Medical tourists’ emotional and cognitive response to credibility and Servicescape

Abstract

While medical tourism has been an issue of increasing interest among scholars and practitioners, most studies are dedicated to understanding the factors of attraction that lead medical tourists to select a certain destination and treatment providers. In this vein, more studies are needed to understand medical tourists' perceptions about medical facilities and staff, and repurchase intention formation. In order to contribute to bridging this gap, the current study aims to explore the effect of Servicescape (intrinsic cues) and credibility (extrinsic cues) on medical tourists' emotion, perceived quality and image. The proposed model was tested in the medical tourism context in Portugal. The questionnaire was distributed to individuals who had stayed in a hospital devoted to medical tourism. A convenience sample of 332 usable questionnaires was employed to test the model. Findings reveal that ambience and design are the most important factors in formatting Servicescape itself. Servicescape and credibility are effective antecedents of customer image and pleasure-feeling. Credibility is more effective in enhancing pleasure-feeling and Servicescape in creating a favourable image. On the other hand, perceptions of quality do not contribute significantly to pleasure-feeling. Finally, the article also provides managerial implications and suggests avenues for further research.

From Servicescape to Loyalty in the Medical Tourism Industry: A Medical Clinic’s Service Perspective

“…In line with the aforementioned research, 1 , 6 , 13 this study suggests that new environmental cues for a medical tourism context be divided into physical components (eg, the medical clinic’s cleanliness, layout, interior, and ambience), intangible factors (eg, medical service and care), and social components (eg, doctors and nurses). In particular, the important role of intangible service performance is emphasized when a customer develops behavioral intentions as well as affective and cognitive responses toward a store’s servicescape.…”

“…Medical tourism is a form of tourism that provides good facilities and physical conditions to a tourist seeking not only treatments for his or her illness or dental/cosmetic needs or enhancements, but also an enjoyable space and pleasurable service in which to recover his or her well-being. 13 Based on the optimistic expectations of medical tourism, prior research has focused on the role of a medical clinic and its impacts on a tourist’s psychological states, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. 13 - 15 While the existing literature has investigated the influence of servicescapes’ dimensions on tourists’ perceptions, attitudes, and behavioral intention, 10 - 12 to date, few studies have been conducted identifying the components of the servicescapes of medical clinics.…”

An asymmetrical approach to understanding configurations of customer loyalty in the airline industry

“…The service provided by employees on the aircraft, namely flight attendants, is a key to estimating the airline's perceived service quality (An & Noh, 2009). Researchers (Ryu and Jang, 2007;Loureiro, 2015) highlight importance of considering social elements that mainly involve the interactions between service employees and passengers. However, prior research on flight attendants is primarily focused on their employee-related outcomes (e.g.…”

Signalling effects on symbolic status and travellers' well‐being in the luxury cruise industry

“…In particular, Hwang and Han () state that on‐board attributes of luxury cruises enhance the perception of prestige and well‐being. In the luxury tourism industry, we argue that brand reputation and credibility are associated with symbolic status due to the hedonic and social value of the brands (e.g., Hwang & Han, ; Hwang & Hyun, ; Loureiro, ). We propose that symbolic status (i.e., cruise prestige) is achievable not only from on‐board attributes but also from the cruise reputation and credibility.…”

“…The former refers to the willingness of the cruise to deliver what was promised, whereas the latter refers to the ability of the cruise to actual deliver what it promised (Baek et al, ). Recent research has investigated the effect of credibility on various important constructs (e.g., satisfaction, tourists' emotions) in the tourism context (e.g., Loureiro, ; Veasna, Wu, & Huang, ).…”