Peer influence among physicians affects the repeated use of new prescription drugs, according to a study published in Marketing Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.
Here are five insights:
1. The study tracked prescriptions of a new drug over 17 months and measured the discussion and patient referral connections.
2. The study found that repeat prescriptions are apparently affected by physicians' peers. The authors suggest that peer influence is not only informational but can also be "normative."
3. Normative peer influence occurs when people conform to others' expectations about accepted behavior.
4. Physicians, who are central in the social network and prescribe heavily, influence others in first-time use but not their repeat use. It is the nearby colleagues who influence repeat prescriptions.
5. Physicians who do not consider themselves opinion leaders are most easily influenced about first-time use.
