Towards a Psychophysiological Investigation of Perceived Trustworthiness and Risk in Online Pharmacies: Results of a Pre-study

Nissen, Anika; Ersöz, Semra

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-88900-5_2

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The study was designed as a within-subjects research and divided into 3 parts. In the first task, participants were asked to use the 2 prior selected online pharmacies, Apotal and DocMorris [ 59 ] . The online pharmacies were selected based on their different risk and trust ratings in a preliminary study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Risk, Trust, and Emotion in Online Pharmacy Medication Purchases: Multimethod Approach Incorporating Customer Self-Reports, Facial Expressions, and Neural Activation

Ersöz,

Nissen,

Schütte

2023

JMIR Form Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Online pharmacies are used less than other e-commerce sites in Germany. Shopping behavior does not correspond to consumption behavior, as online purchases are predominantly made for over-the-counter (OTC) medications. Objective The objective of this study was to understand the purchasing experiences of online pharmacy customers in terms of critical factors for online pharmacy adoption. Methods This study examined the perceived risk, perceived trust, and emotions related to purchasing medications online and, consequently, the purchase intention toward online pharmacies. In a within-subjects design (N=37 participants), 2 German online pharmacies with different perceptions of risk and trust were investigated for their main business, namely OTC and prescription drugs. The results of a preliminary study led to 1 online pharmacy with high and 1 with significantly low self-reported risk by the prestudy sample. Emotions were measured with a multimethod approach during and after the purchase situation as follows: (1) neural evaluation processes using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, (2) the automated direct motor response during the use of the online pharmacy via facial expression analysis (FaceReader), and (3) subjective evaluations through self-reports. Following the shopping experiences at both pharmacies for both product types, risk, trust, and purchase intention toward the pharmacies were assessed using self-assessments. Results The 2 online pharmacies were rated differently in terms of risk, trust, emotions, and purchase intention. The high-risk pharmacy was also perceived as having lower trust and vice versa. Significantly stronger negative emotional expressions on customers’ faces and different neural activations in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex were measured when purchasing prescription drugs from the high-risk pharmacy than from the low-risk pharmacy, combined with OTC medications. In line with this, customers’ self-ratings indicated higher negative emotions for the high-risk pharmacy and lower negative emotions for the low-risk pharmacy. Moreover, the ratings showed lower purchase intention for the high-risk pharmacy. Conclusions Using multimethod measurements, we showed that the preceding neural activation and subsequent verbal evaluation of online pharmacies are reflected in the customers’ immediate emotional facial expressions. High-risk online pharmacies and prescription drugs lead to stronger negative emotional facial expressions and trigger neural evaluation processes that imply perceived loss. Low-risk online pharmacies and OTC medications lead to weaker negative emotional facial expressions and trigger neural evaluation processes that signify certainty and perceived reward. The results may provide an explanation for why OTC medications are purchased online more frequently than prescription medications.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This procedure continued until each question was asked for each screenshot. To ensure validity, the included scales in this study, except PANAS, were also used and validated in our preliminary study [ 59 ] .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk, Trust, and Emotion in Online Pharmacy Medication Purchases: Multimethod Approach Incorporating Customer Self-Reports, Facial Expressions, and Neural Activation

Ersöz,

Nissen,

Schütte

2023

JMIR Form Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Impact of Risk Perception on Use and Satisfaction with Online Pharmacies and Proposed Use of IoT to Minimize Risks

Gensapa,

Mukherjee,

Kumar Saha

et al. 2024

2024 8th International Conference on I-Smac (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-Smac)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Risk, Trust, and Emotion in Online Pharmacy Medication Purchases: Multimethod Approach Incorporating Customer Self-Reports, Facial Expressions, and Neural Activation (Preprint)

Ersöz¹,

Nissen²,

Schütte³

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND While e-commerce is well established in several markets, adoption of online pharmacies has been slow. One reason for this could be that customers perceive risks when buying medicines online. The perception of risk may be due to the type of product (over-the-counter or prescription drug), but also to the website of the online pharmacy. Website acceptance is significantly influenced by risk and trust perceptions, and the effects of emotions on risky decisions form the basis for behavioral intentions toward onine pharmacies. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to understand the purchasing experiences of online pharmacy customers in terms of critical factors for online pharmacy adoption. This study examines the emotions, perceived risk, and perceived trust of purchasing medications online and, consequently, purchase intention toward the online pharmacy. METHODS In a within-subjects design (37 participants), two German online pharmacies with different perceptions of risk and trust for the main business of pharmacies, namely over-the-counter and prescription drugs, are investigated. Emotions are measured with a multi-method approach during and after the purchase situation as follows: 1) the neural evaluation processes using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), 2) the automated direct motor response during the use of the online pharmacy using facial expression analysis (FaceReader), and 3) the subjective evaluations through self-reports. RESULTS The online pharmacy with the higher perceived risk and lower perceived trust scored higher for negative emotions in the self-reports on emotions. The intention to shop at this pharmacy is also significantly lower. Purchasing prescription medication in the higher risk pharmacy resulted in significantly stronger negative emotional expressions on the customers' faces, and neural activation in the vmPFC; both of which may relate to perceived loss. CONCLUSIONS A higher perceived risk is reflected in the customer's face as a significant negative emotional reaction. Through multi-method measurements, we were able to show that the preceding neural activation and subsequent verbal evaluation of online pharmacies are reflected in the immediate emotional facial expression. When purchasing from the riskier online pharmacy for prescription drugs, the strongest negative emotions are measured on the customers' faces. Especially for prescription products, online pharmacies need to reduce the perception of risk, e.g., through trust-building design elements on the website, in order to increase the purchase intention. CLINICALTRIAL University of Duisburg-Essen (21-9995-BO).

show abstract

Towards a Psychophysiological Investigation of Perceived Trustworthiness and Risk in Online Pharmacies: Results of a Pre-study

Cited by 3 publications

References 36 publications

Risk, Trust, and Emotion in Online Pharmacy Medication Purchases: Multimethod Approach Incorporating Customer Self-Reports, Facial Expressions, and Neural Activation

Risk, Trust, and Emotion in Online Pharmacy Medication Purchases: Multimethod Approach Incorporating Customer Self-Reports, Facial Expressions, and Neural Activation

Impact of Risk Perception on Use and Satisfaction with Online Pharmacies and Proposed Use of IoT to Minimize Risks

Risk, Trust, and Emotion in Online Pharmacy Medication Purchases: Multimethod Approach Incorporating Customer Self-Reports, Facial Expressions, and Neural Activation (Preprint)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About