" INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF PHYSICIAN PERSONALITY TRAITS ON DRUG PRESCRIPTION BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

Purpose: Our research investigated how physicians’ personality traits influence and interplay with other factors guiding their prescribing and medical decisions in a branded generics market like India.

Design/methodology/approach: Our research is based on a conceptual framework and survey questionnaire developed from an extensive literature review on independent variables. Along with the other independent variables like Physician’s professional factors, Product-related factors, and product promotion factors, for physician’s personality traits as a factor, the survey questionnaire was integrated with HOGAN’s MVPI Questions, which were exposed to 171 respiratory physicians for recording their responses. Statistical methods or tools like descriptive personality, and inferential statistics from the latest SPSS 21 version have been  employed

Findings: Our findings showed that respiratory physician’s product prescribing decisions were significantly influenced by their specific personality traits such as Altruistic traits, Security traits, and Commerce traits apart from other factors such as Physician’s professional and pharmaceutical Product-related factors.

Practical implications: The findings highlight the critical necessity for a thorough recording of physicians' prescribing practices, which are significantly influenced by their distinct personality traits. Healthcare authorities must prioritize the regular assessment of physicians' psychological well-being and overall health. This proactive approach enables physicians to promptly address any health issues in cases of burnout, thereby ensuring the continuous delivery of high-quality patient care. With the government making it, mandatory for all pharmaceutical organizations to follow the uniform product promotion code (UPPC) while promoting products to physicians, marketers need to strategically allocate optimal resources and outreach efforts with tailor-made marketing mix elements that are aligned with the preferences and personality traits of physicians, aimed towards enhancing their clinical knowledge, followed by the development of continuous patient initiatives aiming to improve their awareness, can lead to the development of belief with two-way communication among them leading to better treatment adherence and compliance from patients end. Such dedicated efforts initiated by the marketers, in the long term can cultivate trust and empathy between physicians and patients, laying the robust groundwork for patient-centered disease management. This can enable the development of goodwill or a better perception of pharmaceutical organizational promotional efforts by physicians, which is one of the aims of getting physician’s prescriptions for the promoted product.