Influence of the Corporate Image of Nursing Homes on the Loyalty of Residents’ Family Members

This study analyzes the influence of the corporate image of nursing homes on the decisions made by family members as to whether their elderly relatives will stay in the same nursing home. An empirical study was conducted considering 566 residents’ family members with the capacity to decide whether said residents will remain in the same nursing home, using a binary regression model with a logistic link function (i.e., logit). For the first time in the nursing home sector, these results show the specific variables of the corporate image that influence family members when deciding whether their elders will stay in the same nursing home. In order of importance, these variables are the level of trust conveyed by the nursing home, the investment made in the facilities, price-quality ratio, emotional connection to the nursing home, and the promotion of the nursing home’s services. The study also highlights the importance of other personal factors in family members’ decisions to keep their elders in the same nursing home, such as the family members’ employment situations (higher loyalty among those employed by third parties) and the determining factors involved in the relative’s choice of nursing home (higher loyalty among those whose choice was mainly based on humane and dignified treatment). This study offers a discussion of the theoretical contributions this research brings to academia as well as managerial implications for the industry. We believe that one future line of research should be continued after the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end to compare the results and observe whether the most influential variables on family members’ loyalty remain the same as data for this study was collected from November 2019 to February 2020.