To collaborate or not-to-collaborate? Behavioral-antecedents and mediating role of intraprofessional collaborative behavior on performance of community pharmacists: A modeling study

ABSTRACT

Extensive research exists on collaborative behavior between healthcare professionals with different skill sets (interprofessional collaboration). However, research is scarce and evolving on collaborative behavior among members of the same profession (intraprofessional collaboration), community pharmacists in particular. Based on the theory of reasoned action, a hypothetical structural model was developed to evaluate the impact of behavioral antecedents: competitive behavior (CB), knowledge-sharing behavior (KSB), and customer-focused behavior (CFB), and the mediating effects of collaborative behavior (CTB) on work performance (WP) of community pharmacists in southwestern Nigeria. We used a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey of randomly selected community pharmacists (N = 646). Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses. The model had an acceptable fit and data quality. The model showed that CB, KSB, and CFB exert a significant direct influence on CTB. Only CFB significantly influenced WP compared to other antecedents and CTB. The absence of mediating effects of CTB suggests a gap in intraprofessional practice with implications for interprofessional collaboration and performance among community pharmacists. We conclude from our results that overall work performance is enhanced when community pharmacists encourage and adopt a collaborative culture. This culture strengthens the benefits of shared experiential knowledge, focus on patients’ welfare, and healthy competition.

KEYWORDS:

• Community pharmacist
• interprofessional collaboration
• intraprofessional collaboration
• knowledge sharing
• structural equation modeling
• theory of reasoned action

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Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Theophilus Oamen

Theophilus Ehidiamen Oamen, BPharm, MPharm, MBA, MPhil, FPCPharm, is a Ph.D. candidate at Texila American University. He is highly proficient in the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques in empirical research. His research interests are- pharmacoeconomics, pharmaceutical marketing, and pharmacy management. He has published in high-impact journals such as the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, Journal of Economics and Management, and African Journal of Health Economics among others.