Abstract:
The objectives of this study were 1) to study the behavior of consumers when they were choosing Thai massage services in Pathum Thani, 2) to study the relationship between personal factors and the consumers behavior when choosing Thai massage services in Pathum Thani, and 3) to study the relationship between the factors of the service marketing mix and the consumers behavior when choosing Thai massage services in Pathum Thani. The population used in this research consisted of consumers who used Thai massage services in 15 Thai massage parlors which had been certified and registered with the Provincial Public Health Office in Pathum Thani province. As the total population using massage services was unknown, the researcher used a formula to calculate the size of the population. Hence, a sample size of 385 was obtained. The tool used to collect the data was questionnaires. The statistics used to analyze the data were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Chi-squared test.The results revealed that: (1. Most consumers chose foot massages. The reason for using massage services was to alleviate pain and ache symptoms. Most of the consumers made the decision to use Thai massage services by themselves. Most of the consumers used massage services on Saturdays and Sundays between 16.00 - 19.59. They learnt about the location of the Thai massage parlors from billboards. The analysis of the service marketing mix showed that overall, the services offered were satisfactory. When considering each aspect individually, it was found that the majority of the users placed most of the emphasis on the products and the services. (2. The results of the analysis of the relationship between the personal factors and the consumers behavior when choosing Thai massage services in Pathum Thani was positive at the significance level of 0.05. (3. The results of the analysis of the relationship between the service marketing mix and the consumers behavior when choosing Thai massage services in Pathum Thani revealed that the factors of the service marketing mix, people, process of service and physical environment, were related. The factors affecting the choice to use Thai massage services were: person involved in the decision making to use the services, duration of the Thai massage service and the frequency of use. They were significant at the 0.05 level.