Influences on the perceived value of medical travel: the moderating roles of risk attitude, self-esteem and word-of-mouth

This study aims to discover the influential factors and critical moderators that can enhance the perceived value that international tourists feel towards medical travel. A total of 259 international tourists were surveyed using questionnaires. The results were analysed using structural equation modelling, and the findings are as follows. Firstly, hospital elements, such as service quality, hospital credibility and hospital image, all influence the perceived value of medical travel. Moreover, the results also confirmed the positive moderating effects of personal-factors (risk attitude and self-esteem) and an external factor (word-of-mouth), which can increase the influences of these hospital elements on the perceived value of medical travel.