Comparing Country-of-origin Image (COI) between Trust Dimension and Purchase Intention in Dental Tourism

Abstract

The development of a country makes a difference in people’s perception of country-of-origin image (COI). As a result, consumers make different evaluations on services from different countries. For developing countries, it is more difficult to promote the dental tourism industry than developed countries. This experimental study demonstrates the comparison of COI between trust dimension and purchase intension in dental tourism. 65 participants were randomized and separated into three groups: Singapore, Thailand and India. Independent samples t-tests were performed in order to gain more understanding in the trust dimension and customers’ purchase intension. The findings indicate that human factor has the highest impaction on respondents’ trust in the quality of services in a country followed by process, facilities, and brand of organization. For developing countries with a low COI, if we create a strategy to increase trust in professional service quality by giving service providers’ information such as human factor, processes, facilities, branding of organization, we can increase customers’ purchase intention in dental tourism industry.