Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Conference Track
Service Marketing/ Non-Profit Marketing/ Ethics
Publication Date
2016
Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between consumers’ information search and service satisfaction, specifically focused on the search for mental health professionals. The selection of a mental health provider is of interest because practitioners work from a highly diverse set of theoretical bases, may hold a wide range of different credentials and provide drastically different therapeutic approaches, therefore making the selection complex and difficult for consumers to self-navigate. Data sampling from patients of mental health suggest that consumers selecting a provider based on self-performed searches, rather than receiving external input (referrals from physicians, relatives, or friends), report lower satisfaction with their mental health provider. The results reveal the importance of understanding the consumer search, particularly the use of the internet as a search tool.
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
Digital Commons@Georgia Southern License
Recommended Citation
Larson, Lindsay R.L. and Bock, Dora E., "Seeking Complex Health Services in the Age of Self-referral" (2016). Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2016. 19.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/amtp-proceedings_2016/19
About the Authors
Dr. Lindsay R.L. Larson serves as Assistant Professor of Marketing for Georgia Southern University’s College of Business. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in Social Psychology, and a post-doctoral certificate in Marketing from the University of Florida’s Hough Graduate School of Business.
Dr. Dora E. Bock serves as Assistant Professor of Marketing for Auburn University’s Harbert College of Business. She received her Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in Marketing.