Patient susceptibility to over‐trust: The case of off‐label prescribing

M. Paula Fitzgerald, Farnoush Reshadi and Matthew Sarkees

Journal of Consumer Affairs, 2022, vol. 56, issue 2, 849-875

Abstract: Consumer researchers focus on two primary constructs when studying pharmaceuticals: benefit and risk perceptions. Herein, we propose three variables that can influence how consumers view the benefit‐to‐risk profile of a drug: (1) trust in the doctor, (2) susceptibility to over‐trust and (3) perceived maverickism. We find that the more the consumer trusts a doctor, the greater the perceived benefits of an off‐label drug prescribed by that doctor. This relationship is magnified when consumers are susceptible to over‐trusting their doctor. Off‐label prescribing also increases the perception that a doctor is a maverick. We test the boundaries of these effects by considering agency breach perceptions arising from pharmaceutical firms' payments to prescribing doctors. Agency breach perceptions reduce post‐encounter doctor trust. Overall, this work suggests that trust reduces the likelihood that consumers will engage in the behaviors needed for the marketplace to correct itself.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12451

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:56:y:2022:i:2:p:849-875

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0022-0078

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Consumer Affairs is currently edited by Sharon Tennyson

More articles in Journal of Consumer Affairs from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().