Do Demographic Factors Influence Physicians' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Pharmaceutical Marketing Strategies?

Abstract

Pharmaceutical companies employ a variety of marketing strategies to influence physicians' prescribing behaviour in favour of their drugs. Every year, billions of dollars are spent on such marketing strategies. However, research on the role of physicians' socio-demographic variables in pharmaceutical marketing is scarce. Thus, the study aimed to determine whether physicians' demographic characteristics influence their perceptions of the effectiveness of marketing strategies. A structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from a sample of 425 physicians. The study found that physicians' perceptions of the effectiveness of medical representatives and ads in medical journals were unaffected by their gender. Demographic variables such as age and experience significantly affected the effectiveness perceptions of physicians. However, only medical representatives were found to be significantly affected by physicians' areas of practice. According to the findings of this study, the older and more experienced the physicians are, the more they perceive marketing strategies are effective in influencing their prescribing behaviour. In addition, general physicians perceived medical representatives as more effective than specialists. This study would be a significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge and also aid pharmaceutical marketing managers in achieving their sales goals effectively.