Artificial Intelligence in healthcare and its impact on consumer behavior

The study will explore how artificial intelligence is transforming personalized strategies within the healthcare sector and changing consumer behaviour. It will provide an overview of the evolution of AI in healthcare and its growing relevance in marketing practices. The research will focus on the dual impact of AI: while enhancing strategies in the healthcare practices, it also reshapes consumer experiences in healthcare services. The first chapter of this thesis is aimed at an exhaustive examination of the advancement of artificial intelligence within the healthcare sector, right from the inception of the industry in the early 1960s to the present day innovative applications in areas such as precision medicine, which explores genes, environment and lifestyle to diagnose various disease; robotic surgery like da Vinci systems and drug development, with an emphasis on its application in diagnosis, personalized treatment, and patient management. In addition, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on accelerating the use of artificial intelligence in technologies such as virtual assistants, chatbots and telemedicine to increase accessibility and improve medical education is also being studied. The second chapter will discuss how AI technologies are being used to create personalized marketing strategies in health care. The research will examine various tools such as predictive analytics, natural language processing, and recommendation systems in tailoring healthcare solutions to individual needs. Real-world examples, such as the use of AI by healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies, will be used to illustrate the effectiveness of personalized campaigns compared to traditional marketing approaches. The chapter will also discuss barriers to AI adoption, such as high implementation costs, data management challenges, and ethical concerns with patient data privacy. In the third chapter of this thesis, we will consider how personalized AI-enabled strategies affect consumer behavior in the healthcare sector. The study will examine patients' awareness of AI, their attitude and level of trust in the use of AI in diagnosis and treatment, as well as how AI affects patients' decision-making through in-depth interviews and the use of Gioia methodology. It will also address issues of concern to consumers: issues of algorithm transparency, data fairness and security, as well as their impact on trust in AI in the Italian healthcare system. The study will also interview doctors who have a great influence on the attitude and trust of patients towards the use of AI in treatment and diagnosis. In the subsequent will be provided recommendations what actions and strategies need to be applied in the healthcare system in line with consumer expectations and ethical considerations using artificial intelligence to increase engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty in the healthcare sector.