Promotion of Prescription Drugs and Its Impact on Physician's Choice Behavior

Purpose: Aims to determine the most effective promotional tools putatively influencing physicians’ prescription behavior by examining five commonly-used promotional tools: sales promotions; advertising; public relations; direct marketing; and personal selling. Specifically aims to evaluate which medical practitioners’ demographic factors influence the relationship between the various promotional tools and physicians’ prescription behavior. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional research design is proposed, based on the stimulusorganism- response (S-O-R) paradigm, in which the data is to be collected through questionnaires completed by physicians in Sudan, using a five-point Likert scale. Structural equation modeling, using AMOS statistical software, is proposed to analyze the data. Findings: A detailed literature review reveals that most previous research has largely ignored demographic factors when studying the effectiveness of the promotional tools used by pharmaceutical companies. Therefore, a novel methodology is proposed to incorporate these factors into future research. Practical implications: The anticipated results will help pharmaceutical companies formulate better strategies regarding the use of promotional tools to maximize their investment. Originality/value: Inadequate knowledge of factors and tools that are likely to influence the sale of drugs negatively affects the success of the company and its market share. Undertaking the current study, and using the same methodology in other regions, especially developing countries, will add to the current literature on pharmaceutical marketing. Unlike most previous research, the methodology proposed in this paper includes demographic factors that influence the effectiveness of these promotional tools.