Inter-Disciplinary Research Agenda on Inter-Cultural Service Systems Wendy Casper John D. Lee Celia McKoy John Ruggiero Jingyun Zhang

Disciplines Represented M anagement/Industrial-organizational psychology E conomics H uman factors and cognitive engineering M arketing

The Framework

Culture Expectations Evaluations Reactions Technology You-The Customer The Service Provider/ Employees Other Customers

The Healthcare Industry - An Example Why healthcare? High consequence domain Cost, quality of life… Goods vs. service continuum Patient vs. provider continuum Emotional valence Confronting the core cultural values of people End of life, mental health, reproductive health… Culture introduces the potential mismatch of expectations

Research Questions Key questions: In today’s diverse, inter- cultural settings, how do we a) Reduce cost, improve healthcare provider performance and enhance patient experience? b) Enhance patient compliance with medical advice (e.g., diet for diabetics) in order to foster positive health outcomes?

Healthcare Background: previous research indicates that patient-provider demographic similarity relates to better outcomes Our questions: Why? What underlying cultural factors account for this relationship? How does demographic and cultural similarity with other patients enhance this relationship? How can technology mediate or enhance the patient-to- patient experience (and patients’ overall experience)? To what degree should the technology be tuned to the individual’s culture?

You-The Patient The Healthcare Provider Other Patients Similarity (cultural distance) Technology

Similarity- is it good or bad? “Maybe yes / Maybe no” Will similarity between the patient and the care provider lead to better patient experience and positive behavioral outcomes (e.g., Positive WOM, customer voluntary behavior, customer citizenship behavior) ? Similarity-attraction paradigm (rapport, comfort, trust...)  “Similarity-pressure paradigm”? (unreasonable expectations, disappointment, distrust… “loss is more than the gain”- prospect theory?)

Similarity- is it good or bad? Will similarity between the patient and other patients lead to better patient experience and positive behavioral outcomes? Similarity attraction  Mismatched expectations, negative patient-to-patient interactions How can healthcare providers manage or facilitate positive patient-to-patient interactions to enhance experience? How can we use technology to better manage such an experience? Patient-to-patient communication: support groups, s, online discussion forums etc.

Why Do We Need a Multi-Disciplinary Team? Economics (econometrics) Cognitive modeling: Lens model (proximal-distal etc.): Management: focus on the employee or the care giver point of view Marketing: focus on the customers’ point of view “When mathematical modeling meets business application”

J II I IV III Judgment Task Sample Survey Formal Theory Computer Simulation Field Study Field Experiment Lab Experiment Experimental Simulation RELEVANCE GENERALIZABILITY RIGOR

Methodological Approaches Qualitative research Individual Interviews Observational research Quantitative research Experimental studies Written scenarios Videos Simulations Surveys Multi-methods approach