Bedside Manner Makes A Difference In How Men And Women Feel About Relationship With Their Physician

Bedside Manner Makes A Difference In How Men And Women Feel About Relationship With Their Physician

Bedside manner" does make a difference in how men and women feel about their relationship with their physician.

That's one finding from a recent exploratory study co-authored by Jerome D. Williams, associate professor of marketing in Penn State's Smeal College of Business Administration. The study, "The Role of Gender in Determining Strength and Nature of Marketing Relationships," was presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology Winter Conference. Parimal S. Bhagat of William Paterson University co-authored the paper. The conference took place February 15-17 at the Marriott Mountain Shadows Resort & Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ.

"We wanted to understand how the two genders perceive relationships in marketing, particularly service providers. In our study, we elected to study the relationship between a consumer/client and his/her physician as the service provider. Sociological literature suggests that women relate differently than men," says Williams. "Women may invest more in a relationship and will consider the context of the situation and related information while men are perceived to be more task-oriented, i.e., to be driven more by the outcomes of the relationship."

Based on an analysis of doctor-patient relationships, the researchers found that women had higher levels of relationship strength than men.

"Women tended to put more emphasize on what we defined as Intrinsic Interpersonal Commitment, or a feeling of satisfaction with the relationship based on internal rewards, as they evaluated Relationship Strength, or a desire to continue in the relationship based on the intensity of liking the physician and persistence to stay in the relationship. Women did not put much emphasis on what we defined as Structural Bonds, or task-related factors," explains Williams.

While men also felt Intrinsic Interpersonal Commitment was important in relationships, unlike women, they put a strong emphasis on Structural Bonds, says Williams.

"Our interpretation of the findings is that while both men and women are concerned about 'how' they're treated by their physician-a physician's bedside manner-- men will put a great deal more emphasis on the task aspects of the relationship compared to women," explains Williams. "Men are more 'I just want to get in, get treated, and get out!'"

Williams points out these findings can be generalized to other relationships in marketing, e.g., retail stores, car dealerships, etc., but it will require further research to see if the findings hold true in other service contexts.

The Society for Consumer Psychology fosters scientific research, development, and practice in the field, and is concerned with those aspects of individual and social psychology demonstrated by people as consumers of goods and services. The Society represents psychologists and other consumer researchers working in the fields of profit and nonprofit marketing, advertising, communications, consumer behavior, and related areas.