Understanding how attitudes affect physician compliance with legal behavioral constraints

The following study investigates how physicians in one state (Illinois) attitudinally cope with a recent law mandating physician behaviors. Specifically, this study focuses on OB/GYN physician compliance with The Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act (Public Law 92-156, 2002), which requires hospitals in the state of Illinois to have an approved plan for treating sexual assault survivors. What makes this research setting interesting are the potential linkages between the legal mandate, physician attitudes, and the ongoing controversy concerning abortion. The results of a census of OB/GYN physicians within the state suggest (1) this physician group is largely supportive of the letter and spirit of this law, (2) the emerging attitude models such as Perugini and Bagozzi's (2001) MGB model explaining the formation of behavioral intentions must be treated with caution when generalizing to situations mandating legal behaviors, and (3) moderating influences such as attitude strength and religiosity have no apparent effect in how attitudes relate to physician motivation to comply with such laws. The managerial and research implications of the reported study are presented and discussed.