Exploring How Potential Medical Tourists Engage eWOM Reddit

Medical tourism is an increasingly popular form of travel as well as lucrative business as access to healthcare services varies drastically from one region to another. Individuals who are interested in travel, and specifically medical tourism, are using electronic word of mouth to connect with others who have experience in this form of travel. This research explores how potential medical tourists actively engage in information-seeking through the social media platform Reddit. Analysis of original posts showed that when seeking information from experienced medical tourists, potential medical tourists provided reasoning and context for wanting to travel to seek medical services and also directly sought advice and recommendations. Implications for trust in online environments as well as the importance of electronic word of mouth regarding medical tourism on Reddit are discussed as well as casting medical tourists as active agents in future research.