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Analysis of Factors that Influence OTC Purchasing Behavior

S.D. Cîrstea1, C. Moldovan-Teselios2 and A.I. Iancu3


1
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca/Electric Engineering, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2
Metro Media Transilvania, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
3
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca/Electric Engineering, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Abstract— Qxgt/vjg/eqwpvgt"*QVE+"ftwiu"ctg"vjg"ogfkekpcn" OTC are medicines that patients can use in order to
rtqfwevu" uqnf" fktgevn{" vq" c" eqpuwogt" ykvjqwv" c" rtguetkrvkqp" ameliorate a series of minor ailments, without visiting the
htqo" c" jgcnvjectg" rtqhguukqpcn" cu" eqorctgf" vq" rtguetkrvkqp" doctor. They may be issued directly from a pharmacy, do not
drugs which may be sold only to consumer’s features with a" have a special scheme of administration and do not require a
xcnkf"rtguetkrvkqp0"QVE"ncvgn{"igpgtcvgu"kpetgcukpi"tgxgpwg"kp" prescription.
vqvcn"Tqocpkcp"ftwi"octmgv0"QVE"dw{kpi"fgekukqp"ku"vtkiigtgf"
OTC are part of a group of pharmaceuticals that many
d{"c"pwodgt"qh"hcevqtu"qwv"qh"yjkej"vjg"oquv"korqtvcpv"uggo"vq"
dg<" fqevqt" ejqkeg." rtgxkqwu" qyp" gzrgtkgpeg." cfxkeg" qh" vjg" countries consider them quite safe and can be used without
rjctocekuv"cpf"vjg"kphqtocvkqp"uvcvgf"qp"vjg"rtqurgevwu0"Vjg" any intervention of a physician or licensed specialist
cpcn{uku"ycu"eqpfwevgf"nqecnn{"qp"c"ucorng"qh"546"rgqrng0"Vjg" belonging to this area. Many of them can be purchased from
uvwf{" ycpvu" vq" ugg" kh" vjgtg" ctg" ejcpigu" kp" vjg" rwtejcukpi" numerous locations, including airport shops, gas stations or
dgjcxkqt"yjgp"kpfkxkfwcnu" gxqnxg"cu" rtqhguukqpcn"rtgrctcvkqp0" grocery stores. Rules vary considerably from country to
Qpg"qh"vjg"ockp"eqpenwukqpu"qh"vjg"ctvkeng"gorjcuk|gu"vjcv"dqvj" country.
hqt"uvwfgpvu"cpf"gornq{gf"rgtuqpu"ykvj"jkijgt"gfwecvkqp." vjg" The enlargement of the range and the increased
rwtejcukpi" fgekukqp" qh" QVE" ku" fgvgtokpgf" d{" vyq" korqtvcpv" availability of non-prescription drugs has led to the creation
hcevqtu<" vjg" tgeqoogpfcvkqp" qh" gzrgtvu" *rj{ukekcpu."
of wrongly perceived ideas by consumers. Many believe that
rjctocekuvu+" cpf" vjgkt" cuuguuogpv" *rtgxkqwu" rgtuqpcn"
gzrgtkgpeg"cpf"kphqtocvkqp"uvcvgf"qp"vjg" rtqurgevwu+0"Cnuq."kv" these products can be used in any dose, anytime and by
ycu" pqvgf" vjcv" vjg" kphnwgpeg" qh" eqoogtekcn" hcevqtu" *dtcpf." anyone.
rtkeg."rtqoqvkqp+"ku"nqygt"hqt"dqvj"ecvgiqtkgu"cpcn{|gf0" OTC medications are widely viewed by medical
professionals as both safe and effective when used
Keywords—"QVE."rwtejcukpi"dgjcxkqt."eqpuwogt"dgjcxkqt."
appropriately. Additionally, OTC medicines provide benefits
rjctocegwvkecn"octmgv"
to consumers in the form of savings stemming from fewer
doctors’ visits, less time away from work and relatively lower
I. INTRODUCTION
cost than prescription drugs [2].
The pharmaceutical market can be divided into drugs, that
can be bought without prescription, so-called OTC products II. THEORTICAL BACKGROUND
(“over the counter”), and into drugs that are only available on We believe that the purchase decision is influenced by two
prescription, so called Rx products. Guido et al. add to the important factors such as: medical or pharmacist advice and
definition of OTC drugs that they are “those medicines that, the perceived value of information. As can be observed in
after being used for a given period subsequent to the date of Figure 1, the perceived value of information is determined by
patent expiration, are judged safe enough to be self- previous own experience, views of other reference groups,
administered by patients” [1]. the written information in the prospectus, product price or
The landscape in which companies in the pharmaceutical existing advertising.
industry operate and compete has changed rapidly over the When we refer to the views of other reference groups, the
past few years. According to Pharma & Hospital Report, most important categories are primarily people who have
baseline study in analyzing pharmaceutical market, Cegedim purchased / used that drug, as well as colleagues, friends or
estimated that the value of drugs issued to patients in family.
Romania reached 2.74 billion lei at distribution price in the Most factors analyzed in this study were also analyzed by
third quarter of 2015. other authors from other different perspectives.
Prescription drugs (Rx) issued by pharmacies had reached Referring to previous own experience, many researchers
a value of 1.85 billion, decreasing with 16.2%. Drugs without suggest that previous information or experience provides
prescription (OTC) reached a value of 0.54 billion lei, underlying reasons for repeat purchase or brand switching
increasing with 11.6% and the hospital segment reached 0.36 decisions [3,4]. Also, Shohel et all underline that direct
billion lei, decreasing with 0.3% compared to the 3rd quarter experience with the product, price range and brand reliance
of the previous year.

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 303


S. Vlad and N.M. Roman (eds.), International Conference on Advancements of Medicine and Health Care through Technology;
12th - 15th October 2016, Cluj-Napoca, Romania,
IFMBE Proceedings 59,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-52875-5_63
304 S.D. Cîrstea, C. Moldovan-Teselios, and A.I. Iancu

are important determinants of repetitive purchase behavior purchase decision of OTC changes over time. Socio-
on OTC drugs [5]. demographic structure of the two sub-samples is presented in
Table 1.
Purchasing
decision Table 1 Characteristics of gender and age of the two samples
Variable Category Students Persons
employed
Perceived value
Medical advice Gender Male 56% 35%
of information
Female 44% 65%
Age 18-24 years 92% 2%
25-39 years 8% 83%
Previous own 40 years and over - 15%
experience
The questionnaire was online, the selection of subjects
being achieved by their voluntary participation, following
Other reference
groups opinions invitations sent on social sites (Facebook). Therefore, one of
the main limitations of the methodology of this study is given
by self-selection error, the participation to the study is higher
among people more interested in the subject of study.
Advertising
In order to identify the mechanism of decision making on
purchasing drugs without a prescription, we evaluated the
Written importance of 10 factors deemed relevant by the literature.
information in [9,10]. The assessment of the significance was achieved
the prospectus using a four-stage Likert scale (very much, much, least, very
Fig. 1 Factors that influence the purchase decision little). The Likert scale used is different from the original one,
designed with five possible answers, by eliminating median
Regarding the price, studies confirm that a relationship variant, due to the reason to better differentiate the
exists between consumers’ post purchase experience and importance given to tested factors and better interpret their
subsequent price-sensitivity, and whether before or after, role in shaping the purchase decision [11].
purchase experience will affect price sensitivity [6]. If the assessment of each factor based on the Likert scale
Likewise, customer loyalty to a particular product increases may not provide a clear hierarchy of these factors, as it may
their tolerance for price [7, 8]. give similar importance to many factors, we asked subjects
Promoting influence on purchase decision is another to rank these factors according to their importance, from 1 -
factor studied. Singh emphasizes that consumer behavioral most important factor, 10 - the least important factor. In this
intentions are nevertheless influenced by a heightened case, hierarchies can become clearer and we can better isolate
awareness of specific branded drugs. Consumers feel different kinds of buyers, depending on how they agglutinate
empowered by the information provided in direct-to information received or those held in forming a purchasing
consumer advertising and they are concerned about decision.
governmental attempts to regulate prescription drug
advertising [9]. IV. RESULTS AND DISCUTIONS
III. METHODOLOGY A first hypothesis (H1) tested in this study was whether
“the importance of rating factors that contribute to making
This study focused on two populations with socio- the decision to purchase drugs without a prescription is
demographic profile defined as: (1) students, a sample of 183 similar for students and highly educated people employed. "
selected students from the university center Cluj-Napoca (2) In other words, the way people choose to buy OTC changes
persons employed (employees, contractors, freelancers) with throughout time.
higher education, a sample of 141 persons employed in Cluj- As it can be seen from Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, both students and
Napoca. people employed place the same important factors in the
The motivation for choosing these people arises from the decision making on the first four positions: the choice of
desire to investigate the purchase behavior of drugs without doctor, their own former experience, the pharmacist’s advice
prescription (OTC) among the most educated categories of and the information stated on the leaflet. Regarding these
consumers and potential consumers, on the one hand and to aspects, the weight of much and plenty importance is one
give a longitudinal dimension to the study, studying how the exceeding 60 % in both reference populations.

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Analysis of Factors that Influence OTC Purchasing Behavior 305

Doctor's choice 67% 31% 2%

Former own experience 41% 52% 4%


3%

Pharmacist's advice 38% 48% 12% 3%

Information stated on the prospectus 18% 45% 26% 12%

Opinion of people who bought that drug 9% 51% 32% 8%

Opinion of colleagues, friends, relatives 6% 44% 36% 15%

Price 8% 30% 43% 20%

Brand, producer 4% 31% 36% 29%

Information from advertising 2% 10% 49% 39%

Quality of the advertisment 1% 5% 33% 61%

Very much Quite much Quite little Very little

Fig. 2 The importance of factors in deciding to purchase OTC – students

Doctor's choice 61% 33% 3%


4%

Former own experience 53% 40% 4%4%

Pharmacist's advice 30% 58% 9% 3%

Information stated on the prospectus 33% 40% 16% 11%

Opinion of people who bought that drug 8% 43% 34% 16%

Opinion of colleagues, friends, relatives 6% 35% 35% 24%

Price 4% 33% 45% 18%

Brand, producer 3% 31% 43% 23%

Information from advertising 1% 10% 50% 40%

Quality of the advertisment 1%5% 36% 57%

Very much Quite much Quite little Very little

Fig. 3 The importance of factors in deciding to purchase OTC – employed persons

Then there comes a set of four other aspects prioritized So, the decision to purchase OTC seems to depend on
differently this time by students and people employed, the factors related mainly to two levels: (1) The doctor’s /
views of those who have purchased that product, the views pharmacist’s skill and (2) One’s own skill, based on past
of those close (relatives, friends, colleagues), the price of the experience and analyzing information included in the
purchased product and brand. For these factors, the prospectus.
percentage of those who consider them important and very Even if , at first glance , the hierarchy of the main factors
important falls between 30 % and 60 %. The less important is similar , in order to see more clearly how each of these
elements that contribute to the formation of the purchase factors is treated differently by students and people with
decision are those associated with promoting drug, the higher education , we tested the association through the
information from advertisements and its quality with a method Kruskal – Wallis, a non –parametric test used to
weight of much and very much importance of a maximum of compare two or more independent samples that are equal or
12 %. of different sizes; in our case, we tested the association

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306 S.D. Cîrstea, C. Moldovan-Teselios, and A.I. Iancu

between a nominal variable (reference group) and an ordinal Table 2 Kruskal-Wallis test, applied in the case of assessing the
one (Likert rating scale) [12]. importance given to tested factors
"
As shown in Table 2, in 3 cases (the views of colleagues, Ejk/ fh" Cu{or0"
friends, relatives, the opinion of people who bought that Uswctg" Uki0"
product and the importance of the information given on the Opinion of the colleagues, friends,
:.423" 3" 2.226"
leaflet), assessing the importance differs from employed relatives
Opinion of the persons who bought
persons to students as shown by Asymp. Sig value which is that drug
5.;54" 3" 2.269"
less than 0.05. When buying OTC, students give greater Pharmacist’s advice 1,054 1 0,305
importance to the advice of colleagues, friends, relatives, and
people who have experience with that drug. On the other Doctor’s choice 1,547 1 0,214
hand, employed people with higher education give greater Former own experience 3,137 1 0,077
importance to the information written on the prospectus. Information from advertising 0,025 1 0,874
So even if the hierarchy of the main factors contributing Information stated on the
to the decision to purchase OTC is relatively similar, which prospectus
:.38;" 3" 2.226"
makes us partly validate the hypothesis H1, there are some Price 0,033 1 0,855
ways of appreciation of specific factors between the two
Quality of the advertisement 0,321 1 0,571
groups investigated.
The second (H2) hypothesis derives from the intention to Brand, producer 1,519 1 0,218
check whether the ranking of factors that determine the
buying decision is one similar in the two working models, As compared to the previous hierarchy, certain changes
assessing the significance by using Likert scale and assessing occur, but top positions are still occupied by the factors
the significance by ordering (ranking). previously identified (with one exception, the information
Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 indicate the hierarchies established by stated on the leaflet for students, is placed on 5th position
both groups, compared with the average place occupied. after the opinion of those who bought the drug). In fact,
besides this reversal, the two hierarchies are identical.

Doctor's choice 65% 12% 11% 5% 7%

Former own experience 44% 30% 10% 9% 7%

Pharmacist's advice 33% 37% 12% 10% 8%

Information stated on the prospectus 10% 27% 38% 18% 8%

Opinion of people who bought that drug 8% 30% 31% 21% 11%

Opinion of colleagues, friends, relatives 12% 24% 32% 18% 15%

Price 5% 17% 28% 33% 18%

Brand, producer 8% 9% 18% 37% 28%

Information from advertising 6% 10% 14% 30% 41%

Quality of the advertisment 9% 4% 8% 19% 60%

Rank 1-2 Rank 3-4 Rank 5-6 Rank 7-8 Rank 9-10

Fig. 4 The hierarchy of factors in deciding to purchase OTC – students

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Analysis of Factors that Influence OTC Purchasing Behavior 307

Doctor's choice 55% 16% 8% 4% 18%

Former own experience 28% 39% 7% 16% 10%

Pharmacist's advice 45% 23% 11% 9% 12%

Information stated on the prospectus 14% 35% 29% 16% 5%

Opinion of people who bought that drug 9% 19% 33% 23% 16%

Opinion of colleagues, friends, relatives 11% 16% 30% 23% 20%

Price 6% 12% 39% 30% 13%

Brand, producer 6% 18% 25% 26% 24%

Information from advertising 12% 11% 8% 36% 33%

Quality of the advertisment 13% 9% 11% 17% 50%


Rank 1-2 Rank 3-4 Rank 5-6 Rank 7-8 Rank 9-10

Fig. 5 The hierarchy of factors in deciding to purchase OTC – employed persons

But, although the data indicate a similarity in the So in this case we can also say that the hypothesis H2 was
hierarchy, an analysis made using Kruskal-Wallis test partially validated as we find a high degree of similarity in
indicates, however, differences of position in the hierarchy, the ranking of factors that contribute to the decision to
between students and people with higher education, purchase between the two methods, namely the assessment
differences related to the opinion of colleagues, friends, of the importance of each factor and the hierarchy of these.
relatives, the opinion of people who bought that product, the
information on the leaflet, and doctor choice. If in the first 3
factors prioritized differently we find the same situation as in V. CONCLUSION
the previous test (students favor the opinion of those close
and those who bought the drug, unlike the employed people, Both for students and employed people with higher
who give greater importance to the information from the education, the decision to purchase drugs without a
prospectus) in the case of choosing the doctor students tend prescription is one focused primarily on two levels: the
to place it to a greater extent in the first two positions (65%) recommendation of experts (physicians, pharmacists) and
as compared to those employed (55%). their own evaluation (former personal experience and the
information stated on the leaflet). The differences identified
Table 3 Kruskal-Wallis test, applied in the case of assessing the are generally determined contextually. For students and those
hierarchy given to tested factors who live and / or spend time with colleagues and friends
Ejk/ " fh" Cu{or0" mostly, the importance of their opinion is higher than for
Uswctg" Uki0"
employed persons.
Opinion of the colleagues, friends,
relatives
7.3;4" " 3" 2.245" In the case of employed persons, personal competence as
Opinion of the persons who bought a trait of personality leaves its mark on most of their choices.
8.387" " 3" 2.235"
that drug Since most members of both groups appear to behave
Pharmacist’s advice 0,029 1 0,864 rationally before deciding to buy OTC, the influence of other
Doctor’s choice 7.86;" " 3" 2.239" factors (brand, price, reviews from other people) is lower. As
a statement, the impact of promotion seems to be minimal (or
Former own experience 0,041 1 0,839
at least minimized as compared to other factors). Throughout
Information from advertising 0,919 1 0,338 time, this approach appears to be constant, without
Information stated on the identifying any major changes.
7.8;;" " 3" 2.239"
prospectus
Price 2,37 1 0,124
Quality of the advertisement 3,491 1 0,062
Brand, producer 3,076 1 0,079

IFMBE Proceedings Vol. 59


308 S.D. Cîrstea, C. Moldovan-Teselios, and A.I. Iancu

VI. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH consequences of drug instruction non-compliance different?.
International Journal of Consumer Studies 37: 228–233
3. Inman, J.J. and Zeelenberg, M. (2002) Regret in repeat purchase
One of the main limitations of this study is the scale of the versus switching decisions: the attenuating role of decision
research which was done just at the level of Cluj Napoca city, justifiability. Journal of Consumer Research, 29:116- 128.
with a high level educated population. Another limitation is 4. Ratchford, B.T. (2001) The economics of consumer knowledge.
Journal of Consumer Research, 27: 397.
given by the methodological design, which implied a self- 5. Shohel M, Tasnuva I, Al-Amin M M at all (2013) Investigation
selection of the respondents. of Consumer Attitudes, Intentions and Brand Loyal Behavior on
One of the future directions of the research is represented the OTC Drugs in Bangladesh. British Journal of Pharmaceutical
by extending the study at national level. Also, in a future Research 3(3): 454-464
6. Hseih, A.T. and Chang, W.T. (2004) The effect of consumer
paper it would be interesting to study how subjects evaluate participation on price sensitivity. Journal of Consumer Affairs,
their health status and the correlation of this aspect with the 38 (2):282-296.
frequency with which they buy OTC or with the budget they 7. Aaker, D.A. (1991) Managing Brand Equity: Capitalising on the
allocate for pharmaceuticals. Value of a Brand Name. The Free Press, New York.
8. Samuelsen, B. and Sandvik, K. (1997) The concept of customer
loyalty. In Arnott et al., (eds.) EMAC Proceedings, Annual
Conference, European Marketing Academy, Warwick pp. 1122-
CONFLICT OF INTEREST 1140. Quoted in: Delgardo-Ballester and Munuera-Aleman
(2001).
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. 9. Singh T and Smith D (2005) Direct-to-consumer prescription
drug advertising: a study of consumer attitudes and behavioral
intentions. Journal of Consumer Marketing 22(7):369 - 378
10. Deborah F. Spake Mathew Joseph, (2007),"Consumer opinion
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