The role of service environment and reputation in building initial trust in doctors

Despite being an abstract concept, trust has an important role in the continuity of the service received and satisfaction where information asymmetry is high in services such as health. Based on this argumentation, the aim of the thesis is to reveal the effect of physical factors, reputation and recommendation on initial trust in health services. The study was carried out in a private hospital in Kırklareli province. The data collection tool of the study is the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants; the design and social factors scale developed by Terres and Basso (2018); It consists of the first trust scale developed by Dagger et al. (2009) and the Hospital Trust Scale developed by Terres and Basso and the reputation scale developed by Gilly et al. (1998). During performing the questionnaire, two special scenarios were prepared according to high and low conditions and after the scenarios were read by the participants, they were asked to answer the questionnaire questions. As a result of the study two separate studies were designed that would be effective in the initial trust in physicians by using scenarios. Descriptive statistical methods, correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. According to the findings of the study, there is a significant relationship between design and social factors, trust in hospital and initial trust in physicians in case of high scenario. On the other hand, in the case of a low scenario, there is no significant relationship between design factors and initial trust in physicians. There is a significant effect between design factors and hospital trust in both scenario conditions, and between initial trusts in physician only in high scenario conditions. In the low-scenario situation, design factors do not have an intermediary role in the initial trust in the physician, whereas in the high-scenario situation they have a significant effect. Social factors have a direct effect on trust in hospital and first trust in physician in case of both low and high scenarios. Similarly, in both cases, trust in hospital has a mediating effect on the first effect of social factors on physician trust. According to the findings obtained from the data analysis of Study 2, there is a significant relationship between reputation, recommendation and initial trust in physicians. Reputation has a significant impact on the recommendation in low and high scenario situations. Similarly, despite the fact that reputation has a significant effect on initial trust in the physician in a low scenario situation; this effect is not significant in case of high scenario. In the case of a low scenario, the recommendation has an intermediary role in the effect of reputation on the initial trust in physician; the same effect is not seen in the high scenario case. According to the results of the study, there is no relationship between design and social factors, nominal hospital trust, trust in physician and advice in low and high scenario situations. In other words, different results occur in every scenario situation. In this case, health institutions should take into account the factors listed above according to their own conditions. However, the fact that both design and social factors are good in the provision of health services affect the first confidence that patients will have in their physician. In addition, reputation increases patients' tendency to recommend. For this reason, health institutions should focus on social factors while developing their design and factors in order to develop trust in the physician and to improve the recommendation of patients. In addition, they should pay attention to reputation to improve the hospital's recommendation.