International Medical Tourists’ Behavioral Intention: An Empirical Study in Malaysia

Abstract

A few studies have examined the effect of hospital service quality, hospital accreditation, destination image on patient satisfaction and patient loyalty in a tourism context. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of medical patients’ behavioural intention in Malaysia. A total of 360 questionnaire were distributed and quantitative techniques were used to test the hypotheses within the structural equation modelling (SEM) using SmartPLS software. Our statistical results support the positive effect of hospital service quality, destination image and patient satisfaction on patient loyalty. Hospital accreditation didn’t have positive impact on patient loyalty. The research contribution, implication, and limitation are discussed.

Keywords: hospital service quality, destination image, hospital accreditation, patient satisfaction, patients’ loyalty.