Service Culture of the Workforce in the Medical Tourism Industry: is Malaysia on Par With Thailand?

Authors

  • Herwina Rosnan Arshad Ayub Graduat Business School, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450. Shah Alam. Selangor. Malaysia
  • Norzayana Yusof Department of Postgraduate and Professional Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA. 40450. Shah Alam. Selangor. Malaysia
  • Sofian Shamsuddin Arshad Ayub Graduat Business School, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450. Shah Alam. Selangor. Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i11.1730

Keywords:

Medical Tourism, Private Healthcare, Service Culture, Service Providers’ Behaviour

Abstract

Despite the progressive revenue trend, service providers in Malaysia's medical tourism have been receiving numerous complaints. Hence, this article sets to illustrate the behaviour of the service providers by describing whether they met the expectations of medical tourists. This study conducted twelve in-depth interviews with private hospitals, doctors and healthcare facilitators. Through Atlas.ti version 8, this study unveils that Malaysia lacks behind Thailand in providing patient-centric hospital services. Due to the 'doctor shopping' behaviour and word-of-mouth between patients, the present situation may hamper the growth of this industry as patients could easily opt for alternative options for their treatments.

Keywords: Medical Tourism; Private Healthcare; Service Culture; Service Providers’ Behaviour

eISSN: 2398-4287© 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i11.1730           

Author Biographies

Herwina Rosnan, Arshad Ayub Graduat Business School, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450. Shah Alam. Selangor. Malaysia

Coordinator, Strategic Management, 

Arshad Ayub Graduate Business School, 

Universiti Teknologi MARA. 

40450. Shah Alam. MALAYSIA

Norzayana Yusof, Department of Postgraduate and Professional Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA. 40450. Shah Alam. Selangor. Malaysia

Department of Postgraduate and Professional Studies,
Universiti Teknologi MARA.
40450. Shah Alam. Selangor

Sofian Shamsuddin, Arshad Ayub Graduat Business School, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450. Shah Alam. Selangor. Malaysia

Arshad Ayub Graduate Business School, 

Universiti Teknologi MARA. 

40450. Shah Alam. Selangor

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Published

2019-07-14

How to Cite

Rosnan, H., Yusof, N., & Shamsuddin, S. (2019). Service Culture of the Workforce in the Medical Tourism Industry: is Malaysia on Par With Thailand?. Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal, 4(11), 95–100. https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i11.1730

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