(1) Background: Chinese physicians have encountered serious physical and verbal attacks in recent decades due to poor patient−physician relationships, leading to a broad spectrum of negative consequences. This study aims to assess the status of intergroup threats perceived by physicians and explore its association with organizational psychology, behavior, and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2) Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey with physicians from November to December 2020 in three provinces: Heilongjiang Province, Henan Province, and Zhejiang Province, in China. A total of 604 physicians were recruited to complete an anonymous questionnaire. There were 423 valid questionnaires. (3) Results: We developed a 25-item intergroup threat scale with four dimensions: interest damage, performance impairment, value derogation, and unjust sentiment. Internal consistency reliability analyses showed that the four dimensions and overall scale exhibited high internal consistency (0.756−0.947). Additionally, the average scores for physicians’ perceived overall intergroup threat, interest damage, performance impairment, value derogation, and unjust sentiment were 4.35 ± 0.51, 4.24 ± 0.73, 4.33 ± 0.58, 4.22 ± 0.65, and 4.53 ± 0.55, respectively. Moreover, this study shows that the intergroup threats perceived positively by physicians were associated with psychological stress (β = 0.270, p < 0.01), emotional exhaustion (β = 0.351, p < 0.01), turnover intention (β = 0.268, p < 0.01), and defensive medical behavior (β = 0.224, p < 0.01), and were negatively associated with job satisfaction (β = −0.194, p < 0.01) and subjective well-being (β = −0.245, p < 0.01). (4) Conclusions: The newly developed scale in this study is a reliable tool for measuring intergroup threats perceived by Chinese physicians. Physicians in China were suffering high-level intergroup threats during the anti-COVID-19 pandemic, which has a significant impact on damage to organizational psychology, behavior, and well-being. Intergroup threats perceived by physicians not only enlarged the risk of emotional exhaustion and psychological stress but also threatened organizational well-being. Moreover, greater intergroup threats were associated with a lower job satisfaction, more frequent defensive medical behavior, and a higher turnover intention for physicians. The results of this study suggest that essential intervention and governance measures should be considered to protect physicians’ well-being and benefits in China, which are urgently needed.
Keywords: Chinese physicians; defensive medical behavior; emotional exhaustion; intergroup threats; job satisfaction; psychological stress; turnover intention.