Customer’s Inertia in Healthcare Industry: Perspectives of Information Economics and Relationship

• Main Authors: Hua-Ming Chen, 陳華明
• Other Authors: Shyh-Rong Fang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/35792319195105134227

碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 高階經理人碩士在職專班 === 95 === Customer’s inertia is considered to result from habitual buying behavior, in which the customer’s involvement is low and information searching for alternatives is diminished. Poor understanding of the product or service may contribute to inertia. In this study, healthcare sector in Taiwan is exemplified to verify the relationships between information asymmetry and customer’s inertia. Externalities may result from this asymmetry. In addition, for an inertial relationship to develop or maintain, dark side develops. The problems of negative externality and burden of relationship imposed by inertia are also explored. Directors of registered senior citizens’ long-stay nursing institutions in Taiwan Area were the subjects of this study. Details about institutions were available on the official website of the Ministry of Domestic Affairs. Questionnaires developed by the researchers were mailed to the subjects with a return envelope inside. LISREL 8.5 was used to test the proposed theoretical model. Nine hundred and forty-eight subjects were enrolled and 219 responded, in which 11 were incomplete. The valid response rate was 22%. The majority of the surveyed institutions was of small scale (81%), privately funded (94%) and not affiliated with incorporate foundation registration (84%). A good fitness between the observed data and the conceptual model was achieved. The hypotheses of positive correlation between asymmetric information, customer’s inertia, negative externalities and relationship burden were partly supported. The study results indicated that asymmetric information played a part, though not crucial, in the formation of customer’s inertia. Negative externality and relationship burden seemed to be more closely and extensively correlated with inertia. Future researches are deserved to investigate further into the role of inertia played in these relationships. Keywords: Customer’s inertia, information asymmetry, negative externality,burden of relationship, healthcare