Cognitive bias in salespersons in specialty drug selling of pharmaceutical industry

Purpose - Specialty drug development is capital-intensive and represents a new era for the entire health ecosystem. This "newness" has resulted in below-par sales performance of these drugs. This paper seeks to explore the intricate relationship of product (or company), salespersons, doctors and consumers (patients) in the given scenario.Design methodology approach - The study makes use of grounded theory and total interpretive structural modeling (TISM). Grounded theory is used to explore various factors of cognitive bias in selling specialty drugs. TISM is used to create a hierarchy amongst the factors and interpret the relationships amongst them.Findings - The study proposes a cognitive bias amplification model explaining the phenomenon of cognitive bias in specialty pharmaceutical selling.Originality value - The study fills part of the significant research gap and addresses the issues in selling specialty drugs. The cognitive bias amplification model is helpful in providing the starting point for sales-centric organizations to overcome the cognitive bias affecting salespersons.