Sentimental Value on Medical Tourism: A Social Congruence Theory Perspective

Abstract

Medical tourism is a trip abroad that is carried out by someone whose aim is to get health care, both general check-ups, treatment and rehabilitation. The most popular destination countries for medical tourism are India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. The number of Indonesians who travel to neighboring countries to get medical services is quite large. The number of Indonesian patients who go to Malaysia is 70% and Singapore is 65% of the total international patients undergoing treatment in the country. In general, people who undergo medical tourism are people who have more economic capacity. Medical tourism or often referred to as medical tourism is a new tourism innovation or a health service program in the form of health maintenance, improvement and recovery packaged in the form of tourism activities. This study aims to determine the effect of functional values, hedonic values , and sentimental values on behavioral intention in the medical tourism sector. This research uses a quantitative approach with online surveys. The analysis tool used is Structural Equation Modelling Partial Least Square with a sample of 100 respondents for patients visiting middle to upper-class hospitals for examination or treatment or rehabilitation of their health after or suffering from illness in Indonesia and Malaysia. The results of this study indicate that functional values and hedonic values affect sentimental values, and functional values, hedonic values , and sentimental values affect behavioral intentions. So, it can be concluded that all relationships between variables are influential and significant.