- Log In/Sign Up
- P-ISSN1738-3110
- E-ISSN2093-7717
- SCOPUS, ESCI
ISSN : 1738-3110
The Impact of Cultural Similarity on the International Distribution Management
Lee, Hoonyoung
Abstract
Purpose - This research approaches to the new niche market of medical tourism to investigate how factors of cultural similarity influence the international distribution management. This study also estimates the interaction effects of distribution channel on the relationships of facility attributes and customers' destination choice behavior. Research design, data, and methodology - We collected the sample of 881 potential customers from the more economically developed regions in China. Regression analysis is used to confirm the relationships in the research model. Results - The result shows that cultural similarity plays an important moderating role in the relationships of facility attributes and destination choice intention. For instance, power distance and masculinity interact with the distribution facility characteristics of medical quality and reputation to influence customers' selection of the destination country. Individualism, powder distance, and masculinity play moderating roles when social environment affects destination choice intention. Especially, all the elements of cultural similarity moderate the relationships between travel cost and destination choice intention. This research also proves that depending on distribution channel, determinants of distribution facility are the critical predictors of intention to select the medical service outside of China. Conclusions - The study enables managers to develop the more effective strategies reflecting the interaction effects of cultural similarity and distribution channel on customers' decision-making process.
- keywords
- Cultural Similarity, Facility Attributes, Distribution Channel, Destination Choice Intention, Distribution Management
Reference
Babakus, E., & Mangold, W. G. (1992). Adapting the SERVQUAL scale to hospital services: An empirical investigation. Health Services Research, 26(6), 767-786.
Choi, K. S., Cho, W. H., Lee, S., Lee, H., & Kim, C. (2004). The relationships among quality, value, satisfaction and behavioral intention in health care provider choice: A South Korea study. Journal of Business Research, 57(8), 913-921.
Connell, J. (2006). Medical tourism: Sea, sun, sand …surgery. Tourism Management, 27(6), 1093-1100.
Connell, J. (2013). Contemporary medical tourism:Conceptualization, culture and commodification. Tourism Management, 34, 1-13.
Cronch, G. I. (2011). Destination competitiveness: An analysis of determinant attributes. Journal of Travel Research, 50(1), 27-45.
Crouch, G. I., & Ritchie, J. R. B. (1999). Tourism, competitiveness, and societal prosperity. Journal of Business Research, 44(3), 137-152.
Dastane, O., & Lee, W. Y. W. (2016). Korean expatriates adjustments and job satisfaction in Malaysia:Analysis of corporate cultural asymmetry. Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business, 7(4), 33-45.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (2010). Predicting and changing behavior: The reasoned action approach. New York: Psychology Press.
Gearing, C. E., Swart, W. W., & Var, T. (1974). Establishing a measure of touristic attractiveness. Journal of Travel Research, 12(4), 1-8.
Glions, I. A., Baeten, R., Helble, M., & Maarse, H. (2010). A typology of cross-border patient mobility. Health & Place, 16, 1145-1155.
Gooding, S. K. S. (2000). Quality, sacrifice, and value in hospital choice: A comparative study of rural and suburban consumer perspectives. Journal of Hospital Marketing, 13(2), 23-42.
Hair, J. F., Jr., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006). Multivariate data analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Herbig, P., & Milewicz, J. (1993). The relationship of reputation and credibility to brand success. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 10(3), 18-24.
Heung, V. C. S., Kucukusta, D., & Song, H. (2010). A conceptual model of medical tourism: Implications for future research. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 27(3), 236-251.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture consequences: International differences in word-related value. London, UK:Sage.
Hofstede, G. (1984). Cultural dimensions in management and planning. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, January, 81-99.
Hojabri, R., Eftekhar, F., Sharifi, M., & Hatamian, A. (2014). Knowledge management in an Iranian health organization: Investigation of critical success factors. Journal of Industrial Distribution &Business, 5(4), 31-42.
Hu, Y., & Ritchie, J. R. B. (1993). Measuring destination attractiveness: A contextual approach. Journal of Travel Research, 32(2), 25-34.
Juwai. (2016). Top 8 outbound medical tourism hotspots for China’s affluent. Retrieved December 20, 2016 from https://list.juwai.com/news/2016/10/top-8-outbound-medical-tourism-hotspots-for-china-s-affluent.
Kaiser, H. F. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39(1), 31-36.
Keller, K. L., & Lehmann, D. R. (2006). Brand and branding: Research findings and future priorities. Marketing Science, 25(6), 740-759.
Kim, H. J. (1991). Influence of language and similarity on initial intercultural attraction. In Stella Ting-Toomey and Felipe Korzenny. Editors. Cross-cultural interpersonal communication. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publication, 213-229. In Lu L. T. (2007). The effect of cultural similarity on international joint ventures: An empirical study. International Journal of Management, 24(2), 230-241.
Kim, H. (1998). Perceived attractiveness of Korean destinations. Annals of Tourism Research, 25(2), 340-361.
Kozak, M., & Rimmington, M. (1998). Benchmarking:Destination attractiveness and small hospitality business performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 10(5), 184-188.
Lam, S. S. K. (1997). SERVQUAL: A tool for measuring patients’ opinions of hospital service quality in Hong Kong. Total Quality Management, 8(4), 145-152.
Lyon, T. P. (1999). Quality competition, insurance, and consumer choice in health care markets. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 8(4), 545-580.
Ma, F., Wang, S., & Hao, W. (2012). Does cultural similarity matter? Extending the animosity model from a new perspective. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(5), 319-332.
Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the Self:Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224-253.
Matzler, K., Strobl, A., Stokburger-Sauer, N., Bobovnicky, A., & Bauer, F. (2016). Brand personality and culture: The role of cultural differences on the impact of brand personality perceptions on tourists’visit intentions. Tourism Management, 52, 507-520.
Meesak, D. (2016). Report: Chinese medical tourism grows by 500 percent in 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2016 from https://jingdaily.com/report-chinese-medical-tourism-grows-500-percent-2016/.
Miller, L., & May, D. (2006). Patient choice in the NHS:How critical are facilities services in influencing patient choice? Facilities, 24(9/10), 354-364.
Nunnally, J. C. (1967). Psychometric Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill. In Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr. (1979). A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs. Journal of Marketing Research, XVI(February), 64-73.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, 49(4), 41-50.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multiple item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64(1), 12-37.
Polsa, P., Wei, F., Saaksjarvi, M., & Pei, S. (2013). Cultural values and health service quality in China. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 26(1), 55-73.
Potluri, R. M., Ansari, R., Challa, S. K., & Puttam, L. (2014). A treatise on the cross-cultural analysis of Indian consumers’ conspicuous consumption of Veblen products. Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business, 5(3), 35-43.
Smith, P. C., & Forgione, D. A. (2007). Global outsourcing of healthcare: A medical tourism decision model. Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, 9(3), 19-30.
Sobo, E. J. (2009). Medical travel: What it means, why it matters. Medical Anthropology, 28(4), 326-335.
Turner, L. (2007). ‘First world health care at third world prices: Globalization, bioethics and medical tourism. Biosocieties, 2(3), 303-325.
Wu, M. Y. (2006). Hofstede’s cultural dimensions 30years later: A study of Taiwan and the United States. Intercultural Communication Studies, XV, 33-42.
Wu, C., & Liang, Q. (2017). Chinese travels made 216 billion last year. Retrieved July 12, 2017 from http://www.china.com.cn/travel/txt/2017-07/12/content_41198732.htm.
Xu, Q. J., & Jiang, J. (2010). The moderating role of cultural similarity in leadership training effectiveness. Journal of European Industrial Training, 34(3), 259-269.
Yu, J. Y., & Ko, T. G. (2012). A cross-cultural study of perceptions of medical tourism among Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists in Korea. Tourism Management, 33, 80-88.
Zhang, J., & Lee, H. (2015). Factors influencing Chinese customers’ selection of health care service countries: Focusing on word-of-mouth moderating effects. Journal of Distribution Science, 13(12), 41-52.
Zhang, J., Seo, S., & Lee, H. (2013). The impact of psychological distance on Chinese customers when selecting an international healthcare service country. Tourism Management, 35, 32-40.
- Downloaded
- Viewed
- 0KCI Citations
- 0WOS Citations