Antecedents of Word-of-Mouth Generation in Medical Tourism

Abstract

The growing market demand for medical tourism has triggered intense competition among the medical tourism industry players. Word-of-mouth has been recognised as one of the key acquisition channels among the thoughtful marketing tactics to attract medical tourists. The purpose of this study is to gain insight on the relationship between medical service quality, perceived value, and satisfaction on word-ofmouth generation in a medical tourism setting. A quantitative survey was conducted to collect the data. The data collected was analysed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results indicated that medical service quality is positively associated with perceived value, which in turn, affects satisfaction. However, perceived value and satisfaction are not positively related to wordof-mouth generation. The availability of resources, patient cooperation and collaboration among service providers do affect the outcomes of word-of- mouth generation. It is implied that effort must be directed by the healthcare institutions to enrich the value and satisfaction of medical services. Hospital management should emphasise the service quality and raise it to a high level in order to increase recommendation.