Medical non-­‐compliance and the competence hypothesis

According to Ellsberg (1961), people’s preferences in ambiguous choices deviate from what would be expected according to expected utility theory. The competence hypothesis by Heath and Tversky (1991) states that people prefer situations in which they feel competent and knowledgeable, despite the option being vague without known probabilities. This study tests the competence hypothesis applied to medical non-­‐compliance. A survey with 108 participants is used to answer the research question ‘Does competence in an ambiguous situation affect compliance to medical treatment?’ The main finding of this research is that competence has no significant effect on compliance to medical treatment. An interesting finding is that experience with medication and previous compliant behaviour has a positive effect on willingness to comply and feelings of competence regarding compliance decisions. Although the gained insights shed more light onto the phenomenon, the findings also emphasize the urge for more research on the competence hypothesis and ambiguous choices in the health domain.