Physicians' Perceptions of Gender in Sales Reps

The primary research question for this study is as follows: Do physicians prefer male or female pharmaceutical sales representatives? Thus, the purpose of the study is to investigate the role of gender in physicians' preferences for or perceptions of pharmaceutical sales representatives and reasons for their preference.

Early studies of the relationship between physicians and pharmaceutical sales representatives demonstrated that physicians were interested in and influenced by these sales representatives due to the information and educational support they received from them. However, physicians did not view the pharmaceutical sales representative as an important part of their practice. Physicians were impressed by the amount of patients that came to the sales representative and the selling techniques that they used to solicit these patients (Andaleeb & Tallman, 1995; 1996).

More recent studies of the relationship between physicians and pharmaceutical sales representatives focused on the link between physician ratings, customer satisfaction, and profitable customer relationships (Scharitzer & Kollarits, 2000). When customers are satisfied, both the physician and the pharmaceutical company benefit. Service quality became linked to economic success criteria. Efforts to increase customer satisfaction and profits resulted in related research. In a study of 190 general practitioners from multiple districts, participants were surveye

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entatives will provide the company with a competitive advantage. Attributes listed as personal characteristics included physical attractiveness, congeniality, and similarity. Gender was listed in relation to attractiveness with the notation that studies support the notion that attractiveness is beneficial to men but this characteristic varies for women according to the job. The authors recommended that future studies investigate these factors. Methodology Survey research, a nonexperimental design will be used for this study. The survey design is a method used to gather empirical information related to an issue. For this study a Physician Perceptions of Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Survey, constructed by the researcher will be used to investigate the topic. Findings related to gender choice will be compared to those sought from a local pharmaceutical company. Subjects will include 20 male and 20 female general practitioners chosen from those who voluntarily return the research packet and qualified as physicians. All subjects will be recruited on a volunteer basis according to availability. A mailing list of all local general practitioners will be obtained from the phone book and all names from this list will

Category: Medical - P