Customer-Perceived Value of Medical Tourism: An Exploratory Study — The Case of Cosmetic Surgery in Tunisia

The results are useful to managers to implement marketing actions targeting medical tourists and a starting point to develop an innovative theoretical model combining the value dimensions of medical tourism and of the Internet in the same context.

Abstract

The present study investigates the dimensions of customer-perceived value in the context of medical tourism. Due to the important role played by the Internet in the growth of medical tourism, we will also explore the value dimensions of the use of the Internet in the context of medical tourism. Based on the consumption value theory developed by Sheth, Newman & Gross (1991), a netnographic study shows that the functional dimension greatly contributes to the value perception of the medical tourism experience. The use of the Internet is found to primarily have social, epistemic and functional values. From a managerial angle, the results are useful to managers to implement marketing actions targeting medical tourists. From a theoretical angle, the results are a starting point to develop an innovative theoretical model combining the value dimensions of medical tourism and of the Internet in the same context.