Efficacy Expectations and Adherence: Evidence of Consumer Biases and Heuristics in Pharmaceutical Marketing - Innovation and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry - page 310

Chapter 11
Effi cacy Expectations and Adherence:
Evidence of Consumer Biases and Heuristics
in Pharmaceutical Marketing
Veronika Ilyuk , Caglar Irmak , Thomas Kramer , and Lauren Block
Abstract Pharmaceutical non-adherence is a major issue in both the United States
and worldwide. In fact, lack of medication adherence has been called “America's
other drug problem.” It is estimated that globally only about 50 % of patients take
their medicines as prescribed, and in the United States the annual cost of poor adher-
ence has been estimated to be approximately $177 billion. In this chapter, we cull
from the vast body of work in consumer behavior those theories of consumer pro-
cessing that are directly relevant to this behavioral problem. Although many factors
infl uence (non)adherence to medicines, we focus our chapter on perceived effi cacy
since a consumer's perception of poor product effi cacy is one of the primary reasons
for non-adherence with a particular medicine and a major cause of brand switching.
We identify the biases, heuristics, and lay theories consumers use to infer and judge
pharmaceutical product effi cacy at two primary stages of the evaluation process: pre-
consumption effi cacy expectations that drive initial adherence and post-consumption
effi cacy judgments that drive continued adherence. For example, consumers employ
a no-pain-no-gain rule of thumb when judging product effi cacy such that products
with stronger side effects or bad taste are judged more effective than those without.
Given the detrimental consequences of non-adherence in terms of health risks to
consumers and losses for the pharmaceutical industry in general, we suggest that
efforts to enhance effi cacy perceptions are key in creating value for all constituents
in the pharmaceutical marketing chain—from manufacturers to end users.
V. Ilyuk ( * ) ￿ L. Block
Baruch College, City University of New York, One Bernard Baruch Way, New York, NY 10010
e-mail: [e-mail]; [e-mail]
C. Irmak
Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, 310 Herty Drive, Athens, GA 30602
e-mail: [e-mail]
T. Kramer
University of South Carolina, 1705 College Street, Columbia, SC 29208
e-mail: [e-mail]