ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

Medical tourism has been regarded as one of high value-added industries having great ripple effects on national economies. Medical tourism toward Korea, especially from China, recently has seen a big growth, attracting attention from both academia and industries. This study investigates effects of country image on medical tourism intention toward Korea; both direct effects and indirect effects through medical service expectation. Data for the statistical tests were collected from a Chinese sample through an on-line questionnaire Empirical tests through a structural equation model generally or partially support our hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 stating that country image would have a positive effect on tourism intention was partially supported. Social dimension of country image such as honesty and politeness was shown to have a positive effect on visit intention, while either economic or political dimension was not. Hypothesis 2 relating medical service expectation to medical tourism intention was highly supported. Both intrinsic(such as medical equipment, technique and reputation) and supplementary(such as accessibility, waiting time and confidentiality) aspects of medical service expectation were shown to have highly significant positive effects on visit intention. Hypothesis 3 postulating that country image would positively affect medical service expectation was generally supported. Among the three dimensions of country image, social and political dimensions were shown to have positive effects on medical service expectation, while economic dimension was not. Thus, social dimension of country image seems to have a direct positive effect on medical tourism intention, as well as an indirect effect through medical service expectation.

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