Patterns of psychological type among health care executives

The results described in this article represent a first comprehensive description of the psychological types of health care executives. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), an instrument that assesses an individual's psychological preferences along extraversion/introversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving dimensions, was administered to a nationwide sample of active American College of Healthcare Executives affiliated Fellows, Members, and Nominees. The psychological preferences among these affiliates are described and compared to general business management norms. Similar to what is observed in the general business sector, the most frequently occurring psychological type seen among health executives was thinking-judging. Unlike their general business counterparts, health care executives were observed to be significantly more thinking and less feeling in their psychological orientation. Health care executives working in for-profit settings revealed a greater preference for intuition than those in not-for-profit settings, who indicated a preference for sensing. Further examinations are made by membership status and gender.