Job Effort Moderates Associations Between Knowledge Sharing by Chronic Disease Physicians and Patient Health...

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Medical Education
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Physician knowledge sharing is crucial for patient education and chronic disease management.
• The theory of planned behavior (TPB) provides a framework to understand factors influencing physician behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how physicians' attitudes, norms, and control affect knowledge-sharing intentions and behaviors.
• To investigate the association between physician knowledge sharing and patient health literacy in Chinese public hospitals.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional survey of 607 physicians across 39 public hospitals in China.
• Utilized structural equation modeling to analyze relationships between TPB constructs, knowledge sharing, and patient health literacy.
• Assessed physician attitudes, norms, control, intention, behavior, perceived patient health literacy, and job effort.

Main Results:

• Physicians' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control positively predicted knowledge-sharing intentions.
• Behavioral intention mediated the link between perceived behavioral control and actual knowledge-sharing behavior.
• Actual knowledge-sharing behavior positively correlated with perceived patient health literacy, but this association was weakened by high job effort.

Conclusions:

• Supportive organizational environments are essential to enhance physician motivation and capacity for knowledge sharing.
• Reducing excessive job effort may optimize the positive impact of physician knowledge sharing on patient health literacy.
• Findings have implications for hospital management, workforce policies, and chronic disease care delivery.