Assessing physician/patient relationships in the presence of HIV/AIDS: an exploratory study

The following study investigates the nature of the relationship between physicians and HIV/AIDS patients within the context of the rapidly evolving services/relationship marketing literatures. The emerging evidence suggests that service providers generally play a critical role in the development of positive consumer attitudes and behaviors, and that relationship marketing practices can contribute to the delivery of health services. However, to date, there appears little evidence supporting the efficacy of employing relationship marketing practices in relation to a target market of HIV/AIDS patients. This exploratory study contributes to the body of knowledge by more closely investigating the nature of the patient-physician relationship relative to HIV/AIDS patients' attitudes, marketing-related behaviors, and overall quality-of-life/life satisfaction judgments. The results of this study first suggest that HIV/AIDS patients use the expectancy disconfirmation model when evaluating the performance of their physician. A reliance on expectancy disconfirmation suggests the likely prevalent role of service quality perceptions and satisfaction judgments in evaluating their relationship with their physician. Second, the results appear to support the conclusion that the patient's evaluation of their physician relationship and subsequent behaviors (e.g., word-of-mouth) are directly related to the patient's general perception of received health services. Thus, the patient/physician relationship may play a particularly powerful role in determining patient (marketing related) outcomes relative to other health service settings. Third, a direct influence is supported between negative affective reactions by patients and subsequent outcome behaviors. This finding lends support for the potential efficacy of service recovery efforts when rendering treatment to HIV/AIDS patients. Finally, evidence is presented demonstrating the effect of positive perceptions of the patient/provider relationship on these patients' overall evaluation of their quality-of-life/life satisfaction. The managerial and research implications of this study are presented and discussed.