A Study of Physical Environment and Medical Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction of Domestic Medical Tourism for Foreigners
AUTHORS
Hyejin Chung,Dept. of English Language and Literature, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Professor
Hwayeol Choi,Corresponding author, Jeju International University, Department of Airline Service Management, Professor
ABSTRACT
Since the amendment of the Medical Law in 2009, the number of foreign patients in major university hospitals has increased significantly. This is a result of the efforts of university hospitals to attract foreign patients with superior technology and price competitiveness as part of the policy of attracting foreign patients and allowing them to mediate. This study examined the effect of physical environment and medical service quality on customer satisfaction in foreign medical tourism. The quality of medical service also has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. As a result of analysis, three factors of physical environment were social factors, environmental factors, and design factors. The influences on the customer satisfaction were in the order of peripheral factors, design factors, and social factors. The dimensions of service quality's influence on customer satisfaction were correspondence, reliability, tangibility, assurance, empathy. These results will provide a broader understanding of customer satisfaction in terms of physical environment and service quality. From a customer's perspective, the customer's social factors and responsiveness to the employees could be found to be closely related to the formation of the customer's satisfaction.
KEYWORDS
Medical Tourism, Physical Environment, Medical Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction
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