Title: Quality drivers for e-pharmaceuticals system management: a theoretical framework

Authors: David P. Cook, Jimmie L. Joseph, Russell S. Morton

Addresses: College of Business and Public Administration, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA. ' College of Business Administration, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA. ' School of Business and Economics, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, NC 27110, USA

Abstract: Approximately 41 million US adults currently use the internet for healthcare, and approximately 4.6 million have used the internet to make an e-pharmaceuticals or health and beauty product category purchase. Increased data access, to the general public, has given rise to a class of sophisticated medical goods and services consumers. Exposure to e-commerce has supplanted the novelty of purchasing online with a desire for a quality purchasing experience comparable with, or superior to, offline healthcare encounters. With experienced and sophisticated consumers, quality is essential for e-marketplace success. This paper examines the components of service quality to provide a framework for guiding e-pharmacy development and evaluation.

Keywords: e-commerce; e-healthcare; framework; reliability; service quality; e-pharmacy; e-pharmaceuticals; health and beauty products; electronic healthcare; electronic commerce; electronic pharmacy; electronic pharmaceuticals.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2004.005025

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2004 Vol.2 No.2, pp.174 - 192

Published online: 23 Aug 2004 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article