消費者價值共破壞行為與群體規範之關聯研究: 以台灣醫療服務產業為例

Drawing upon Social Norms Theory, this study contends that individual actor's value destruction behavior can be affected by certain misbeliefs arising from their social groups. To elaborate, for example, there is a shared belief in many Asian societies that patients 'should take medicine' and/or 'should get an injection' in order to recover from their illness. Such erroneous cognition often result in forceful actions (e.g., patients must see physicians and request for medication and injections when they are not feeling well) that create social environments that confirm the misbeliefs. Social norms refers to shared understandings about actions that are obligatory, permitted, or forbidden. These norms may develop from interaction with others; they may not be defined explicitly, and any sanctions for deviating from them come from social networks rather than legal system. Giddens (1984) emphasizes the social norms and standards driving human action as well as the ability or capacity' of actors to integrate resources and apply them for benefit. Interpersonal influences (such as peers), and the role it plays in individual decision-making around behaviors, is the primary focus of social norms theory. Interpersonal influences are affected more by perceived norms (what we view as typical or standard in a group) rather than on the actual norm (the real beliefs and actions of the group). The gap between perceived and actual is a misperception, and this forms the foundation for the social norms approach. More extremely, interpersonal influences can also foster bizarre views of reality if the shared beliefs of the reference group with which one affiliates are peculiar and the group is encapsulated from outside social ties and influences. However, to the best of our knowledge, scant research has investigated social norms and its relation to system actors’ value co-destruction behavior in healthcare service context. Investigating the role of social norms in relation to system actors' value co-destruction behaviors from the perspective of patients and their social network, as well as healthcare practitioners allows us to build a holistic understanding regarding how and why system actors value destruction behavior is occurred. While investigating value co-creation activities from a multiparty view point is recommended, exploring the range of value co-destruction activities consciously or unconsciously undertaken by the various others in the actor’s social network as well as the other actors' (for this study, physicians and nurses) is a logical next step. This allows researchers to examine activities performed across system actors' social networks and whether the activities would harm other system actor’s and the overall service system's well-being. The aim of understanding social norms and its relation to medical system actors' value co-destruction is expected to benefit the design of healthcare policies and marketing strategy because it may effectively decrease the misuse of medical resources and improve healthcare service quality that will ultimately promote the well-being of the system (including patients, healthcare practitioners and the overall healthcare system).This study proposes an overarching research question of this study: How do social norms influence value co-destruction in healthcare services?