Impact of Product Promotional Factor on Specialist Physicians’ Perception and their Prescribing Decision: A Study of the Branded Generics Market in India

Purpose: Our study investigates how product promotion affects specialist physicians’ prescribing behavior in India’s branded generic market. Design/Methodology/Approach: Derived from literature, our survey questions covered marketing mix and promotional factors, administered to 171 respiratory specialists using convenience sampling. Our analysis consists of both Qualitative and Quantitative. Descriptive statistics has been performed with mean, SD for measuring the central tendency and variation of the data was analysed. After which, inferential statistical analysis was performed for determining the factors by factor analysis, testing correlation followed by model testing, level of significance followed by hypothesis testing using regression analysis by SPSS 21 version. Findings of Research: Our research study showed that product promotional activities positively influenced physicians’ perceptions and did not statistically significantly influence their prescribing decisions. Our study is original for considering specialists’ personalities amidst other factors when assessing prescription decisions, offering insights for enhancing pharmaceutical marketing strategies. Practical Implications: Our findings underscore the importance of influencing physicians’ perception and prescribing behavior through pull strategies in pharmaceutical marketing, emphasizing effective promotional factors and marketing mix elements that can differentiate brands leading to increased brand prescription among physicians. This highlights the need for a shift from traditional push strategies to enhance brand image and competitiveness. Originality/Value: Our study also considers the influence of specialist physicians’ personalities on prescribing behavior, amidst other factors, during the decision-making process.