Psychological and Behavior Changes of Consumer Preferences During COVID-19 Pandemic Times: An Application of GLM Regression Model

What motivates customers to repurchase online under social distancing?

Global e-commerce is growing rapidly during the COVID pandemic. Previous research on customers' online shopping decisions rarely considered social distancing. To investigate customers' continued intention toward online purchases while socially isolated, we propose a framework based on the UTAUT model. A survey of 330 valid samples was collected through an online survey among internet users during a period of social distancing in Indonesia. Hypotheses were validated using a structural equation modeling approach. The results showed that social contingency is the most influential factor on customers' intention to repurchase online under social restriction conditions, followed by customer perceived value and other significant factors. The findings contribute to providing a new understanding of customers' online repurchase intentions when they are in a contingency situation.

Online listing data and their interaction with market dynamics: evidence from Singapore during COVID-19

With the emergence of Property Technology, online listing data have drawn increasing interest in the field of real estate-related big data research. Scraped from the online platforms for property search and marketing, these data reflect real-time information on housing supply and potential demand before actual transaction data are released. This paper analyzes the interactions between the keywords of online home listings and actual market dynamics. To do so, we link the listing data from the major online platform in Singapore with the universal transaction data of resale public housing. We consider the COVID-19 outbreak as a natural shock that brought a significant change to work modes and mobility and, in turn, consumer preference changes for home purchases. Using the Difference-in-Difference approach, we first find that housing units with a higher floor level and more rooms have experienced a significant increase in transaction prices while close proximity to public transportation and the central business district (CBD) led to a reduction in the price premium after COVID-19. Our text analysis results, using the natural language processing, suggest that the online listing keywords have consistently captured these trends and provide qualitative insights (e.g. view becoming increasingly popular) that could not be uncovered from the conventional database. Relevant keywords reveal trends earlier than transaction-based data, or at least in a timely manner. We demonstrate that big data analytics could effectively be applied to emerging social science research such as online listing research and provide useful information to forecast future market trends and household demand.

Effect of restaurant consumers' anticipated emotions on perceived value and behavioral intention in the COVID-19 context

While hospitality scholars have been conducting research on post-pandemic consumption recovery, the impact of the psychological consequences of COVID-19 on consumers' post-pandemic behavior remains insufficiently addressed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among anticipated emotions, perceived value, perceived threat, and dining-out intention in the COVID-19 context. In this study, 621 restaurant consumers in China were surveyed and the data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results suggested that positive anticipated emotions affect perceived hedonic, utilitarian, and social values, whereas negative anticipated emotions affect hedonic value. Hedonic and utilitarian values then influence dining-out intention. Perceived threat in terms of perceived severity and susceptibility to COVID-19 was explored to moderate the impacts of hedonic and social values on the intention. This study contributes to the literature by identifying the positive, distinct roles of both anticipated emotions on consumer dining-out intention through perceived values and threats during the early recovery of COVID-19.

Consumers’ coping strategies when they feel negative emotions in the face of forced deconsumption during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns

Introduction

This paper explores consumers’ coping strategies when they feel negative emotions due to forced deconsumption during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.

Methods

The tool used for data collection is the questionnaire. It was made using the LimeSurvey software. A total of 621 complete observations were analyzed.

Results

The findings demonstrate that anger positively influences the activation of seeking social support, mental disengagement, and confrontive coping strategies. Besides, disappointment activates mental disengagement but only marginally confrontive coping and not behavioral disengagement. Furthermore, regret is positively related to confrontive coping, behavioral disengagement, acceptance, and positive reinterpretation. Finally, worry positively impacts behavioral disengagement, self-control, seeking social support, mental disengagement, and planful problem-solving.

Discussion

The study’s originality lies in its investigation of consumers’ coping strategies when experiencing negative emotions due to forced deconsumption in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Multiple health risk behaviors, including high consumption of ultra-processed foods and their implications for mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background and aim

The growing increase in diet- and behavior-related illnesses has drawn the attention of many epidemiologists who attribute such changes to the epidemiological and nutritional transition. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the association between the combined occurrence of health risk behaviors, such as sedentary lifestyles, high weekly consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), and non-daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, and symptoms of anxiety or depression in adults.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study based on an epidemiological survey in two Brazilian cities. The outcome, anxiety, and depression symptoms were assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Food consumption was assessed using a qualitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) with reference to consumption in the last 3 months and categorized into the consumption of fruits and vegetables and the consumption of UPFs according to the NOVA classification. Sedentary behavior was assessed by considering the amount of sitting or reclining time per day reported by participants and categorized as less than 9 h of sitting or reclining and 9 h or more. For the analysis, adjusted Poisson regression (PR) was used to estimate the prevalence ratio and the 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results

Those with the health risk behaviors, non-daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, and high consumption of UPFs had a 2.6 higher prevalence ratio for symptoms of mental disorder (PR: 2.6 and 95%CI: 1.1–6.5), as well as those with all three health risk behaviors, had a 2.8 higher prevalence ratio for symptoms of mental disorder (PR: 2.8 and 95%CI: 1.3–6.1).

Conclusion

This study revealed that the existence of a combination of two and three health risk behaviors led to a higher prevalence of symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Expectation and Complaint: Online Consumer Complaint Behavior in COVID-19 Isolation

Purpose

This study aims to articulate the nature of consumer complaining behavior (CCB) by analyzing the mechanism and characteristics of online CCB in COVID-19 isolated environment.

Patients and Methods

For the purpose, this study collected data via a web-based questionnaire survey from 408 consumers in Shanghai, China during COVID-19 isolation. Through building and analyzing a structural equation model that consists of six latent variables such as perceived service quality, perceived product quality, customer satisfaction, negative emotion, customer complaint; the study analyzed the basic characteristics of CCB, and focused on the moderation test of consumer expectation to validate its important role in consumer decision-making behavior.

Results

First, compared to perceived service quality, perceived product quality has a stronger influence on customer satisfaction and has a weaker influence on negative emotions in the COVID-19 isolated environment. Second, the total influence of perceived product quality on customer complaints is stronger than that of perceived service quality. Third, the direct impact of negative emotions on customer complaints was much stronger than the effect of customer satisfaction on customer complaints. Meanwhile, it can also act as a mediating variable to make customer satisfaction have an additional indirect effect on complaints. Finally, the study also found that consumer expectation can reinforce the influences of customer satisfaction on negative emotions and customer complaints, while it weakens the effect of negative emotions on customer complaints.

Conclusion

This study suggests that the classic CCB factors still exert a stable influence on customer complaints through cognitive and emotional response pathways, but the influence difference is obvious in the COVID-19 isolated environment. And the influence processes are significantly moderated by consumer expectation level. Enterprises should conduct more targeted marketing interactions, according to these CCB characteristics.