The impact of emotions on shopping behavior during epidemic. What a business can do to protect customers

Abstract

The study investigated how the perception of in-shop COVID-19 contraction influences emotions in decision-making and how they further effect actions undertaken by consumers to control the situation within a store. Structural equation modeling was used to study the relationship between the risk of in-store infection, emotions and in-shop behavior, based on data retrieved from 914 questionnaires. Results showed, that the perceived risk of becoming infected in a store causes an increase in arousal and, at the same time, a decrease in perceived pleasure during shopping. The rise in arousal led to an increase in consumers taking actions to decrease their risk of contagion, while an increase in noticeable pleasure lowered interest of following recommendations for pandemic behavior. The findings imply that through changes regarding in-store atmosphere, stationary shops can provide consumers with a sense of urgency and awareness of infection risk so that they may do their shopping more efficiently.

FIGURE 1

Model framework. ARO, arousal; CIT, COVID‐19 infection threat; CL, contact limitation; FSS, food supply security; KD, keeping distance; NoS, number of stores; PF, product familiarity; PLE, pleasure; PP, product packaging; PS, personal security; SIT, in‐store COVID‐19 infection threat; STO, shopping time optimization