; Michael Guiry

Addresses: H-E-B School of Business & Administration, University of the Incarnate Word, 4301 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209, USA ' H-E-B School of Business & Administration, University of the Incarnate Word, 4301 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209, USA

Abstract: The research investigates if consumers' expectations of the service quality of foreign healthcare facilities vary depending on their income level. The results show that there are significant differences in medical tourism service quality expectations between different income groups for all five service quality dimensions. The expectations of experienced medical tourists, i.e., consumers who have travelled abroad for medical care, differ between income groups for the reliability and assurance service quality dimensions. No differences in expectations, however, are found between the different income groups of consumers without medical tourism experience. The results suggest using income and medical tourism experience as segmentation variables when identifying potential medical tourist target markets. The study also has implications for managing medical tourists' service quality expectations at the point of service delivery, particularly for the reliability and assurance dimensions.

Keywords: medical tourism; medical tourists; service quality; service expectations; SERVQUAL; healthcare services; income level; medical care; health tourism; foreign healthcare facilities; service delivery; reliability; assurance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSEM.2014.064300

International Journal of Services, Economics and Management, 2014 Vol.6 No.3, pp.263 - 281

Received: 21 Aug 2013
Accepted: 23 Jun 2014
Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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