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This study aims to investigate the combined impact of pharmaceutical marketing strategies, specifically free drug samples and interactions with medical representatives, on physicians’ attitudes and prescribing behavior in Jammu and Kashmir, India.

To achieve this objective, data were collected from a sample comprising 425 physicians. A six-point forced-choice Likert scale was used for data collection, and cluster sampling techniques were used in the study design.

The study reveals significant insights into pharmaceutical marketing’s influence on physician behavior. Free drug samples exert a positive influence on both physician attitudes and prescribing behavior. Physicians’ attitudes, in turn, significantly affect their prescribing decisions. Mediation analysis demonstrates that free drug samples indirectly influence prescribing behavior through shifts in physician attitudes. Effective medical representatives amplify this influence, as stronger associations between free drug samples and physician attitudes are observed when representatives are more effective.

This research contributes by unraveling the intricate dynamics between marketing strategies, physician attitudes and prescribing behavior in Jammu and Kashmir, India. It underscores the importance of ethical pharmaceutical marketing practices, highlighting the substantial role of free drug samples and the crucial function of effective medical representatives in shaping physician behavior. Ultimately, this study sheds light on how responsible pharmaceutical marketing and adept medical representatives can improve health-care outcomes in the region.

This study aims to identify the changes in different selling situations/styles during and post-COVID scenarios.

To attain the above-mentioned objective, a qualitative study drawn upon the principles of the theories-in-use approach is conducted. The data were collected through 23 in-depth semistructured interviews, conducted with professional salespeople working at various levels in different industries. The data thus generated was analyzed through open, axial and selective coding, which resulted in three broad categories of changes in professional selling.

The findings of the study suggest that though sales jobs are perceived to be similar in nature, but there are differences in how various selling jobs are being performed. The same is the case with the effect of the pandemic on sales jobs. The authors found that every selling style faced a different challenge due to the pandemic and so is the case for the salespeople engaged in the respective selling practice.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research of its kind that has focused on the differences in various selling styles. Though the recent academic literature on personal selling does manifest the effect of the pandemic. But, in doing so, these studies have presented “personal selling” as an overarching concept encompassing all types of selling and have failed to differentiate between the various nuances of personal selling which include trade selling, technical selling, new-business selling and missionary selling.

To explain how technology will replace a great deal of human labor in knowledge markets using a theory of reasoned action applied to demand and theories of procedural rationality, cost structure and system dynamics applied to supply.

Two illustrative scenarios are presented. The first is a third-party Best Treatments site, and its effect on the expert advice pharmaceutical representatives provide doctors. The second scenario is an online higher education business course module with embedded AI.

Both scenarios demonstrate the advantages of online expertise and teaching platforms over the in-person alternative in variable and marginal cost, ease and convenience of use, quality conformance, scalability, knowledge reach and depth and most importantly, speed of evolutionary adaptability. Despite such overwhelming advantages, a number of reasons why the substitution might be slowed are presented, and some strategies firms might adopt are discussed. Opportunities for service scholars to confirm, challenge and extend the conclusions are presented throughout the paper.

Increasing cost structure and adaptability advantages of online technology and AI over in-person delivery of expertise and training services are demonstrated. It is also demonstrated that the innovation-imitation cycle is accelerating because of exogenous innovation in knowledge access and online influence networks and an endogenous effect where imitators accelerate their innovation that drives innovators to accelerate their innovation, which drives imitators to further accelerate their imitation.

The direct selling model adopted in the beauty and cosmetics industry puts female consumer entrepreneurs at the heart of the business model. A neglected phenomenon in female entrepreneurship, this study aims to focus on female sales agents’ capabilities that are linked to sales performance and examine which capabilities might be shaped and enhanced through coaching and training in an emerging economy context.

Survey data were generated from a sample of 249 female sales agents who agreed to participate in a coaching and training programme run by a focal firm. Data were collected in two phases to investigate the capabilities linked to sales performance pre-intervention and the impact of coaching and training on the relationships between the capabilities and sales performance post-intervention. The time-lag data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

For female sales agents, self-efficacy and sales experience have a significant positive effect on adaptive sales performance both before and after the coaching and training intervention. In contrast, intellectual capital and self-motivation had a non-significant relationship with sales performance before the intervention. However, after the intervention, the relationship between these variables became positive and significant.

The study demonstrates the effects of pre- and post-coaching and training on female consumer entrepreneurs’ capabilities and the links to sales performance. These findings add critical empirical knowledge on how female consumer entrepreneurship may be developed and the role of entrepreneurship for female empowerment in the Asian context. Collectively, the findings bring to the fore the female sphere in consumer entrepreneurship research in emerging economies.

This paper aims to explore the current trends in corruption and investigate the characteristics of corporate gift policies and their role in preventing bribery.

This is a descriptive study based on primary data from a recent sample of Canadian companies’ codes of conduct and secondary data from recent corruption surveys published by non-governmental organisations.

This study shows that 25% of all private and public corruption cases generate financial damages of more than US$1m per case and that 50% of all investigated fraud cases are corruption cases (ACFE, 2022). Furthermore, the Western Europe and EU region is perceived as least corrupt, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa is perceived as the most corrupt region (Transparency International, 2022). However, bribery is fairly common in nine EU countries where 10% or more of public service users bribed public officials to influence their decisions (Transparency International, 2021). Results from primary data show that 9.3% of firms put a total ban on gifts given to governmental officials, whereas 35.2% require a superior’s approval and only 5.5% state a dollar limit for the gift. Results also show that not a single firm prohibits the giving of gifts to non-governmental stakeholders or the receiving of gifts from any type of stakeholder. This paper argues that gifts can bias the recipient’s judgement and improperly influence future business decisions based on the gift’s subjective value, nature and context.

This paper extends previous research by examining the characteristics of corporate gift policies. It also helps organisations improve their gift policies in an effort to reduce corruption.

It is the first paper to investigate the characteristics of corporate gift policies and their role in preventing corruption.

This paper aims to evaluate the effect of commitment misperception on channel conflict. It highlights the importance of trust and transaction-specific investments for business marketing strategies.

This paper develops a concept framework to understand how the direction (overestimated vs underestimated) and extent of commitment misperception influence channel conflict. The model is tested using dyadic data from 212 distributors and manufacturers across several industries in China.

The results show that the direction of commitment misperception affects trust, transaction-specific investments and channel conflict. Overestimated commitment induces positive illusion and enhances trust and transaction-specific investments and reduces channel conflict, whereas underestimated commitment induces negative illusion and reduces trust and transaction-specific investments and enhances channel conflict. Trust and transaction-specific investments mediate the impact of the direction of commitment misperception on channel conflict. The extent of commitment misperception plays the moderating influence on the direction of commitment misperception.

This study reveals the mechanisms and boundary conditions by exploring the mediating influence of trust and transaction-specific investments and the moderating effects of the extent of commitment misperception.

This study aims to investigate the direct effect of the behavior-based sales control system on job outcomes: salesperson’s performance and turnover intentions. The current study also intends to integrate these two streams by conceptualizing work engagement as a mediating variable between behavior-based sales control systems and salespersons’ job outcomes in the pharmaceutical sales context.

Data was collected through multi-stage stratified random sampling from a sample of 619 salespersons working in 20 pharmaceutical firms (multinational and national) through self-administered questionnaires.

The structural equation model yielded results indicating that the behavior-based sales control system was positively related to salespersons’ work engagement and negatively to turnover intentions while the relationship between the behavior-based sales control system and salespersons’ job outcomes was mediated by work engagement.

Two relatively separate lines of investigation have appeared in academic literature. The first line centered on sales force control systems and salespersons’ related consequences, whereas the second line of investigation emphasizes work engagement and its consequences. Although both lines are important, a diminutive research effort has been made to join these two different lines of investigation in sales management, specifically, in the pharmaceutical context. Focusing on this, the current research explores the role of an unexplored construct of work engagement in a pharmaceutical sales context. Second, it addresses the need to identify additional mediating variables to clarify the inconsistent relationship between sales control systems and job outcomes, such as job performance and turnover intentions.

Numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms have undergone considerable changes and adapted to the challenge of developing sustainable products and services. However, few studies have explored the factors that contribute to the success of external innovation and value co-creation strategies adopted by biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms. The purpose of this study is to examine how biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries use value co-creation strategies to obtain external resources.

This study developed a conceptual framework based on the relevant literature. The study applied a resource-based approach, dynamic capability theory and a qualitative multiple-case study design to investigate several research questions; semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from 11 biotechnology/pharmaceutical firms in Taiwan, and the data extracted from the interview content were axially coded.

This study revealed that factors such as dynamic marketing capabilities and process optimization contributed to the success of the aforementioned strategies; several propositions were also developed on the basis of the literature review and coded data, thereby providing insights regarding the relative efficacy and propriety of various external innovation and value co-creation strategies and models in various situations and contexts. Firms and technology providers might enter a technology licensing agreement, establish a joint venture company; participate in a merger/acquisition depending on their size, research and development capabilities; or goals and time- and cost-related factors.

The main original contributions of this study are the proposed conceptual framework and the insights provided regarding the relative efficacy and propriety of different external innovation and value co-creation strategies and models in different situations and contexts.

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to determine if pharmaceutical companies can be grouped based on their espoused values, and second, to examine the relationship between these values and company reputation.

A descriptive study design is used with two separate analyses: cluster analysis for grouping the companies; and descriptive data analysis for determining cluster differences.

The findings suggest that there are three value clusters: competent, community and interpersonal, with the community group showing the highest relative reputation, and the interpersonal cluster as the lowest. Brand portfolio composition appears to positively contribute to reputation. The effect of portfolio specialization is based on a company’s closeness to its therapeutic community, which may be influenced by the outward characteristics of its values.

Future research should examine the longitudinal effects of values on reputation combined with case studies.

Regardless of cluster classification, all firms should develop strong ties with their therapeutic communities using both personal and digital/omnichannel strategies.

A company’s values are becoming an important consideration for all customers and stakeholders.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematically examine the activities of leading pharmaceutical firms to link a specific value cluster to company reputation.

Online learning becomes a trendy format for workplace training, particularly during the pandemic. This study aims to examine the effects of a technology-assisted self-adaptive training camp on employees’ learning process and acquired knowledge, and the relationship between employees’ knowledge gained and organisational growth.

The participants were 213 pharmaceutical representatives from a global pharmaceutical business in the Asia-Pacific branch who enrolled in a 21-day professional training camp. Their knowledge gained was calculated by pre-tests and post-test scores captured from an online training system. The company’s profits gained by employees were indicated by individuals’ quarter-over-quarter growth rates. Specifically, the authors applied a series of quantitative analyses to examine the relationship between employees’ knowledge gained, learning quality and organizational growth brought by individuals.

During the online training session, employees obtained increased professional knowledge significantly. The quality of employees’ learning process was a significant predictor of their learning outcomes. In addition, a positive correlation was found between the knowledge obtained by employees and the company’s quarterly growth rates. A followed-up regression analysis indicated that the greater knowledge improvement an individual achieved, the higher quarter-to-quarter growth rate brought by the individual to the organization.

The study provides educational insights for organisations to effectively train employees’ professional competency through online learning. The investigation on the 21-day camp shows that employees received higher-quality training, resulting in increased revenues and greater workplace flexibility. The findings have implications for supporting the integration of educational technology into workplace training to boost the competency development of employees.