Influence of Influencers: Pharmaceutical Marketing Mix Instruments Impact on Prescribing Behavior

Abstract

The significance of healthcare drugs and healthcare consultants prescription decision`s in individual`s lives is broadly considered. The healthcare producer and healthcare consultant perform a major role in the dissemination of healthcare quality and superior disease treatment outcomes. Though, the evidence related to the influence of healthcare producer marketing upon the decision making tendency of healthcare consultant is inconclusive. The major objective of this study is to enhance the know-how about the influence of the marketing mix upon the healthcare consultant’s prescription decision making who serve as influencers upon their patients. This major objective is accomplished by conducting the thesis project. The thesis include a systematic review of the literature that point out the marketing factors, context and theoretical knowledge having an influence upon the healthcare consultant prescription decision making. The systematic review of literature describes two major categories about the influencing factors. The initial one is the contextual factors which signal to the combination of conditions or information relevant to a specific occurrence or a given case. The next one refers to the tools and techniques offered by the pharmaceutical firms in form of their marketing mix strategy to influence and persuade healthcare consultants to make prescription decisions in favor of their company offerings during their clinical practices. Although, the current literature presents enough data about the influence of marketing mix upon the prescription decision making of healthcare consultants but all such studies have been conducted in the context of developed countries where the situation is totally changed as compared to the developing countries like Pakistan to the best of the author knowledge. The study in hands elaborates in depth analysis about the newly emerging interdisciplinary specialization of pharmaceutical marketing under the umbrella of health and life sciences marketing. The author investigated the influence of the pharmaceutical marketing mix instruments upon the prescription behavior of the 600 healthcare consultants serving in different public and private major teaching institutions of the north region in KhyberPakhtoonkhwa along with their respective district head quarters hospitals situated in the same region, through survey based questionnaires. Regression model was used. Results of the study confirm a significant and positive influence of the pharmaceutical marketing mix instruments upon the healthcare consultant prescription decision making. The study in hands is a contribution to the knowledge in the following perspectives. First, this study is a novel categorization of the pharmaceutical marketing mix instruments having an impact upon the healthcare prescription decision making (in Pakistan) particularly in the north region, which provides a new knowledge of the relationship between the different dimensions of marketing mix instruments and prescription behaviors. Second, the systemic review of literature uncovers the contexts and procedures which influence healthcare consultant prescription behavior. Third, the study investigated different marketing mix instruments that enable a healthcare consultant to prescribe a pharmaceutical drug. Besides, the study discovers the pharmaceutical industry promotional practices perception in the healthcare market. The research conducted justifies a base for the need of launching a new interdisciplinary specialization in pharmaceutical marketing at academia to well understand the complex nature of different marketing factors influencing the influencers. Further, the study is an attempt to bridge the pharmaceutical industry with academia to develop literature in Pakistan pharmaceutical marketing, which is the unfulfilled gap so far. Finally, this study makes a significant contribution to the Pakistan pharmaceutical industry, to take into account the most influential factors as a catalyst to achieve their marketing mix instrumental effectiveness and efficiency for achieving organizational objectives.