Halos and Egos: Rankings and Interspecialty Deference in Multispecialty U.S. Hospitals

Jerry W. Kim ()
Additional contact information
Jerry W. Kim: Rutgers Business School, Newark, New Jersey 07102

Management Science, 2020, vol. 66, issue 5, 2248-2268

Abstract: This paper examines how media rankings shift patterns of collaboration and deference between professional groups within organizations. Diversified and multidisciplinary organizations such as universities and hospitals often face distinct subunit evaluations that can influence coordination on interdependent tasks. Using patient-level treatment data for more than five million in-patient stays, I find that changes in the “best hospitals” rankings do not meaningfully shift treatment patterns by physicians in hospitals. However, when specialties were ranked in the top echelons (i.e., top 10) or had high categorical prestige, they were less likely to involve other specialties (i.e., ego effect) and had a higher chance of performing procedures on patients admitted in other specialties (i.e., halo effect). These effects were mostly confined to minor (i.e., less invasive) procedures, implying that the impact of external rankings on patient outcomes is relatively benign.

Keywords: status; organizational studies; hospitals; rankings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3300 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:66:y:2020:i:5:p:2248-2268

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().