Predicting Behavioural Intention: Is It Worthwhile to Compare Two Theories for Medical Tourism

Numerous studies on medical tourism have now been published over the past decades. However, few studies considered using social psychological theories for medical tourism. This study, therefore, aims to fill this gap by proposing using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the protection motivation theory (PMT) model for medical tourism and to compare the models’ predictive power and fit to the data. Results showed that the basic TPB and PMT model showed a good fit to the data, whereas the TPB having a slight empirical advantage with stronger predictive power and better Goodness of Fit. In view of theoretical implications, both theories were able to describe and change essentially the same endogenous. Implication for both models linked to the development of marketing strategies was discussed. This research illustrates the need for rigorous examination of the current health behaviour theories used through scrutinising their shortcomings to establish their variables for the most usefulness in addressing healtheducation interventions.

کلیدواژه ها:

Medical Tourism ، Behavioural Intentions ، Predictive Power ، Theory of Planned Behaviour ، Protection Motivation Theory ، Model Comparison