| After years of development, Internet has fully penetrated into all areas of the economy and society. And Internet is becoming the new platform, which also promote the trends for information development. The explosion of Internet usage in China has spawned a vibrant Internet Word of Mouth culture. China’s IWOM culture is adding a new element to the corporate communications mix. Its emergence is driving the imperative for companies to rethink the strategies behind their communications / public relations campaigns.Thanks to the development of Internet, patients is not only depend on the previous supplier promotion and marketing when searching for the information of commonly used drugs, but more prefer for the convenient, fast network participation. Internet is more benefit for patients to find the unique recommendations for brand/ product/ service, and understanding patients’ needs will improve the service level of hospitals and other medical institutions.In such a context, the paper aimed at investigation for IWOM influence on patient selection when choosing commonly used drugs. Firstly, the paper studies the research status for domestic IWOM. Secondly, based on classical theory of IWOM and patients’ characteristic, the paper established initial model for the influence on patients’ selection. Thirdly, a questionnaire survey was being used to collect data, and the paper validated the model with the help of statistical methods. Lastly, with the combination of current problems in patient’s selection and the conclusion of this paper, some relevant recommendations was giving to pharmaceutical manufacturers.Through the theoretical and empirical research on the effect of IWOM under Chinese cultural background, the paper extracted the factors influencing the influence of IWOM and created the influence model for the selection of patient selection. All these can not only examine the applicability of existing research in China, but also enrich the research perspective for patient selection. |
PDF Full Text Request