Travel behavioural intention of choosing Malaysia as destination for medical tourism / Anidah Aziz

Research on medical tourism has gained huge popularity because it has become a major source of income for most nations. It is important especially those in emerging countries like Malaysia to look into and put efforts to strategize their capabilities and facilities to respond to the global competition and business opportunities in enhancing their performance. Specifically, the study attempts to examine the behavioural intention of the medical tourist in choosing Malaysia as medical tourism destination. While considering all four variables chosen (perceived destination image, perceived quality, perceived value and patient satisfaction) as having significant impact on behavioural intention of the medical tourists, this study also examines the moderating role of repeat visit in strengthening the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. This study includes trust as mediator construct to determine the relationship between behavioural intention. Drawing upon the combination of Theory of Planned Behaviour and Motivation Theory, a framework is developed for further investigation. A quantitative approach is employed to achieve the objectives of the study. Questionnaire were distributed and tested against the research framework by using Warp - Partial Least Square (Warp-PLS) technique. A total of 200 responses were received and further analysed. The result demonstrated that there is a positive relationship between perceived destination image, perceived quality, perceived value and patient satisfaction. Trust as mediator was used and the result showed positive relationship for perceived destination image, perceived quality and perceived value, whilst, patient satisfaction has a negative relationship. In addition, the results also revealed that repeat visit as moderator have a significant impact on medical tourist behavioural intention. This study contributes a basis for the future research for medical tourism service and the findings provide valuable implications to theory and practice.