Psychological determinants of financial preparedness for retirement.

PURPOSE: Economists predict that in the coming decades an unprecedented number of American baby boomers will enter retirement lacking adequate resources. The present investigation was designed to examine the factors that influence individuals' financial preparedness for retirement. DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 230 participants each completed a multifaceted questionnaire on their own personal retirement planning practices. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to examine the relationships among individuals' personality characteristics, their financial knowledge, and financial preparedness. RESULTS: The adopted structural model revealed that both personality constructs and financial knowledge were significant predictors of pre-retirement planning. IMPLICATIONS: The findings from this study have important implications for how educational and marketing efforts should be developed for individuals who are differentially prone toward saving.

Who really wants health-care choice?

An experiment was conducted to examine the impact of patients' freedom to choose a physician and health locus of control on patient satisfaction. The experiment was set within the scenario of a patient suffering from a lengthy viral infection after visiting a health clinic for the first time. All constructs with corresponding measurements are discussed and their relationships with satisfaction are examined. Hypotheses are developed and tested for each relationship using pencil and paper scenarios of a patient's service encounter at a health clinic. A 2 x 2 full factorial between subjects experimental design was used with 99 subjects. Results of the experiment indicated different patterns of satisfaction among subjects based on measures of health locus of control (HLC). Individuals with an internal HLC were more satisfied with having a choice of a physician than not having a choice and were also more satisfied than external HLC individuals who had a choice. In contrast, individuals with an external HLC did not discriminate between having or not having the opportunity to choose a physician.

Managed health care: a concept not understood by rural Oklahomans.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to find out what people in rural Oklahoma know and understand about managed care. METHODS: A fourteen-statement survey instrument was developed. A panel of managed care professionals were asked to participate to provide a "standard" to compare the responses of the general public. The survey was administered to the general public in five rural communities and to recipients of the Oklahoma AHEC Newsletter. RESULTS: Overall, the panel tended to agree and created an industry profile useful in comparison to the responses of the general public: (1) 55-65% of the respondents answered I Don't Know or Neither Agree nor Disagree to statements using the term "managed care" and only 15-20% of the public respondents answered I Don't Know to statements not including the term, "managed care." (2) 25-30% of the general public answered in accordance with the managed care panel. (3) Over 50% of the public respondents Agreed that changes are necessary in the health sector. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this survey suggest that rural Oklahomans are uninformed about the concept of managed care and need to become better informed.

Waiting in the emergency room: how to improve patient satisfaction.

The authors conducted a field experiment in which emergency-room patients of a metropolitan hospital were either given or not given an expected waiting time to see a physician. Patients were then surveyed through the mail on their satisfaction and perceptions of service quality. The results revealed that satisfaction levels were higher when patients believed that they had received information on expected waiting time. Regression analysis revealed that service quality dimensions of trust, responsiveness, and staff service were significant predictors of patient satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction was independently influenced by whether patients' prior timeliness expectations were confirmed. The authors discuss the results in terms of the concept that the situational context of the service may influence the quality dimensions that most affect consumer satisfaction.