Hope across the seas: the role of emotions and risk propensity in medical tourism advertising |
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| Authors: | Elyria Kemp Kim H Williams McDowell Porter III |
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| Institution: | 1. College of Business Administration, Department of Management &2. Marketing, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USAekemp@uno.edu;4. The Lester E. Kabacoff School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA;5. E. J. Ourso College of Business, Department of Marketing, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Rising US medical costs as well as more competition in the health care industry have led many Americans to pursue health care in foreign destinations. As a result, leading countries in medical tourism have begun launching international advertising campaigns. A growing trend in much of this advertising is the use of emotional appeals. The purpose of this research is to examine whether the use of emotional appeals by non-domestic health care providers contributes to more favourable evaluations of the target health care provider than rational appeals. Specifically, two experimental studies investigate the efficacy of advertisements that induce the emotion of hope to determine whether these advertisements increase trust perceptions and reduce perceived risk, given an individual's level of risk propensity. Implications for public policy makers and marketing managers who work in health care are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | medical tourism advertising emotions hope trust risk |
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