This study aimed to examine the relationship between customer orientation and job performance of employees belong to pharmaceutical companies developing new drugs. In such companies, two types of customers were assumed as the main customers: physicians as purchasers and patients as end-users. Therefore, we evaluated effects of pharmaceutical employees' customer orientation towards physicians and those of patients on job performance.In addition, focusing on the Model of Proactive Motivation Process, the mediating effect of proactive behavior was examined. Analysis of employees in pharmaceutical companies developing new drugs (n=905) showed that both customer orientation towards physicians and that of patients had positive effects on proactive behavior, but the effect was greater for customer orientation towards patients. In addition, the effect on job performance mediated by proactive behavior was found only for customer orientation towards patients. This suggests that the effects on the outcome variables differ depending on the target of customer orientation and in the aspects of the effect on job performance, it is important to increase customer orientation towards patients.

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To elucidate the motives and mechanism of mentoring behavior by mentors with experience as mentees, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 individuals in private enterprises. Qualitative data were classified according to self-determination theory to visualize the process by which mentoring experiences intrinsically motivate to provide mentoring behavior for others, with reference to the Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA). The motives to provide mentoring behavior based on mentoring experiences were classified into three categories: one's own needs, pay-it-forward, and awareness of human resource development. Taking into consideration of the social exchange theory, mentoring behavior was provided to mentee as a “pay-it-forward” of benefits obtained through mentoring experience, with a social exchange relationship between “oneself” and “organization,” based on awareness of contribution to the organization. Also, using the self-determination theory, “pay-back” to mentor was explained by contributions to growth of the organization via providing mentoring behavior as human resource development, based on internalization of mentor's intention to enhance the organization.

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