A measure of medical tourism destination brand equity

Purpose - Given the increasing dominance of medical tourism on the service economy of some of the developing nations, as a pioneering attempt, this study aims to develop a consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) measurement scale for the medical tourist destinations (city/hospital). Design/methodology/approach - Following the traditional marketing construct development process (qualitative study, purification study and validation study), in the present study, two sets of large and independent samples were assessed to judge the dimensionality of the measure. Findings - A well-validated measurement scale was developed as an amalgamation of four dimensions, namely, awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty and authenticity to assess CBBE of medical destinations. Practical implications - To reduce the financial and physical risk associated with the purchase of treatment, the customers may rely on "authenticity" of the service providers to select a treatment destination. The outcomes would help medical administrators/managers to focus more on developing "assurance" by increased reliability, responsiveness and tangibles to attract the medical tourists to a large extent. Originality/value - The study is a pioneering attempt to develop a scale for measuring CBBE for medical tourist destinations. The study aligns with earlier CBBE scales in terms of the first three elements, namely, brand awareness, loyalty and perceived quality. However, based on predictive validity, the study puts forth five interrelated first order attributes, namely, "trust", "value for money", "quality of residents", reliability and soft issues (like friendliness and ease of process) as contributing factors to a so far unexplored dimension, "brand authenticity".