PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the changes that have taken place in consumer behavior due to the fear, caused by the spread of the coronavirus, in parallel to studying how supermarket activities have changed during the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachUsing qualitative methods (email interviews and document analysis) and utilizing the few statistics available for the case, the authors performed a comparison between Greece, a country that imposed an early lockdown, and Sweden, which, for its own political reasons, did not lock down, but took other measures instead.FindingsDifferences in consumer behavior and supermarket activities in both countries based on different mentalities and different experiences were identified. Similarities in consumer behavior, but with different motives, were also discovered.Research limitations/implicationsRetailing practitioners and communication executives can apply the findings to manage sales in a time of sharp, unpredictable crisis. The paper aims at integrating existing literature for the academic community and contributes with implications for practitioners and policymakers to reduce crisis risks.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first to explore changes in consumer behavior caused by the spread of the coronavirus. It provides a coherent and comprehensive understanding of how consumer behavior changes under fear-crisis conditions along with future research directions.
The purpose of this study is to investigate purchase intent in online marketplaces as an international phenomenon. A profile of the international online consumer is established, taking into account factors such as indicators of socioeconomic development of their home countries. A structural model is analyzed using LISREL, testing the importance of CSR, the propensity to buy from international online vendors and commitment with purchase intent as the dependent variable. A cross-national dataset of 804 respondents from 57 countries is analyzed, showing that CSR activities alone do not increase purchasing intent, but they do when mediated by commitment.
This article explores what kind of 'Europe' was produced in the processes of transnational infrastructure building. It focuses on international organisations dedicated to Europe's infrastructural integration as a promising research site, where infrastructural collaborations (or the lack thereof) were articulated and negotiated. Case studies of the Bureau International des Autoroutes (1931), the Union for the Coordination of Production and Transport of Electricity (1951) and the European Conference of Transport Ministers (1953) explore the challenges of transnational system building. They also suggest that Europe's infrastructural interlacing was a contested process, producing, if successful, multilayered networks in which corporate, national and mesoregional borders remain clearly discernable. Every successful undertaking, serving the general well-being, started out as a utopia and ended as reality.
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