Occupational Values, Role Orientations, and Work Settings: the Case of Pharmacy

Abstract

The theoretical model positing that the occupational institution of business is based on pecuniary and extrinsic values while professions are predicated on altruistic service values is tested using the case of pharmacy. Pharmacists with business‐role orientations are compared with those favoring a professional‐role stance in terms of their occupational values. Results contrary to the model were found. Pharmacists, regardless of role orientation, were similarly motivated by service and income values. When the work setting was taken into account, it was found that altruism predominated in the business settings, and prestige and income values were deemed less important as compared to the hospital/clinic setting. Revisions of the theoretical model are suggested.

Giving “Best Advice”: Proposing a Framework of Community Pharmacist Professional Judgement Formation

“…When forming a professional judgement, the community pharmacist seeks to produce a final choice where the output can be an action or an opinion of choice that has the highest probability of success or effectiveness, and best fits with the values and preferences of the decision maker [3]. The more acute the dilemma presented to the pharmacist, such as where an immediate response is required and opportunity to consult with other care-givers is not an option, the higher the degree of uncertainty regarding potential action options.…”

Pharmacy Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism: A Review of the Literature

“…Business is traditionally seen as apt for those focused on financial gains, whereas service professions are seen as apt for those valuing altruism and service to others. Moreover, business and service professions are seen as competitive and in a direct conflict [9]. Authorities themselves have looked at pharmacists as professionals in some contexts while "reducing them to a mercantile level" in others [10].…”

“…The opposition between the two has been concentrated by E.C. Hughes (1958) in two short Latin phrases: caveat emptor (let the buyer-by extension, consumer-beware) and credat emptor (let the buyer trust) [9].…”

“…The community pharmacy (owned and operated by one or several pharmacists or large chains of pharmacies) is the setting where the business side of the profession is mostly visible and the inherent conflict between the two sides is manifest, because both pharmacy owners and employees have business-oriented responsibilities (procuring, dispensing/selling a variety of goods, managing staff) and enjoy pecuniary rewards considerably more than in other settings (especially more than in a hospital pharmacy) [9]. This may partially explain why hospital pharmacists seem to be less involved in ethical transgressions than those activating in community settings (in Australia, 1.6% of the pharmacists sanctioned for violations of professional ethics were working in hospitals and 97% in community settings) [26].…”

“…Although ideally ethics should outweigh business, the scarce data available till now indicate that the reverse often does happen, although the regulatory framework, culture, economic environment in which pharmacy is immersed and so on have an important role. Older research into the inherent conflict between the service and business sides of the profession and the service and commercial values reported that pharmacists for whom the business dimension of their occupation was more important than the professional one had a higher likelihood of violating the law regulating the professional activity, a finding related to the probable placing of their own interest ahead of the interests of their patients [9].…”