The future of pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing: behavioural perspectives to innovation, adaptation, and change
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, Volume 8, Issue 1
As the International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing steps into its eighth year of publication, I am happy to report that the journal continues to fulfil and surpass its fundamental objectives:
To combine healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, as these are intrinsically linked in policy, perspectives, and operations.
To combine rigour and relevance by integrating theory and practice in its approach. While academic rigour is achieved through high quality reviewers and authors, practical relevance remains a necessary yardstick for selection of papers in the journal.
To bring together perspectives from business and science and thus contribute to society.
To foster strong multi-disciplinary and international orientation.
A glance at the journal download statistics reveals visible growth through 2013 – downloads have grown from 18,108 in 2012 to 19,238 in 2013 with a total of 1,268 users. Of the top 20 downloaded articles in 2013, 14 are from pharmaceuticals and six are from healthcare, while the top 20 downloaded articles by immediacy in the history of the journal (downloaded during the six months immediately following the month of publication) are more equally split at 50-50 between pharmaceuticals and healthcare. An analysis of the top 20 downloaded articles shows that the topics of published research such as brand personality, direct-to-consumer advertising, generics challenge, and patient satisfaction score high on practical relevance while ensuring academic rigour through advanced research methodologies. Further, just the top 20 downloaded articles of 2013 focus on a plethora of global markets from India, China and Pakistan to UK, Germany and New Zealand.
This first issue of 2014 contains five interesting articles from authors in different parts of the world that expand our understanding of the future of pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing from behavioural perspectives. The common theme of the five articles is a deeper understanding of behavioural perspectives, from pharmaceutical consumer behaviour to physician prescription behaviour to nurses organisational citizenship behaviour to clinical governance behaviour to medical tourism behaviour. Although the five articles are from different regions of the world, they all focus on the importance of behavioural perspectives to innovation, adaptation, and change in order to better understand the future in the context of pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing.
We start this issue with a research paper by Nor Azila Mohd. Noor, Sheau-Fen Yap, Kok-Hong Liew, and Edwin Rajah on a study of dietary supplement consumption and pharmaceutical marketing. Titled "Consumer attitudes toward dietary supplements consumption: implications for pharmaceutical marketing", this article investigates whether the effects of social cognition on intention to consume dietary supplements are moderated by health motivation. This study draws upon a socio-cognitive model – the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) – and uses a cross-sectional survey approach. Subjects comprised of 438 undergraduate students from six universities in Malaysia. Given strong support for the extended TPBs application to dietary supplements consumption provided by the study, it seems feasible that desirable changes in attitude, social norms, and perceptions of control might lead to corresponding changes in behavioural intention. The empirical findings, which are based on multi-group analysis, show that the strength of the relationships between informational influence, consumer attitude, and their intention to consume dietary supplements are strongly influenced by health motivation. The core contribution of the study lies in an important extension of social cognitive model by incorporating the moderating effect of health motivation. This study demonstrates the measurement validity and predictive efficacy of the proposed integrative model which can be used as a promising framework to examine other preventive health behaviours. This research also sets the ground for stakeholders in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors to improve their understanding of what drives dietary supplements consumption. Armed with this knowledge, marketers and health professionals could plan and execute their marketing strategies and health interventions more effectively.
The second article is a research paper by Payal Patel-Dovlatabadi titled "Factors associated with physicians prescribing behaviour for treatment of influenza in the US" This study aims to identify factors (i.e. age, gender, ethnicity, type of medical facility, geographical location, etc.) associated with physicians prescribing behaviour when treating influenza in the US. The study also aims to examine why the number of antiviral prescriptions remains substandard. The data is obtained from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey for each influenza season between the years of 2005-2008. Bivariate analyses and two models of multivariate logistic regression analyses (one with no fixed effect and the other including year as a fixed effect) are used to analyse the data. The results from this study reveal that among family practice physicians, 40.5 per cent prescribe antiviral medications to patients presenting with influenza while 59.5 per cent prescribe another form of medication. Antibiotics comprise 41.3 per cent of the prescriptions for treatment of influenza. Multivariable logistic regression analyses reveal that race (White; p=0.023), type of health setting (private solo/group practice; p=0.041), employment status (owner; p=0.046), and metropolitan location (metropolitan statistical area; p=0.032) are all significantly associated with prescribing antivirals. Patients expected source of payment (private insurance) and geographical location (Midwest) of health facility are marginally associated with prescribing antivirals. By identifying factors associated with physicians prescribing practices of antiviral medications, a more timely diagnosis and treatment of influenza can occur. The results of this study show that efforts should be targeted to improve physician education and awareness of the illness. Interventions may be implemented to improve the prescribing of antiviral medications and potentially inappropriate prescribing.
The third article titled "Relating patient satisfaction to nurses job satisfaction, job security, and obedience OCBs" is a research paper authored by Ali Bassam Mahmoud and William D. Reisel. In this research, the authors aim at investigating the relationships among patient satisfaction, and nurses job security, job satisfaction, and obedience OCBs within the setting of private hospitals in Damascus and Rural Damascus Governorates. A cross-sectional survey is conducted within private hospitals in Damascus and Rural Damascus Governorates on 325 nurse subjects and 393 patient subjects. Double-translation, face validation, exploratory factor analysis, and Cronbach alpha are used to validate measures used in this study with respect to the Syrian context. Afterwards, the two samples are aggregated based on hospital department. This results in 217 cases which are used to test the proposed model and revise it if required. The results indicate that job security positively influences both job satisfaction and obedience OCBs. Both job satisfaction and obedience OCBs fully mediate the relationship between job security and patient satisfaction. Obedience OCBs partially mediate the relationship between job satisfaction and patient satisfaction. The authors encourage further investigations in other service-providing settings (e.g. telecommunications) for more evidences of model validity. As practical implications, better levels of patient satisfaction could be achieved through enhancing nurses perceptions toward job security. Job satisfaction would be an important factor in keeping positive levels of patient satisfaction, especially when employment at one private hospital lacks security and stability. This research can claim to be one of the first studies to provide evidence of the full mediation that job satisfaction and obedience OCBs play in the relationship between job security and patient satisfaction. This study also demonstrates the partial mediation that obedience OCBs play between job satisfaction and patient satisfaction.
The fourth article of this issue titled "CSR-based model of clinical governance" is authored by Luu Trong Tuan and Luu Thi Bich Ngoc. Clinical governance effectiveness is built on the responsibility of clinical members towards other stakeholders inside and outside the hospital. Through the testing of hypotheses on the relationships between clinical governance and its antecedents, this study aims to corroborate that emotional intelligence is the first layer of bricks, ethics and trust the second layer, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) the third layer of the entire architecture of clinical governance. A total of 409 responses in completed form returned from self-administered structured questionnaires despatched to 705 clinical staff members were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Emotional intelligence among clinicians, as the data reveals, is the lever for ethics of care and knowledge-based or identity-based trust to thrive in hospitals, which in turn activate ethical CSR in clinical activities. Ethical CSR in clinical deeds will heighten clinical governance effectiveness in hospitals. The journey to test research hypotheses has built layer by layer of CSR-based model of clinical governance in which high concentration of emotional intelligence among clinical members in the hospital catalyses ethics of care and knowledge-based or identity-based trust, without which, CSR initiatives to cultivate ethical values cannot be successfully implemented to optimize clinical governance effectiveness in Vietnam-based hospitals.
The final paper of this issue reports a research by Anothai Ngamvichaikit and Rian Beise-Zee with the title "Communication needs of medical tourists: an exploratory study in Thailand." The purpose of this study is to contribute a conceptual model of the information and communication needs of medical tourists from Western countries to Thailand. Multi-phase semi-structured in-depth interviews and observations are conducted by the authors with 27 multi-source informants who used health care services abroad or delivered health care to foreign patients. Medical travellers are found to differ conceptually in their communication needs, compared to domestic patients. In particular, medical travellers seek autonomous decision making in health care services. The use of an informative communication model is proposed in order to facilitate interaction and the effective transfer of information with Western patients to overcome negative, underlying emotions and enable autonomous decision making by the patients. A limitation of this study is its focus on Western patients and health care practitioners in Thailand. Future research in other countries and with patients from other geographical areas could help to generalise the findings. The research has important implications for health care providers. For example, health care providers must adapt their communication to foreign patients. Fostering information sharing with Western patients by using an integrative communication model can improve foreign patient satisfaction and health outcomes. This is the first empirical study to provide insights concerning the communication needs and coping strategies of Western patients with Asian health care practitioners in developing countries.
I hope you will enjoy reading these articles. And we welcome high quality contributions from both academics and practitioners that would shape the growth of the discipline for many years to come.
Avinandan Mukherjee
