Patient’s behavioral intention : public and private hospitals context

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine patient’s behavioral intention in a comparative analysis between public and private hospitals in the context of a developing country. Design/methodology/approach: The research design was cross-sectional. A conceptual model was developed through an extensive literature review. Survey research was conducted to collect the data from the patients of public and private hospitals of Bangladesh. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to perform a comparative analysis of the proposed model. Findings: Perceived service quality and corporate image both were found to have a positive direct effect on patient’s behavioral intention for both public and private hospitals. While emotional satisfaction was found not to influence patient’s behavioral intention for public hospitals, it was found to fully mediate the perceived service quality-behavioral intention relationship and partially mediate the corporate image-behavioral intention relationship for private hospitals. Experience economy was found to partially mediate the corporate image-behavioral intention relationship for public hospitals, while it was found to partially mediate both the perceived service quality-behavioral intention and corporate image-behavioral intention relationships for private hospitals. Originality/value: This is the first of a kind study that combined experience economy and emotional satisfaction with perceived service quality and corporate image to predict patient’s behavioral intention in a comparative study between public and private hospitals in the context of a developing country.