Antecedents of Symmetry in Physicians’ Prescription Behavior: Evidence from SEM-based Multivariate Approach

Attitude towards pharmaceutical promotional tools and its influence on physicians’ prescribing behaviour in Sudan

Purpose

Due to the proliferation of generic medicines, pharmaceutical marketing has become increasingly competitive, and marketing executives are now focusing their attention on understanding the prescribing behaviour of physicians to enable them to devise marketing strategies that would put them at a superior business position relative to their competitors. Previous studies carried out either lack a sound theoretical foundation, or report contrasting results, making generalizations sketchy. Thus, a better understanding of attitude-prescribing axiom is needed. Underpinned by the theory of reasoned action (TRA), this study aims to empirically examine the factors that predict the prescribing behaviour of physicians.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual model was developed and tested on a sample of 355 respondents drawn from 76 private and 50 public hospitals in Sudan. The data set from the questionnaire survey included both general practitioners (N = 200) and specialists (N = 155). Primary data gathered were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

The findings reveal that the prescribing behaviour of physicians is positively influenced by the physician’s attitude towards direct marketing, personal selling, educational travel and public relations, but negatively influenced by gifts. Besides, the moderating effect of subjective norms showed no significant influence on the relationship between attitude and prescribing behaviour. However, gender seems to moderate the attitude towards health sector-related charity on prescribing behaviour and the attitude towards scientific conferences on prescribing behaviour.

Research limitations/implications

The findings gathered from this study offers a significant contribution to the ongoing debate on the essential factors that influence the prescribing behaviour of physicians in the hospital setting.

Originality/value

By examining the essential factors that predict physicians’ prescribing behaviour, pharmaceutical companies can improve their understanding of physicians’ attitudes towards the pharmaceutical promotional tools. This is an aspect that is ill reflected in the literature.

The Dynamic Evolution Law of Coal Mine Workers’ Behavior Risk Based on Game Theory

In the safety production system of coal mining enterprises, the income of workers affects the evolution of group behavior and then affects risky behaviors. Due to the nonlinearity and chaos of group behavior, its evolution is long and complex. This study investigated the dynamic evolution process of coal miners’ group behavior to explore the law of group safety behavior and effectively promoted the safety of group behavior. First, a questionnaire survey was conducted on the influencing factors of coal mine workers’ group safety behavior. Then, based on the results of the questionnaire, the coefficients of the influencing factors were obtained, and the game model was established. Finally, the game income was simulated and analyzed. The results showed that the income of workers was positively correlated with the safety of group behavior. Safety performance could effectively improve the level of group safety behavior. The safety management system of coal mining enterprises was further improved and expanded and was applied. The statistical analysis of the violations showed that the results of this study could be used to influence the risky group behavior of coal mine workers and improve the level of coal mine safety production.

The Mediating Role of Organizational Reputation and Trust in the Intention to Use Wearable Health Devices: Cross-Country Study

Background

The use of consumer wearable health devices for fitness tracking has seen an upward trend across the globe. Previous studies have shown that trust is an important factor in the adoption and use of new technologies. However, little is known about the influence of organizational reputation and trust on the intention to use wearable health devices.

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of organizational reputation and trust in the intention to use wearable health devices and to examine the extent to which the country of residence influenced the effect of organizational reputation on consumers’ trust in and intention to use wearable health devices.

Methods

We conducted a cross-country survey with participants from Kenya and South Africa using a Google Forms questionnaire derived from previously validated items. A series of mediation regression analyses were carried out using the PROCESS macro with the bootstrap CI procedure. A one-way, between-group multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was also used to determine the key factors that distinguish Kenyans and South Africans in their intention to use wearable health devices.

Results

A total of 232 questionnaire responses were collected. The results revealed that organizational reputation significantly mediates the relationship between trust propensity and trust, with an indirect effect of 0.22 (95% CI 0.143-0.309). Organizational reputation also plays a significant direct role in the intention to use a wearable health device, with a direct effect of 0.32 (95% CI 0.175-0.483). This role is regardless of participants’ country of residence. Furthermore, there is a significant mediating effect of trust on the relationship between trust propensity and the intention to use a wearable health device, with an indirect effect of 0.26 (95% CI 0.172-0.349); between perceived security and the intention to use a wearable health device, with an indirect effect of 0.36 (95% CI 0.255-0.461); and between perceived privacy and the intention to use a wearable health device, with an indirect effect of 0.42 (95% CI 0.282-0.557). The MANOVA test shows statistically significant differences in all variables for both groups, with the exception of organizational reputation where there is no significant difference between the two cohorts.

Conclusions

Organizational reputation has a significant direct influence on participants’ trust in and the intention to use a wearable health device irrespective of their country of residence. Even in the presence of perceived security and perceived privacy, trust has a significant mediating effect on the intention to use a wearable health device.

Evolutionary Game Research on Symmetry of Workers’ Behavior in Coal Mine Enterprises

Statistics show that humans’ unsafe behaviors are the main cause of accidents. Because of the asymmetry of game benefits between managers and coal miners, the stability of workers’ behaviors is affected and unsafe behaviors are produced. In this paper, the symmetry of the behavior benefits of coal mine workers is studied, using game theory. In order to observe the dynamic game evolution process of behavioral stability, the paper establishes a system dynamics (SD) model and simulates it. The SD simulation results show that with the continuation of the game, when the benefits for safety managers and workers are asymmetric and the safety manager’s safety inspection benefits are less than the non-inspection benefits, the manager may not conduct safety inspections, which poses a great hidden danger to safety production. Through dynamic incentives to regulate the symmetry of income of coal mine safety managers and coal mine workers, the purpose of enhancing the stability of safety behavior is achieved. The research results of the paper have been successfully applied to coal mine enterprises.