“Does Organizational Culture Influence the Ethical Behavior in the Pharmaceutical Industry?”

Abstract

Study of ethical behavior among medical representatives in the profession is an under-portrayed component that deserves further perusal in the pharmaceutical industry. The purpose of this study is to find out the influence of organizational culture on ethical behavior of medical representatives. Medical representatives working for both domestic and multinational companies constitutes the sample (n=300). Data is collected using a simple random and cluster sampling through a structured questionnaire. The research design is hypothesis testing. It is a cross-sectional and correlational study, conducted under non-contrived settings. Chi-square tests were shows that there is an association between the organizational culture and ethical behavior of medical representatives. In addition, the strength of the association is measured which report to Cramer’s V of 63.1% and Phi Value of 2.749. Results indicate that multinational company medical reps are more ethical compared to domestic company medical representatives vast difference in both variance and in t test results. Through better organizational culture, pharmaceutical companies can create the most desirable behavior among their employees. Authors conclude that apart from organizational culture, the study of additional organizational, individual and external factors are imperative for better understanding of ethical behavior of medical representatives in the pharmaceutical industry in India.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (688.5 KB).