Automedicação: fatores que influenciam a intenção de compra dos consumidores de medicamentos isentos de prescrição (MIPs)

Abstract

The consumption of medicines free of medical prescription (MIPs) has aroused interest to the search due to the growth of the sales perceived in global market along the years. This increase of demanding may relate to the various influences suffered by the consumers and by different factors, becoming it more susceptible to the selfmedication. From the heath point of view, the MIP, when it is mismanaged, may become harmful to the person, that eventually may not notice the risks of selfmedication. However, in spite of complexity, related to the behavior of the consumers (marketing) and the risks of the health involved (health), there are not consistent evidences that contemplate the intersection of these two aspects in purchasing intention of the MIPs. Therefore, the present study has the objective of investigating which factors influence the purchasing intention of MIPs by the consumers. It was considered as predecessors of buying decision, the attitude in relation to the use and the advertisement of the MIPs, the subjective and objective knowledge, the perception of the risk with the health and the preoccupation with the health. Besides, the impacts were tested, in these relations, of the susceptibility of the consumers to the interpersonal influence and of their purchase behavior of the MIPs in online channel. To operate the model of the search, it was analyzed the behavior of 465 Brazilian searched in a survey on-line, using tools and techniques of Structural Equation Modeling and descriptive analysis. A relative comparison between the significant predecessors of this search, evidenced that the most important factors to explain the intention of buying the MIPs are: perception of the risk (β=0,41), attitude in relation to the advertisement (β = 0,28) and attitude in relation to the medicaments (β = 0,18). This dissertation may advance the previous searches, since it works in the intersection between studies about the behavior of the consumer, and searches from the area of health referring to this thematic.