Effect of pharmaceutical companies’ corporate reputation on drug prescribing intents in Romania

Abstract

This research examines the effect of pharmaceutical companies’ (PCs’) corporate reputation on drug prescribing intents. The aim is to determine the extent to which the PCs’ corporate reputation influences general practitioners’ (GPs’) drug prescribing intents. This research is based on quantitative analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM) on data collected from a sample of 177 Romanian GPs. The PCs’ corporate reputation contributes to build and maintain trust in their products, which in turn influences the GPs’ prescribing intents. PCs need to acknowledge that corporate reputation is a multi-dimensional construct and should focus their efforts accordingly. Indeed, our study shows that GPs’ favourable perception of the PCs’ medical representatives (MRs) has a strong impact on their drug prescribing intents. An investment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) would, therefore, be conducive to increasing a PCs’ corporate reputation capital. We constructed and tested a conceptual model to explain GPs’ prescribing intents by highlighting the influential relationships between different non-pharmaceutical variables. Our conceptual model integrates marketing concepts, such as consumer behaviour, the drug prescribing intention of GPs, as well as specific public relations concepts, corporate reputation, and corporate social responsibility.