An Image Analysis of Area Hospitals: Austin, Texas
This paper assesses the Austin area hospitals' images as held by the individual consumer and the relationships demographic factors have with the images. Four hundred households within the Austin telephone exchange were contacted, using random digit dialing, for telephone interviews based on a pre-tested questionnaire. The survey data was analyzed using a variety of statistical techniques including a t-test, correlation, ANOVA, and discriminant analysis. The respondents rated quality of care as the most important characteristic when choosing a hospital, followed by hospital staff attitude, and their physician's opinion. The respondents also rated the images of the area hospitals lower than their image of an ideal hospital. Based on the image means, Hospital E is termed to be the market leader, although statistically no provider differentiation exists within the hospital market. All of the image characteristics have a significant influence on the choice of provider. Of the demographic characteristics, only ethnic background and insured hospital coverage have a statistically Significant influence on the choice of hospital.
hospital care, hospitals, public relations
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