| Abstract: | This paper investigates the Critical innovation characteristics that influence the acceptability of a new pharmaceutical product format as perceived by medical service providers. Professional service providers act as "surrogate adopters" as they decide about the adoption of a product intended for their clients' use. We employ a qualitative research approach to explore which product related characteristics physicians evaluate when assessing the acceptability of a new product format in the pharmaceutical market. The main results concern (1) the distinct nature of a distributed adoption decision-making, (2) the refinement of relevant innovation attributes in a medical service context, and (3) the contextuality of innovation adoption. The research results show that innovation characteristics cannot be feasibly studied without taking into account the adoption context, here the medical service encounter and its institutional environment. Managerial implications of these findings are discussed. |
