PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Dimitar Yordanov
AU  - Anne Sophie Oxholm
AU  - Dorte Gyrd-Hansen
AU  - Line Bjørnskov Pedersen
TI  - Mapping general practitioners’ motivation: It is not all about the money. A nation-wide cross-sectional survey study from Denmark
AID  - 10.3399/BJGP.2022.0563
DP  - 2023 May 22
TA  - British Journal of General Practice
PG  - BJGP.2022.0563
4099  - http://bjgp.org/content/early/2023/05/23/BJGP.2022.0563.short
4100  - http://bjgp.org/content/early/2023/05/23/BJGP.2022.0563.full
AB  - Background: Understanding physicians’ motivation may be essential for policymakers if they are to design policies that cater to physicians’ wellbeing, continuation in the job, and quality of care. However, physicians’ motivation remains an understudied area. Aim: This study maps general practitioners’ (GPs’) work motivation. Design and Setting: Using data from a survey sent to all Danish GPs in 2019, we measure four types of work motivation: extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, user orientation, and public service motivation. We combine these measures of motivation with register data on GP, practice, and area characteristics. Methods: Using latent profile analysis, we explore heterogeneity in GPs’ motivation. We estimate the associations between GPs’ motivation and GP, practice, and area characteristics using linear regression analyses. Results: We reveal substantial heterogeneity in GPs’ motivations. We identify five classes of GPs with different work motivations. Class 1 (class probability of 53.2%) ‘it is less about the money’, class 2 (26.5%) ‘it is about everything’, class 3 (8.6%) ‘it is about helping others’, class 4 (8.2%) ‘it is about the work’, and class 5 (3.5%) ‘it is about the money and the patient’. Linear regression analyses show that motivation is only to a limited extent associated with GP, practice, and area characteristics. Conclusion: GPs differ in their work motivations. Our finding that ‘it is not all about the money’ for many GPs indicate that GPs’ different motivations should be considered when designing new policies and organisational structures to retain GPs and ensure a high quality of care.