DISTURBANCES WITHIN FAMILY AND SOCIETY AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE INCREASED MATERIALISTIC TENDENCIES AMONGST HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

Background: The materialistic professionalism exhibited by working doctors, pharmacists, dentists, and other practitioners is determined by analyses of family and social factors. That is why it is crucial to identify these factors in order to construct effective approaches to prevent unethical behaviours regarding the patient’s interest in favour of possible revenues. Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate how family and social factors influence the materialistic professional behaviour of Healthcare Professionals and to discover specific factors that are significant contributors to this trend so that this information could inform recommendations for improvements in healthcare practices. Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional quantitative survey, participants included 300 healthcare professionals. The quantitative data was collected through an online close ended structured questionnaire that was constructed with Likert scale questions targeting family and social aspects. The study compared ten empirically proposed hypotheses concerning possible antecedents of materialism, including exposure to parental conflict over financial issues, childhood emotional neglect, economic instability during childhood, cultural background that is based on material nature, high parental expectations of financial success, media exposure to wealth glorification, consumer culture, desire for socioeconomic status improvements, peer influence, and organizational culture. Results: The findings showed the total support of the ten hypotheses which means that there are significant relationships between materialistic professional behaviours and proposed family and social factors. The specific contribution of this research is that it brings together all these factors to explain what influences the materialistic inclinations of HC Pros systematically in an attempt to provide directions for possible appropriate strategies for promoting ethical behaviours in the healthcare sector in the future. Conclusion: This study points out the significant modulating effect of family and society on materialism in health care professionals. These findings strengthen the role of healthcare organizations and policymakers in deepening professional values, principles and ethics in order to provide the highest levels of healthcare away from greed and materialistic tendencies. KEYWORDS: Family factors, social factors, materialistic behaviours, Healthcare professionals.