Designing a Hierarchical Model of Brand Equity Management in Healthcare Industry (Case Study: Hospitals in Tehran)

Nowadays, in the present condition of high competition among hospitals they strive to maintain and increase their market shares; however, some hospital managers are not informed about the factors influencing their brand equity and the mechanism by which they could manage the brand to enhance their positions in the minds of patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify factors influencing on hospital brand equity and investigate hierarchical relationships of brand equity dimensions in a practical model.
Population of this depictive and applied study includes individuals receiving impatient services in the first 6 months of 2016 at hospitals in Tehran. Cluster and available sampling were used and the number of members was 388. The collected data through questionnaire were analyzed with smartPLS2.0 and SPSS19 software.
The results showed that hospital brand equity was, to a large extent, influenced by brand associations, perceived quality, brand trust, relationship commitment and brand loyalty. There were a positive effect of brand awareness on brand associations, brand associations on perceived quality, perceived quality on brand trust, brand trust on relationship commitment and relationship commitment on brand loyalty. However, the effect of brand awareness on brand equity was insignificant.
According to the results, it can be suggested that managers of hospitals should pay attention to factors influencing hospital brand equity and take necessary measures to increase loyalty to the hospital and manage hospital brand equit