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Article
Publication date: 30 July 2019

Bruno Miguel Sousa and Gisela Maria Alves

This paper entails a reflection on medical tourism services and guest experiences. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how relationship marketing relates to other relevant…

1946

Abstract

Purpose

This paper entails a reflection on medical tourism services and guest experiences. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how relationship marketing relates to other relevant variables in consumer’s behavior applied to medical tourism contexts and guest experiences. This study aims at discussing the customer behavior in healthcare management and medical tourism contexts and addresses the predisposition for the destination and the influence of relationship marketing on behavioral intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper starts from a conceptual framework based on relationship marketing theory. From this theoretical base, the concepts of trust, commitment and cooperation and behavioral intentions are derived. A theoretical model is developed specifying antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty in healthcare management and medical tourism contexts.

Findings

The conceptual model shows that tourist destinations in the context of healthcare and medical tourism can be managed together with the study of the tourist consumer behavior and should focus on aspects that reinforce relationship marketing to the site, as planning services excellence, communication strategies, promotion services, integrated experiences and combating seasonality.

Originality/value

This study has already identified that the global movement of tourism is seemingly showing an increased focus on the niche product or niche service. In this case, the question seems to be whether the further growth in demand for healthcare management and medical tourism – as a niche tourism example – products will continue until they take a form of mass tourism. The new vogue of medical tourism forces to challenge and re-visit the power relationships that exist within contemporary tourism and the host–guest relationship.

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, vol. 2 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9792

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 June 2020

Tat Huei Cham, Boon Liat Cheng, Mei Peng Low and Jason Boon Chuan Cheok

Following promising growth of the international medical tourism industry, competitions within the global market have escalated tremendously with increased involvement by numerous…

2047

Abstract

Purpose

Following promising growth of the international medical tourism industry, competitions within the global market have escalated tremendously with increased involvement by numerous healthcare providers to acquire a share of its disposable income. The brand reputation would hereby play a determining role as a competitive strategy. Specifically, this paper aims to investigate the impact of social and marketing aspects on the brand image of medical tourism-based hospitals, alongside its relationship toward service quality. In turn, the influence of perceived service quality on satisfaction and the perceived value was examined, in view of further potential behavioral intention among medical tourists on healthcare providers in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected through a survey questionnaire among medical tourists, with 596 successful cases collected via 6 major private hospitals at 3 popular Malaysian medical tourism locations. Data analysis was then performed using both SPSS and Smart PLS software.

Findings

The findings from the present study acknowledged the importance of both social (e.g. social media and word-of-mouth communications) and marketing (e.g. hospital advertisement and price perception) aspects toward establishing brand image among medical tourism-based hospitals. Consequently, the brand image would influence perceived service quality among medical tourists; further entail positive impact on behavioral intention, with satisfaction and perceived value as mediators between both factors. Following PLS predict analysis confirming this model’s high predictive capability, it demonstrated close representation to actual medical tourism scenario in Malaysia.

Originality/value

This study is one of the very few studies that explored the minimally investigated territory on the consequential importance of hospital branding within the medical tourism industry; specifically through extending the literature on the influence of social and marketing efforts toward the formation of brand image.

Details

European Business Review, vol. 33 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-534X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 June 2019

Salmi Mohd Isa, Grace Sze Sze Lim and Phaik Nie Chin

This study aims to examine hospital image, perceived medical quality, relationship marketing and word-of-mouth as the determinants of patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals…

1198

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine hospital image, perceived medical quality, relationship marketing and word-of-mouth as the determinants of patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals in Penang, based on the theory of planned behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative study comprising a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to domestic and international patients at the airport, private hospitals and hotels located in Penang. The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was used to analyse and test the research hypotheses.

Findings

The results show that cognitive components (i.e. hospital image and perceived medical quality) do not have any significant influence on patients’ intent to revisit, while affective components (i.e. relationship marketing) and behavioural components (i.e. word-of-mouth) are important in increasing patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals in Penang, Malaysia. Trust has no significant mediating effect between predictor variables and patients’ intent to revisit, but it has significant association with affective and behavioural components.

Practical implications

The findings provide insights to medical marketing teams in promoting and increasing patients’ intent to revisit their respective hospitals and for the governments to sustain and enhance medical tourism in their countries.

Originality/value

This study is one of the few studies that looks at the relationship between hospital image, perceived medical quality, relationship marketing, word-of-mouth and patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals in Penang, Malaysia. This study also explored the direct and indirect effects of trust on patients’ intent to revisit that was still limited.

Details

International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6123

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 September 2007

Mark J. Kay

The purpose of this paper is to develop a perspective on what is “salient” or critical to the discipline of healthcare marketing by analyzing and contrasting the consumer (or…

7329

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a perspective on what is “salient” or critical to the discipline of healthcare marketing by analyzing and contrasting the consumer (or patient) perspective with the institutional (or organizational) perspective. This “salience issue” is complicated by the structural problems in healthcare such as societal service systems, advances in medical technology, and the escalating costs of care. Reviewing selected studies, the paper examines how consumers face increasingly difficult health choices.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines the different priorities and goals for marketing that are implied by both patient and organizational perspectives in healthcare, focusing primarily on the excesses of the more “market‐based” US healthcare system.

Findings

Healthcare organizations need to better utilize marketing tools to inform consumers and assist their healthcare decisions. This effort needs to be balanced by healthcare organizations that can support the demand to improve quality and increase accessibility of care.

Originality/value

The perspective on the consumer (or patient) often becomes clouded amid the operation of increasingly complex and convoluted healthcare systems. A new perspective on healthcare marketing needs to be considered. Greater consumer access to healthcare information could improve patient decision making. To accomplish this, greater institutional diffusion of evidence‐based healthcare practices is needed to improve organizational performance.

Details

International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, vol. 1 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6123

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2018

Manika Lamba

The advent of Web 2.0 in libraries persuades the librarians to adopt new ways to communicate, determine, and satisfy the needs of the users. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

1065

Abstract

Purpose

The advent of Web 2.0 in libraries persuades the librarians to adopt new ways to communicate, determine, and satisfy the needs of the users. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

A 30-question questionnaire was given to 30 undergraduate medical students of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and a 10-question questionnaire was given to the librarian, to find out: the marketing and promotional strategies employed by the library; determine the awareness and satisfaction level of the users; prepare library profile, customer profile and market profile; and perform SWOT analysis. User responses were coded and processed using GNU PSPP software.

Findings

From the library profile of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College library, it can be concluded that the library has the potential to offer better services and products to its users. From the customer profile of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College library, it is concluded that the most of its users are young male undergraduate students who use the library more on weekly basis. From the market profile of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College library, it is concluded that the library has not invested in the marketing and has no promotion strategy or marketing strategy for its products and services. Also, the library has only one digital promotional activity. From the SWOT analysis of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College library, it is concluded that the library does not use any of the social platforms to market its products and services. Most of the users are unaware of the services and products offered by the library. There are many opportunities for the library to work upon and improve the quality of products and services being offered to its users.

Research limitations/implications

The major limitation of the present study is its small sample size. It is very difficult to conduct surveys in health libraries because of the busy schedule of the undergraduate medical students and their reluctance to fill out lengthy questionnaires. However, this small sample size only made it possible to conduct the SWOT analysis on the basis of the users’ survey successfully. Further, the small sample size helped to take into account all the opportunities stated by the users which would not have been possible if a larger sample size was taken.

Originality/value

This study is one of a kind which provides an overview of marketing research of an academic health library of New Delhi (India) with a special focus on library profile, market profile, customer profile and SWOT analysis. It addresses the gaps in the literature by studying marketing in the context of academic health libraries in the digital environment.

Details

Library Management, vol. 40 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2019

Donya Gazerani, Mohammadkarim Bahadori, Mohammad Meskarpour_Amiri and Ramin Ravangard

This study aims to identify and prioritize barriers to the implementation of medical equipment (ME) marketing strategies using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify and prioritize barriers to the implementation of medical equipment (ME) marketing strategies using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

Design/methodology/approach

This was an applied, cross-sectional and descriptive-analytic study conducted in 2017 in Iran. The study population included 30 medical equipment experts working in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. A researcher made pair-wise comparison questionnaire was used for collecting the required data. The validity and reliability of this questionnaire were confirmed through getting five related experts’ opinions and inconsistency ratio (IR = 0.04). The AHP technique and Expert Choice 10.0 software were used to prioritize the barriers to the implementation of ME marketing strategies.

Findings

The results showed that among four categories of barriers to the implementation of ME marketing strategies, “managerial and strategic barriers” (FW = 0.339) and “structural barriers” (FW = 0.139) were the most important and the least important barriers, respectively.

Originality/value

This study, for the first time, has identified and prioritized barriers to the implementation of medical equipment marketing strategies using the AHP.

Details

International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6123

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 February 2022

Sunita Guru, Anamika Sinha and Pradeep Kautish

The study aims to facilitate the medical tourists visiting emerging countries for various kinds of ailments by ranking the possible destinations to avail medical treatments.

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to facilitate the medical tourists visiting emerging countries for various kinds of ailments by ranking the possible destinations to avail medical treatments.

Design/methodology/approach

A Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) with a mixed-method approach is applied to analyze data collected from patients and substantiate it with medical tour operators in India to gain managerial insights on the choice-making patterns of the patients.

Findings

India is a preferred emerging market location due to the low cost and high medical staff quality. India offers value for money, whereas Singapore and Thailand are preferred destinations for quality and technology.

Research limitations/implications

The study will facilitate the emerging markets' governments, hospitals and medical tourists to understand the importance of various determinants responsible for availing medical treatment outside their country.

Practical implications

The study recommends that cost and quality care are the patients' prime focus; government policies must provide clear guidelines on what the hospitals and country environment can offer and accordingly align the marketing strategies.

Originality/value

This study is the first attempt to rank various factors affecting medical tourism using the FAHP approach.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 18 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2020

Eric Ping Hung Li, Hyun Jeong Min and Somin Lee

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interconnection between the corporatisation of K-beauty and Korea’s nation branding exercise and its links with soft power. Through the…

3655

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interconnection between the corporatisation of K-beauty and Korea’s nation branding exercise and its links with soft power. Through the investigation of the transformation of Korea’s beauty industry, the authors seek to illustrate the inter-relationship of the market systems and national identification practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employed the qualitative case study approach to examine the latest development of Korea’s medical tourism. Through analysing a variety of secondary data that associated to the latest development of cosmetic tourism, this paper presents the impact of the transformation and reconfiguration of Korea’s beauty industry on the country’s nation branding strategy and the development of Korea’s soft power in the global marketplace.

Findings

The findings highlight how Korea’s new cosmetic tourism industry contributed to the renewal of Korea’s nation brand in the global market. The findings also illustrate the interconnection of the emerging Korean popular cultural products (K-pop and K-beauty) in the regional and global marketplace.

Research limitations/implications

The findings demonstrate the role of market in re-defining a nation’s brand and identity. The findings also illustrate how market-driven strategy influences the development of a nation’s soft power in the regional and/or global marketplace.

Practical implications

The study shows that practitioners can be active agents in nation branding. Through highlighting strategies to develop soft power within and beyond the country boundary, this study shows how market agents, governments and other stakeholders can co-create a market system that transform and reconfigure the nation brand in the global marketplace.

Social implications

In additional to explore the transformation of the beauty industry in Korea, this paper also presents the history and transformation of the beauty standards in Korea and other Asian cultures. Such dialogue invites marketing and consumer researchers to further explore the role of history and culture in guiding the production and consumption of new (consumption) standards.

Originality/value

This is the first paper that connects the theory of soft power in nation branding and country-of-origin literature. The case analysis of the socio-historical development of K-beauty also demonstrates how non-Western cultural goods enter the international marketplace. In summary, this paper provides new conceptual framework that illustrates a new collaborative mechanism that engages government and practitioners to co-create new cultural norms and standards to the local and international markets.

Details

International Marketing Review, vol. 38 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-1335

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 November 2017

Mohsen Ali Murshid and Zurina Mohaidin

The purpose of this paper is to examine reported literature on the influence of medical representatives (MRs) and other promotional tools on drug prescribing behaviour, and to…

16789

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine reported literature on the influence of medical representatives (MRs) and other promotional tools on drug prescribing behaviour, and to assess whether this effect is different in developed and developing countries.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of the literature was conducted across online databases from 2000 to 2016. Eligible studies addressed MRs and other promotion tools used to influence drug prescribing in developed and developing countries.

Findings

A total of 40 reviewed studies met the inclusion requirements. In total, 22 of the studies were conducted in developed countries and 18 in developing countries. Out of ten studies that examined the influence of MRs on drug prescribing in developed countries, eight found a positive influence, one found only moderate and one finds no influence. Analogous results were found in developing countries. Six out of ten studies on the influence of MRs conducted in developing countries found a positive effect, three found only moderate effects, while one finds no influence. The influence of promotion tools on prescribing varied in developed countries, five found positive influence, four reported a small effect and one found negative influence. In developing countries, the size of effect also varied, five studies found positive influence of promotion tools on drug prescribing behaviour, five found a negligible or small effect, and one found no association. However, marked differences were observed between two sectors. In the developed countries, MRs are valued as a source of information and can have an effect on prescribing, while it is unreliable in developing countries. Sample drugs are more generally seen as an important promotional tool for prescribing in developed countries than developing countries.

Research limitations/implications

The results derived from this review are based on studies with varying methodological consistency. The review provides the crucial information that will be valuable to researchers working on comparative analysis of marketing efforts in developing and developed countries.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the few systematic reviews on the influence of MRs and other promotional tools on prescribing. It compares the influence of MRs and promotional efforts in both developed and developing countries.

Details

International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6123

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2016

Anna E. Hartman

The purpose of this paper is to examine marketing tactics used in the clinic websites of cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) providers and analyse what ethical implications…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine marketing tactics used in the clinic websites of cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) providers and analyse what ethical implications exist when targeting the vulnerable consumer group of infertility sufferers.

Design/methodology/approach

The sampling design was to collect clinic websites from regions known to be popular destinations for CBRC, and who were marketing directly to US-based consumers through their online websites. There were three stages of data collection: organic Google search that displayed Google AdWords of clinics who advertised; organic Google search results; and searching via the WhatClinic.com database for additional private clinics with websites. The websites were then audited for their marketing tactics according to the best practice guidelines from the American Medical Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, ethics committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

Findings

Through this analysis, it was confirmed that these clinics are attempting to establish their credibility and attract foreign consumers through their promised rates of success, years of experience and use of testimonials. In total, 32 of the 35 sites contained at least one factor considered misleading by ASRM guidelines, such as the publishing of inaccurate or non-transparent success rates, the use of sales promotions and guarantees often used in consumer products, or the use of misleading language. Out of the 24 sites that posted success rates, 17 of those rates would be considered deceptive by not clarifying the source of the numbers or by being so far from the global averages of 30 per cent.

Research limitations/implications

Marketing practitioners have a specific responsibility to recognise vulnerable market segments; therefore this initial study seeks to add to the understanding of consumer vulnerability through an intersectional view of global reproductive service consumption.

Practical implications

A global standard of marketing guidelines specific to CBRC clinics needs to be implemented across all regional/countries in order to communicate ethically, improve credibility, reputation and trust among consumer and international bodies. Counselling services need to be integrated within all assisted reproductive technology services. Service-country to home-country continued care protocols should be created for patients travelling home in order to collect data on CRBC experiences.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the CBRC literature in providing new insights into current clinic marketing trends and highlights ethical implications to industry stakeholders.

Details

Marketing Intelligence & Planning, vol. 34 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-4503

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 47000