Effect of Patients’ Attitude on their Satisfaction and Switching Intention in Generic Medicine Industry: An Empirical Analysis in India

Abstract

People are now more health-conscious to live safe and hazard-free lives in modern society. If people are affected by any disease, choosing doctor services and medicines involves many complex decisions. Generic drugs seem to be a significant and well-known source of competition for labelled drugs, but they can likewise be a major idea for lowering costs in the pharmaceutical industry. This might result in savings for either the government or the patients. Given this perspective, it is critical to understand a patient's preferences amongst both drug kinds (brand and generics) as well as to discover what are the attitudes of patients on those and whether this impacts the actual behaviour and purchases in future because of their satisfaction levels. In this context, this paper is an early effort to investigate patients' attitudes and their effect on their level of satisfaction and switching intention in the pharmaceutical industry (i.e., generic and brand choices). Responses were collected from 537 patients residing in different cities of Odisha state of India by survey method and analysis. In line with the study's results, patient satisfaction and switching intentions were positively affected by their attitude. In addition to patient pleasure, introducing generic drugs creates competition, which is necessary for originator businesses to innovate. Because of their lower costs and the competition, they foster, generic medications contribute to constructing a more sustainable healthcare system. *(The paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Embracing Change & Transformation Innovation and Creativity 26-28 May 2022)