The Effects of Ambivalence on Behavioral Intention in Medical Tourism

Abstract

This article attempts to understand the consequences of ambivalence on perceived values, perceived risks, and the relationship between perceived values and perceived risks-behavioral intention. The fundamental theme of this study is ambivalent attitude, a term used to describe conflicting states in which individuals have both positive and negative ratings toward the same object. Using the Amos statistical program, we analyze these relationships by asking 230 Chinese potential medical tourists about their attitudes toward medical tour service. The results of this study show that in ambivalent states, medical service is mainly dependent on cognitive judgment, while tour service is mainly dependent on affective judgment. It is also shown that in the relationship between perceived values and risks-behavioral intention, the perceived functional value is the only variable related to behavioral intention. These findings suggest that the role of ambivalence in decision-making is taken into consideration in the field of consumer behavior.

Key words:

• ambivalence
• perceived value
• perceived risk
• behavioral intention
• medical tourism

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express deepest gratitude to Mr Philip Park for his invaluable assistance with editing the final version of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Kyung Hee University [grant number 20121686].