Navigational characteristics effectiveness of pharmaceutical web sites on consumer behavior and pre-purchase intentions

Despite recent success by companies using the Internet to deal with their customers, one of the major remaining problems concerns understanding navigation on the Web and its relationship with Internet marketing. We study the factors that can affect customers' pre-purchase intentions by surveying visitors to a real pharmaceutical web site. More specifically, this study analyzes the behavior of consumers when they are confronted with Internet advertising (navigational characteristics). The model of flow designed by Hoffmann and Novak and previous findings and theories about several relevant affective, cognitive, and conative variables are taken into account to propose our model of consumers' pre-purchase intentions. Our findings suggest that navigational characteristics, skills, challenges, and optimum stimulation level positively and directly influence consumers' exploratory behavior when they visit the pharmaceutical web site. Surfers' involvement has a positive link with their pre-purchase intentions, optimum stimulation level, and attitudes toward the web site. Exploratory behavior has a positive relationship with attitudes toward the web site, whereas, need for cognition negatively influences customers' challenges and attitudes toward the web site. The impact of demographic variables such as gender, age and education on these affective, personality and behavioral variables is also investigated. Future research directions and limitations of this research are fully examined and discussed