Examination of the Community Pharmacists’ Intention to Pharmacist Partnership Using the Theory of Planned Behavior: A Structural Equation Model

Background: The ownership types of pharmacies are important because it plays a significant role at the services provided by pharmacists. The competitive structure of community pharmacy sector might prompt pharmacists to pay attention for business issues more than health issues. Similar to all businesses, community pharmacists must protect their profitability to continue their profession functions. In this context, partnerships are thought as a solution for taking market advantage in community pharmacy sector. Aims: The aim of this study is modeling the community pharmacists’ intention towards pharmacist partnership by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are used as estimators of the partnership intention. Methods and Material: The measurement tool was applied face to face to a random sample of 392 community pharmacists within Ankara, Turkey. Two-sample independent t-test and ANOVA are used to determine significant differences between groups. The structural equation model (SEM) is used for modeling the pharmacists’ partnership intention. Results: A response rate of 77% was achieved. Developed “Partnership Intention of Community Pharmacists (PICP)” model provided a good fit to the data and explain 66% of the variation in the community pharmacists’ partnership intention. One unit increase in the “positive attitudes towards behavior” factor leads 0.22 units increase, one unit increase in the “negative attitudes towards behavior” factor leads 0.15 units decrease, one unit increase in the “subjective norms” factor leads 0.37 increase, and one unit increase in the “perceived behavioral control” factor leads 0.21 units in the “partnership intention”. Conclusions: The present work contributes to the literature by developing a structural model for partnership intention that contains attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. The extension of the PICP model can be used in modeling the pharmacists’ behaviors toward pharmacist partnership.