"Very humble" vs. "Not humble": What do ratings of fictitious physician profiles with humility descriptors reveal about potential patient preferences and behaviors?

OBJECTIVES

The current study examined the impact of physician humility on future medical interactions and physician-related outcomes (e.g., patient patronage, loyalty) using a non-patient, community sample.

METHODS

Participants (N = 417) were recruited online through Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) and paid a nominal fee for their participation. They reviewed randomly assigned fictitious physician profiles that differed in humility (high, low), general effectiveness (high, low), physician gender (male, female), and specialty (family practice, orthopedic surgery). Then they reported their likelihood to trust, adhere to recommendations, and be satisfied with the physician. They also conveyed how likely they would select and recommend this physician to others, and how much out-of-pocket money they would be willing to spend to see the physician.

RESULTS

Humble physicians were rated higher than their non-humble counterparts on all five outcomes. For physicians who were generally ineffective, the physicians low in humility scored lower on intended adherence, trust, and anticipated satisfaction than the physicians high in humility. Additionally, for physicians specializing in family practice, physicians low in humility scored lower on anticipated satisfaction and out-of-pocket expenditure than the physicians high in humility.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings from this study highlight how physician humility can affect the process of care even before it begins.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The study emphasizes the need for deliberate pursuit of humility to improve outcomes for patients and physicians.