Influence Factors for Family Physician Contract Services’ Motivation in China: An Empirical Analysis From Jiangsu Province

Abstract

Since the medical reform implemented by the Chinese government in 2016, more attention has been paid to family doctors and the key role they play in safeguarding citizens’ health. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the factors that affect the motivation of family doctors to provide contracted services. In this study, factors influencing the motivation of family doctors to provide contract services are divided into intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation includes family doctors’ sense of professional belonging, occupational motivation, and occupational efficacy, while extrinsic motivation includes the attraction, support, and promotion of contract services, as well as pressure from government and community health service institutions. And the environment in which family doctors operate during their contracted services. The questionnaire was designed with a sample size of 536 family doctors in Jiangsu Province using logical reasoning method. Stata16 software is used for empirical analysis using linear regression method. The empirical analysis is conducted using the linear regression method. A family physician’s motivation is categorized into two perspectives: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Significant findings unveiled that; (i) Family physicians’ sense of professional belonging ( β = .026, p < .01), professional motivation ( β = .076, p < .05), and professional efficacy ( β = .148, p < .01) had a significant positive on their contract services, (ii) Promotion ( β = .085, p < .01), the attractiveness of family physicians’ contract services ( β = .092, p < .01) and contract service support ( β = .137, p < .01) showed a positive effect, whereas (iii) intense pressure ( β = −.079, p < .01) experienced by family physicians could negatively affect their contract services. Among the intrinsic and external factors, only intense pressure negatively affects family physician contracted services. This finding indicates that decision-makers should adopt feedback mechanisms at the various health levels to encourage workers to measure motivational levels and output themselves.