How to develop emotional attachment amongst patients towards hospitals? A qualitative investigation in the context of emerging Indian market

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the antecedents and consequences of hospital brand attachment and associated intervening factors amongst patients and attendants in the context of the emerging Indian market where the hospital industry has a heterogeneous structure consisting of state-owned and private hospitals.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data. Data were coded using the grounded theory method to explore and validate interrelationships between the constructs that emerged.

Based on the data analysis, a grounded theory framework has been developed, which recognizes hospital brand attachment as the central construct, and depicts its related antecedents, consequences and intervening or moderating factors.

The study contributes to the existing body of healthcare marketing research by having discovered actionable antecedents of hospital brand attachment that could help healthcare marketers in emerging markets to formulate branding strategies that strengthen the patient–hospital brand attachment relationships. Based on the concepts explored in this qualitative study, it has been put forth that the concept of brand love or brand attachment that is well-researched in the case of general consumer brands is also applicable in the case of hospital brands, without ignoring the specific idiosyncrasies of the hospital industry.