Foreign patients' perceptions of healthcare services in a private hospital in Thailand: development of an integrative model

The hospital industry is a lucrative business, especially when it involves foreign patients as customers. Millions of foreigners receive medical treatment outside of their home country each year, and foreign patients have become a valuable market segment of the hospital industry, as they generate huge revenue for the industry worldwide. The competitive environment of the industry is not only local but has also expanded to include international clients. Hospital marketers are therefore, forced to adapt strategies to gain a significant advantage over competitors. Factors such as Service Quality (SQ), Customer Satisfaction (SAT) and Customer Value (CV) are identified as predictors of Behavioural Intentions (BI) that enhance competitive advantage in the services literature. A number of researchers have studied the perception of patients to SQ, CV, SAT and BI; however, research focusing on foreign patients’ perceptions is rare. ‘Foreign patients’ is chosen as a sample of the study because they are an important market segment of healthcare consumers and there is little research available on foreign patients’ perception of healthcare services.