Innowacje społeczne w turystyce zdrowotnej — wstęp do badań
Social Innovations in the Health Tourism — Introduction to the Research

Summary/Abstract: Health tourism is an increasingly developing subsector of tourism. In order to meet the consumer requirements, entities providing health tourism services introduce innovations, such as: product, process, organizational, marketing, and social innovations. The implementation of social innovations is a diagnosed research problem. The aim of the research investigations is to diagnose the forms and scope of social innovations occurring in health tourism. Two research hypotheses were formulated: H1 — social innovations are the most rare form of innovation in spa tourism, H2 — social innovations mainly have a regional/local scope. The survey method (tools — CAWI and PAPI questionnaires) was used. The empirical research covered 461 entities providing health tourism services in Poland. The group of services includes: aesthetic medicine, medical, spa and wellness and SPA services. The main result of the research and contribution to the theory of innovation is the qualitative and quantitative diagnosis of social innovations introduced by entities providing health tourism services. The next result is showing good example of the innovations discussed (casestudy), which is a contribution to management science. The results of the research may constitute recommendations for practitioners — service provider of the services examined, showing examples of introducing social innovations.

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