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Examining the impact of marketing techniques on the prescription behavior of physicians with ethical ideology as a moderator

Tanzeela Aqif (Department of Management Sciences, NUCES, Islamabad, Pakistan)
Sana Mumtaz (College of Business Administration, Umm Al Quwain University, Umm Al Qwain, United Arab Emirates)

International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing

ISSN: 1750-6123

Article publication date: 19 January 2023

Issue publication date: 22 March 2023

346

Abstract

Purpose

This research paper aims to investigate the impact of pharmaceutical marketing on the prescription behavior of physicians. It further examines whether the use of various promotional techniques including advertisements, sales promotions, personal selling and direct marketing by pharmaceutical companies influences the prescription behavior of doctors. Based on the increasing ethical concerns regarding the promotion of specific drugs for personal gains, the research also investigated the moderating role of ethical ideology in the above relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

To accomplish the research goals, quantitative research methods were used. Using the online questionnaire, data were collected from 93 doctors working in government and private hospitals in Pakistan, and structural equation modeling technique was used to analyze the impact of pharmaceutical marketing techniques on the prescription decisions of physicians.

Findings

The findings suggested that marketing strategies of pharmaceutical companies positively influences the prescription behavior of doctors. Further, physicians having weak ethical standards are likely to be strongly influenced by the marketing and promotional practices of companies.

Practical implications

The research is pivotal in understanding the perspective of doctors and the ethical considerations that need to be addressed while devising the marketing campaigns by pharmaceutical companies. Further, these findings provide important implications regarding the essential linkage between ethical values and the development of right marketing tools.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of the first few to empirically develop and test the role of moral values followed by physicians when they take prescription decisions. Based on the findings, future researchers are encouraged to further investigate the need of setting boundaries for pharmaceutical companies and restricting their usage regarding the promotional tactics.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Statement: This manuscript is an original work that has not been submitted to nor published anywhere else.

Conflict of interest: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Citation

Aqif, T. and Mumtaz, S. (2023), "Examining the impact of marketing techniques on the prescription behavior of physicians with ethical ideology as a moderator", International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 78-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPHM-01-2021-0009

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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