Can healthcare servicescape affect customer’s attitude? A study of the mediating role of image congruence and moderating role of customer’s prior experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, develop and test a conceptual model to understand the relationship between customers’ servicescape perceptions, self-image congruity and attitude in healthcare context. Second, to examine the extent to which the relationship between customers’ self-image congruity to attitude in a fully mediated model is moderated by their prior experience. Design/methodology/approach – Utilizing a self-administered survey of 320 customers, the study tested the proposed relationships with robust data analytic techniques. Findings – The results show that favorable servicescape perceptions help customers to form image congruence in terms of symbolic and functional elements and thereby strengthen their attitude. Further, servicescape accentuated image congruence have varying effects on customers’ attitude depending up on customers’ prior experience. Research limitations/implications – This study emphasized the role of servicescape on self-image congruity formation and customer attitude in a new service context (healthcare), and contribute to the body of existing knowledge on servicescapes and image congruity and further verify the soundness and robustness of the integrative theoretical framework. Practical implications – Favorable servicescape perceptions may encourage customers to form image congruence and attitude. In this respect, managers should make efforts to signal desired servicescape perceptions in order to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Originality/value – This study was the first to apply an integrative perspective of inference theory and image congruity theory to the context of hospital services to understand the relationship between servicescape, image-congruity and customer attitude.