Research on the Relationship Between Consumer Characteristics and Perceived Trust of Online Drug Shopping

The relationship between the consumers’ characteristics and their perceived trust of online drugs purchase is investigated based on the theory of consumer perceived trust. Through the collection and analysis of the online questionnaires adapted from the scales of the perceived trust and the demographic factors, we analysis the impacts of the five features of consumers on the nine components of perceived trust of online drugs purchase. The results indicate that the needs for the most components of the perceived trust have significant differences between the different genders. The needs for a few components of perceived trust have significant differences between the different levels of the consumers’ family income and education. The safety of the drugs, the security of the websites, the authenticity of the information on the websites, and the efficacies of the drugs are the most important resources for the consumers to establish perceived trust from online drugs purchase.