What condition leads to an unreasonable pharmaceutical price? Impact research on the effect of medical service provision on pharmaceutical price regulation based on fuss-set QCA.

Given that the pharmaceutical market has experienced severe market failures, it is necessary that we regulate pharmaceutical prices for many countries. Toward ensuring that pharmaceutical price regulation is efficient, this study investigated the antecedents that lead to an unreasonable pharmaceutical price. Based on 33 case-study countries, this study utilized QCA to analyze the conditional configuration of unreasonable pharmaceutical prices from the perspective of medical service provision. The results showed that the causes of unreasonable pharmaceutical prices are configured by medical service provision, especially cost compensation systems and payment mechanism. This study's conclusions contribute to the research on pharmaceutical price regulation and the institution of medical service provision.

What factors determine brand communication? A hybrid brand communication model from utilitarian and hedonic perspectives.

Introduction: With the advancement of new media, brand communication has been taken into consideration by lots of firms. Apparently, customer affection plays a significant role in brand communications, though few studies have determined how the twofold of information function works in this communication mechanism. Based on this research gap and practical background, this paper proposes a hybrid model of communication comprising the utilitarian and hedonic aspects. Methods: For this study, 575 questionnaires were collected, followed by the structural equation modeling of the derived data to test the research model. Results: The results of statistical analysis show that the brand communication can be improved in terms of both utilitarian and hedonic aspects. Moreover, psychological contract and customer engagement play a chain mediation role in this mechanism. Discussion: These findings contribute to the research of brand communication mechanism in digital era. Likewise, the findings offers several practical implications to the brand management.