Sector Theory, Stratification, and Health Policy: Foreign and U.S. Medical Graduates in Medical Practice.

From interorganization and sector theory, we hypothesize that the flow of personnel into and out of organizations is patterned according to prestige hierarchies. The prestige of personnel inputs will be associated positively with the prestige of the organizations into which they enter, and the prestige of these organizations' personnel outputs will be associated positively with the prestige of the characteristics of the social environment entered. The model is tested using longitudinal data on foreign- and U.S.-educated physicians and the characteristics of their U.S. training hospitals. Generally congruent with the theory, the findings and their implications for health policy and organization theory are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]