Public Perception on Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices in India — An Exploratory Study

Pharmaceutical marketing practices are primarily designed to address the needs of healthcare practitioners in promoting good health. However, this focus has led to information asymmetry between the public (stakeholders) and the pharmaceutical industry, resulting in both positive and negative perceptions of pharmaceutical marketing practices among the Indian public. A Systematic review of literature (SLR), applying the TCCM (Theory, Characteristics, Context, Method) framework, bibliometric analysis, and science mapping using VOSviewer, was conducted to review four decades of existing literature (1980-2021) to identify knowledge gaps and areas for further research on public perception of pharmaceutical marketing practices in India. Using an inductive approach guided by conventional grounded theory and theoretical sampling, data collected from the public were analyzed using descriptive statistics to arrive at findings and conclusions. A public perception model, based on the Machiavellian concept, is proposed using PLS-SEM with a random sample from the collected primary data (survey). This study may help regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical industry assess and remodel their marketing practices according to the prevailing perceptions of the public, the largest stakeholders in the pharmaceutical business.