Managing Doctor-Patient Relationships and Turnover Intention in Chinese Hospitals with Commitment HRM: The Moderating Role of Pragmatism

A deteriorating doctor-patient relationship (DPR) and an increasing turnover of doctors are two challenges faced by Chinese public hospitals. The literature suggests that commitment human resource (HR) practices may translate into better DPR and lower turnover intention. Given that pragmatism is an important cultural value in Chinese society, this study aims to understand the extent to which pragmatism may affect the relationships among commitment HRM, DPR, and turnover intentions of doctors in China. A moderated SEM analysis with 508 samples shows that commitment HR practices are effective in improving DPR for all doctors surveyed, but its effect on turnover intention depends upon the pragmatism-level of the respondents. Specifically, pragmatism has a significant moderation effect in the paths established from commitment HR practices to DPR and turnover intention in such a way that, in the low-pragmatism sample, commitment HR practices are associated with better DPR, while DPR is associated negatively with lower turnover intention.