Perceived Risks and Pharmacists' Generic Substitution Behavior

There is substantial potential for consumer savings through increased use of generic drugs. A major reason they have not been realized is pharmacists' reluctance to dispense generic products for prescriptions written for brand name drugs. The purposes of this study were to determine whether pharmacists' perceptions of the risks associated with generic substitution were related to their substitution behavior and to determine which aspects of risk were most influential. Rating scales were developed to measure the importance and probability of five types of risks which pharmacists might incur. An overall perceived‐risk score was calculated. Substitution behavior was measured. Regression analysis indicated that risk perceptions were significantly related to substitution behavior for those pharmacists who helped decide which generic products were stocked in the pharmacy. Examination of mean scores indicated that pharmacists were most concerned with performance risks.