What Does Your Online Pharmacy Signal? A Comparative Analysis of Website Trust Features

The growth of electronic commerce has offered a new channel for the commercialization of pharmaceutical products. While regulated online pharmacies offer convenient distribution of drugs, unregulated online vendors create risks for consumers by promoting medicines of unknown origin and jeopardizing sensitive medical information. Using the signaling theory and a comparative content analysis, this study examines a set of website trust features that distinguishes regulated and unregulated online pharmacies. This investigation is aimed at identifying observable signals that online pharmacies use to induce trust. The results enhance our understanding of trust related signals and help online buyers and regulatory institutions in the evaluation of online pharmacies.