Do patient perceptions vary with ownership status? : a study of nonprofit, for-profit and public hospital patients

Recent research indicates that consumers associate nonprofit organizations mainly with the trait “warmth”, whereas for-profit organizations are perceived as being “competent”. Trustworthiness is another dimension of consumer perceptions of nonprofit organizations. This article attempts to combine two strands of research: Aaker, Vohs, and Mogilner’s research on perceptions of warmth and competence and Handy et al.’s and Schlesinger, Mitchell, and Gray’s research on individuals’ perceptions of trustworthiness in nonprofits. Our study indicates that “warmth,” “trustworthiness,” and “competence” are distinct dimensions of patient perceptions of hospitals