School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
School of Communication, Webster University, St. Louis, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Jun 1;22(1):1094. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13529-7.
Substandard and falsified medicine (SFM) sales (an estimated > $200 billion) has become one of the worlds' fastest growing criminal enterprises. It presents an enormous public health and safety challenge. While the developed world is not precluded from this challenge, studies focus on low-income countries. They emphasize supply chain processes, technological, and legal mechanisms, paying less attention to consumer judgment and decision-making aspects.
With attention to the demand side of the counterfeit medicines challenge, this survey of U.S. consumers (n = 427) sheds light on some of the social, psychological, and normative factors that underlie consumers' attitudes, risk perceptions, and purchase intentions.
Consumers who (a) self-report that they know about the problem, (b) are older, (c) view counterfeit medicine consumption as ethical, and (d) think their significant others would approve of them using such products are more inclined to perceive lower risks and have favorable purchase intentions. Risk averseness is also inversely related to the predicted outcomes. Perceived benefit of SFMs is a factor but has no effect when risk perception and aversion, attitudes, and subjective norms are factored into the model that predicts purchase intentions.
The results of this study indicate that consumer knowledge (albeit in an unexpected direction), people's expectations about what will impress their significant others, their ethical judgments about selling and consuming counterfeits, and their risk-aversion are associated with their decision-making about counterfeit medicines. The study offers insights into a demand-side approach to addressing SFM consumption in the U.S. Implications for public health, consumer safety, and brand advocacy education are discussed.
劣药和假药的销售（估计超过 2000 亿美元）已成为世界上发展最快的犯罪企业之一。这对公共卫生和安全构成了巨大挑战。虽然发达国家也面临这一挑战，但研究重点是低收入国家。这些研究强调供应链流程、技术和法律机制，而对消费者判断和决策方面关注较少。
本研究关注假药挑战的需求方，对美国消费者（n=427）进行调查，揭示了一些社会、心理和规范因素，这些因素是消费者态度、风险感知和购买意向的基础。
消费者（a）自我报告他们了解这个问题，（b）年龄较大，（c）认为假药消费是合乎道德的，（d）认为他们的重要他人会批准他们使用此类产品，他们更倾向于认为风险较低，购买意向也更积极。风险规避也与预测结果呈反比。SFMs 的预期收益也是一个因素，但当将风险感知和规避、态度和主观规范纳入预测购买意向的模型时，它没有影响。
本研究结果表明，消费者知识（尽管方向出人意料）、人们对重要他人印象的期望、对销售和消费假药的道德判断以及对风险的规避与他们对假药的决策有关。该研究为解决美国 SFM 消费的需求方方法提供了思路。讨论了对公共卫生、消费者安全和品牌宣传教育的影响。
