• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.438-447
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• 2012

The objectives of this research are: to provide fundamental data for tourism policy and investigate medical tourism attributes by IPA(Importance-Performance Analysis) to attract Japanese medical tourists to Korea. Utilizing Japanese medical tourists as subjects of inquiry, this study evaluated the importance of medical tourism selection attributes and the rate at which these attributes were performed. Consequently, this study deduced 'convenience, service quality, differentiation, approximation' factors by factor analysis as well as the ranking among each selection attributes using T-test. The importance-performance analysis showed 'Concentrate Here' in quadrant I, 'Keep up the Good Work' in quadrant II, 'Low Priority' in quadrant III and 'Possible Overkill' in quadrant IV. The results show that "Concentrate Here" part in quadrant I is reservation procedure rapidity and information system simplicity. This means that these attributes are very important but they indicate low performance. Thus, concentration among tourism managers should be focused along these attributes. The study, then, suggests that employee who speaks Japanese fluently should be arranged during reservation procedure. Furthermore, Japanese class should become mandatory during basic employee training to improve reservation procedure rapidity. Moreover, clinic websites should concentrate on accessibility of Japanese users in such a way that they can consult their needs on line. Finally, managers should find diverse ways to bring about good service rapidly and conveniently.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.212-219
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• 2020

We conducted this study to identify the accommodation applications users' lifestyle types and the composition factors for consumers' accommodation applications selection attributes and to identify the difference in the selection attributes perception of accommodation applications between groups classified by user's lifestyle types. According to the study, 6 factors were derived as the accommodation applications users' lifestyle types and were named social/leisure-oriented type, fashion-seeking type, culture-seeking type, self-examining type, self-centered type, family-oriented type. Also 6 factors were derived as the accommodation applications selection attributes and were named convenience, interactivity, economic efficiency, transaction reliability, product reliability and informativeness. Valid clusters were divided into four groups and were named culture/tourism group, self-examining group, passive and cautious group and Social and practicality-seeking group. Most of the selection attributes perception of accommodation applications between groups had statistically significant differences(p<.05), except for some items of transaction reliability. Based on the results of this study, we should strive to establish effective marketing strategies that reflect differences in the selection attributes perception of the accommodation application between groups classified by users' lifestyle types.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.17-34
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• 2011

Recently, medical market has been changing not for the sake of treatment of the disease but for high quality of health. Therefore, South Korea medical tourism service needs to understand and improve for the differences perceptions of medical tourists and health professionals for customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to understand the structure of medical tourism market through theoretical consideration and to suggest the factors which need to be taken precedence for improvement of South Korea medical tourism service through analysis differences between consumers and suppliers. To analyze the difference of awareness, we reconstructed the questionnaires focussing on evaluation factors and articles about medical tourists selection attributes and health professionals way to invigoration through previous research and precedence study. After that, we also collected the data based on reconstructed questionnaires. After we compared each collected responses from medical tourists and health professionals, also analyzed the differences of awareness by applying Johari's Window to those differences. In conclusion, there is no relation between medical tourist and health professionals about th differences of awareness in functional quality and cost that is a direct effect to transaction in current medical tourism of South Korea. In contrast, there are differences of awareness between a process which support medical tourism and technical quality. Therefor, we expect to invigorate medical tourism by innovation of supportive process and technical quality.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.307-329
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• 2014

Medical tourism involves patients intentionally leaving their home country to access non-emergency health care services abroad. Growth in the popularity of this practice has resulted in a significant amount of attention being given to it from researchers, policy-makers, and the media. Yet, there has been little effort to systematically synthesize what is known about the effects of this phenomenon and key choice factors. This study seeks to figure out, using conjoint analysis, what factors Chinese medical tourists place importance on maximizing utility when selecting their destination and propose selection attributes that can lure medical tourists to Korea. Results showed that, of destination attributes, medical technology competitiveness proved be the most important and of lower levels, international accreditation proved to have the highest utility. This article presents the findings of valuable insights to medical institutions, travel agencies and related firms in their marketing activities.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.21-30
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• 2017

Purpose - This research approaches to the new niche market of medical tourism to investigate how factors of cultural similarity influence the international distribution management. This study also estimates the interaction effects of distribution channel on the relationships of facility attributes and customers' destination choice behavior. Research design, data, and methodology - We collected the sample of 881 potential customers from the more economically developed regions in China. Regression analysis is used to confirm the relationships in the research model. Results - The result shows that cultural similarity plays an important moderating role in the relationships of facility attributes and destination choice intention. For instance, power distance and masculinity interact with the distribution facility characteristics of medical quality and reputation to influence customers' selection of the destination country. Individualism, powder distance, and masculinity play moderating roles when social environment affects destination choice intention. Especially, all the elements of cultural similarity moderate the relationships between travel cost and destination choice intention. This research also proves that depending on distribution channel, determinants of distribution facility are the critical predictors of intention to select the medical service outside of China. Conclusions - The study enables managers to develop the more effective strategies reflecting the interaction effects of cultural similarity and distribution channel on customers' decision-making process.