Pharmacy Entrepreneurial Orientation: Antecedents and Its Effect on the Provision of Innovative Pharmacy Services

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to describe the construction and subsequent evaluation of a multi-dimensional measure of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of community pharmacies, to identify antecedents to the pharmacy's EO (PHARMEO), and to assess the relationship between levels of EO and the provision of new innovative services by the pharmacies. A mail survey of a random sample of 630 community pharmacies in United States was conducted. A response rate of 38% was achieved. Using the second order confirmatory factor analysis, an 18 item measure of EO was found to have six dimensions as predicted: proactiveness, innovativeness, risk taking, autonomy, competitive aggressiveness and work ethic. Four antecedents of EO were identified: environmental munificence, independent or small pharmacy chain, organicity of pharmacy structure, and the perceived adequacy of pharmacy resources. The proportion of high-EO pharmacies providing five of seven innovative pharmacy services was significantly higher than the provision of low-EO pharmacies providing the service. Those services are: specialized compounding, asthma care management, patient compliance monitoring, diabetes care management, and formal evaluation of patients' health risks. We provided evidence of reliability and validity of a measure of EO, identified four antecedents of pharmacy EO, and showed that EO is a useful indicator of whether a pharmacy will develop new pharmacy services. Pharmacy business managers and researchers are encouraged to consider EO as a key facilitator in developing new pharmacy services.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Innovation, Pharmacies, Pharmacy Services, EO, Antecedents

JEL Classification: M1, M3, M13, I1