Effects of online social interaction and social capital on brand relationship quality in medical tourism industry

Abstract

The emergence of Internet media allows brands breaking through the one-way communication model of mass media in the past and reinforces the circular dialogue mechanism through the interaction of Internet media to precede one-to-one communication through text dialogue, where the affective connection generates in the interaction process. Many enterprise brands start to utilize social media as the new interactive communication platform for consumers selecting the required message communication needs. The two-way communication with brands is enhanced through social interaction to build and maintain the relationship, sustain existing consumers’ loyalty to create the maximal profits of each consumer, and more efficiently contact new consumers in the constantly expanding relationship network to achieve relationship marketing. Aiming at the members of Internet fan pages of medical tourism industry, as the research objects, random sampling is applied to distribute 500 copies of questionnaire in this study. Total 392 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 78%. The research results show significant correlations between online social interaction and social capital, social capital and brand relationship quality, and online social interaction and brand relationship quality. According to the results to propose suggestions, it is expected to provide practical strategies and development reference for future medical tourism industry brands managing and sustaining the exclusive pages on social network site in the constantly emerging marketing channels.