Health care social support, emotions & behavioural intentions

The research hypothesises positive relationships between perceived social support and social support satisfaction, negative relationships between perceived social support and post-consumption emotions, positive relationship between social support satisfaction and consumer behavioural intentions, negative relationship between post-consumption emotions and consumer behavioural intentions. Quantitative data was gathered from 630 patients of various hospitals through pre-designed questionnaires using a5-point Likert-type scale. The data was analysed through Structural Equations Modelling (AMOS 18). 4 out of the 8 hypothesis were supported and the study concludes that ‘social support satisfaction’ should be viewed as a strong predictor of positive consumer behavioural intentions of repeat visits, customer recommendation and cooperation with treatment procedures in the health care service industry.