Quality, value, satisfaction, trust, a

3.2.2.2. Involvement
The final component of the processing part of our model is involvement. Involvement is a very
important variable in audience processing of both traditional advertising (Petty and Cacioppo, 1981,
1983a, 1986) and Web advertising (Raman and Leckenby, 1998; Cho, 1999). Day, Stafford and Camacho
(1995) refer to involvement as a motivational state influenced by a person’s perception of the object’s
relevance based on inherent needs, values and interests (Zaichkowsky, 1985). Its major antecedents are
the characteristics of the person, the stimulus/object, and the situation (Bloch and Richins, 1983;
Zaichkowsky, 1986).
We suggest that involved surfers are more prone to search for more information when surfing the pharmaceutical Web sites and in doing
that, explore more new stimuli and situations because of a higher need for environmental stimulation. Further, Balabanis and Reynolds
(2001) confirm the influence of live brand attitudes on the attitude formation of online shoppers. Harvin (2000) also indicates that consumers
are more comfortable with companies’ strong off-line brands that they already know and trust. Yoo and Stout (2001) posited that consumers
with a high level of product involvement have more intentions to interact with a Web site, leading to more extensive search and more
interactive functions tried. Finally, highly-involved people will search for more information before purchase, process relevant information in
depth, and use more criteria in their purchase decisions than others (Leong, 1993; Laaksonen, 1994; Maheswaran and Meyers-Levy, 1990).
Internet-involved customers will more likely purchase online than people with low levels of involvement (Kwak, Fox and Zinkhan, 2002).
Therefore:
H8: When consumers surf the Web, involvement is positively related to: a) attitude b) involvement in purchase decisions for the product, and c)
purchase intentions.
3.3.3. Outcomes
3.3.3.1. Involvement in Purchase Decisions (or Pre-purchase Intentions)
A consumer buying process is a sequence of several stages: 1-2/ information’s search and evaluation are two important preparatory steps.
B2C sites which offer navigational tools that would ease the search process are likely to be more effective. 3/ evaluation of alternatives
before making a decision. Decision aids have a favorable effect on the quality of online purchase decisions (Ranganathan and Ganapathy,
2002).
In general, customers often engage in ongoing information collection without specific needs or
purchase decisions (Block et al. 1986). For them, value-added information can be interesting and helpful.
Whether the URL to visit comes from word-by-mouth (e.g., reviews of books by other customers or stock
recommendations by analysts), customers can enjoy this wealth of information about products and
services not always available in the physical world (Koufaris, 2002). Access to such information can
improve consumer decision and can be an important incentive for people to shop online (Jarvenpaa and
Todd, 1997).
In the traditional hierarchy-of-effects models, product purchase is the ultimate stage of the
communication process and purchase usually takes place long after exposure to ad messages. Ad
effects occur not in the short-term, but rather in the long-term, with a series of steps starting from
unawareness of a particular brand to the actual buying of it. However, with Internet, that
purchase can probably take place at the same time as their exposure to ad messages or within a
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