Author(s): Srikanth K, Mukta Deb and Sonali Das
Purpose – In an era of patient-driven healthcare and channel fragmentation, hospitals are struggling with their marketing communication practices since, traditional communication is no more a promising lever for gaining a competitive advantage in the industry whereas an extended corporate communication mix is playing a significant role in creating a positive brand image. Hence, the purpose of the current paper is to examine the impact of integrated marketing communication mix elements i.e., advertising, online media, word-of-mouth on hospital brand image in one of the corporate hospitals of Hyderabad, India. Design/methodology/approach – A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect the data from 373 respondents of the study hospital and the hypotheses of study were tested by employing SPSS & structural equation modelling technique via AMOS. Findings – The findings from the structural analysis indicated that both word-of-mouth & online media had a significant and positive effect on brand image whereas advertising was found to have an insignificant effect on brand image in the study hospital. Originality/value – This study is one among the very few empirical works that explore the relationships between the IMC mix and brand image for a life caring & saving credence-dominant service especially in the context of Indian hospital setting that has been neglected by previous studies.