How COVID-19 changed Italian consumers' behavior

Cervellati, Enrico María; Stella, Gian Paolo; Filotto, Umberto; Maino, Andrea

doi:10.1016/j.gfj.2021.100680

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In line with previous studies in the literature (e.g. Cervellati et al, 2022), we find that Italy is an interesting and useful case to analyze the effects of COVID-19 on how people changed their behaviors and their attitudes, as well as their sensitivity to CSR; however, focusing on a single country may represent a limitation of our study, and we are of the opinion that an international comparison may help better understand if (and in this case how) the COVID-19 pandemic affected sensitivity to CSR in different countries, with the advantage of considering the cultural and social differences between distinct populations. We therefore recommend that future studies pursue this avenue of research.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…We also included a question to verify if respondents were infected by the COVID-19 virus. Consistent with the results obtained by Cervellati et al. (2022), we expect that the infection caused by the COVID-19 virus may alter the respondents' behavior, as well as their sensitivity to CSR issues.…”

Section: Research Design and Methodologysupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Regarding our third objective, by following Cervellati et al (2022), we want to understand if the evidence related to the COVID-19 period differs from other ("normal") periods. With particular regard to the relation between CSR and financial literacy, we formulate the following hypothesis:…”

Section: Research Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, Eastern countries have faced other pandemics in the recent past, in contrast to their Western counterparts. In addition, as suggested by Cervellati et al (2022), COVID-19 impacted Italians' consumer habits; as a result, it may also have affected their sensitivity to CSR. The large sample size and the numerous (explanatory and control) variables considered allow us to contribute to the literature linking financial literacy with CSR, adding crucial variables able to reduce the random impact of omitted variables, as indicated by Bajic and Yurtoglu (2018), and providing new insights.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Furthermore, Eastern countries have faced other pandemics in the recent past, in contrast to their Western counterparts. In addition, as suggested by Cervellati et al. (2022), COVID-19 impacted Italians' consumer habits; as a result, it may also have affected their sensitivity to CSR.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Shedding light on the impact of financial literacy for corporate social responsibility during the COVID-19 crisis: managerial and financial perspectives

Stella

Cervellati

Magni

et al. 2022

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PurposeThe aim of this paper is to help management scholars and executives learn from the COVID-19 global crisis by analyzing if and how the level of financial literacy affected stakeholders' sensitivity to corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues during the pandemic, as well as identifying whether financial literacy is an important variable to account for in the postpandemic period. The authors test the relationship between objective (measurable) and subjective (self-assessed) financial literacy, as well as financial happiness (i.e. satisfaction with one's current financial situation) with CSR during the pandemic. High levels of financial literacy cause individuals to reward companies that implement CSR strategies and processes.Design/methodology/approachThe authors designed an online survey and obtained data on objective and subjective financial literacy, financial happiness and COVID-19 infections, as well as on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of a representative sample of 1,334 Italian respondents. From a methodological point of view, the authors perform a factor analysis on the CSR-related questions to extract the principal components (PCs) that were used as dependent variables in the regression models to analyze the effects of explanatory variables (financial literacy, financial happiness and COVID-19 infections) and consider the control variables (demographic and socioeconomic characteristics). The authors follow a theoretical approach merging stakeholder theory with CSR.FindingsRespondents with a high level of financial literacy and financial happiness are highly sensitive to all CSR components (ethical, philanthropic, economic and legal social responsibilities). Being infected by COVID-19 increased participants' sensitivity to ethical and philanthropic social responsibility (SR), but not to economic and legal SR. The more educated and employed respondents were, the more sensitive they were to CSR, especially compared to their less educated and unemployed counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the sample used is large and representative of the Italian population, Italy is an interesting and useful case to analyze, given that it was the first Western country to be severely hit by COVID-19; since the paper only refers to a specific country scenario, the results cannot be generalized to other countries. A cross-country comparison relating financial literacy and financial happiness to CSR during the COVID-19 pandemic period would be desirable. The research study has theoretical implications for management scholars since the authors show that, during the pandemic period, financial education and financial happiness are relevant in explaining stakeholders' greater sensitivity to CSR issues. The findings may thus help scholars to learn from the COVID-19 period, with the aim of further developing and enhancing stakeholders' theory.Practical implicationsThe research also has practical implications, both for corporate executives and for policymakers, helping them to learn from the COVID-19 global crisis concerning the role of financial literacy and financial happiness on CSR sensitivity and, consequently, how they may consider these important variables in the postpandemic era. On the one hand, executives may improve stakeholders' segmentation and eventually modify CSR policies, considering the higher sensitivity of their stakeholders' due to a higher degree of financial literacy. On the other hand, the findings suggest that policymakers should have a stronger role in supporting employment and education in general and in promoting programs to improve financial literacy to increase stakeholders' sensitivity to CSR, thus further stimulating the inclusion of CSR factors in companies' strategies. Increasing stakeholders' sensitivity to CSR will, in turn, increase the propensity of companies to include SR in their strategies. Thus, increasing financial literacy will have tangible positive effects of increasing CSR. Given the greater role played by companies during the COVID-19 period with respect to societal risk, the findings seem particularly useful.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first that links financial literacy and financial happiness with CSR during the COVID-19 crisis. The large and representative dataset, as well as the use of specific variables related to financial literacy, financial happiness and COVID-19 infections in the CSR assessment model, makes our analysis original, robust and significant by contributing to the CSR literature and to the financial literacy literature from a methodological point of view, as well as by informing corporate executives and policymakers about the role of financial literacy with regard to CSR during the pandemic, which may help them in learning how to improve their decisions and actions in the postpandemic era.

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Section: Limitations and Future Researchsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Research Design and Methodologysupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Research Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Shedding light on the impact of financial literacy for corporate social responsibility during the COVID-19 crisis: managerial and financial perspectives

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How Covid-19 changed economic and health-related worries in Italy

2022

Self Cite

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The Covid-19 pandemic has been a huge challenge for governments all over the world, as well as for the World Health Organization (WHO) and the pharmaceutical companies in charge of creating the vaccines against the coronavirus. The success of all the efforts and the measures put in place to contain the spread of the contagion and to immunize people, however, also depends on people social compliance. In this study, we thus investigate how demographic and socio-economic variables affected individuals’ economic and health-related worries due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Using questions created by the WHO, we surveyed about 3000 Italians between May and June 2020. Our results show that individuals’ socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics are engaged with distinct types of worries due to Covid-19, such as health-related worries, economic-related worries and worries connected to restrictions on movements. Our findings have implications for decision makers and policy makers in showing how important is to consider demographic and socio-economic differences between individuals, to better understand how people are differently affected by different worries and which actions and policies may be more effective in protecting and supporting people especially the most vulnerable ones.

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Disaster response: The COVID-19 pandemic and insider trading around the world

Hoang

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Global Finance Journal

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How COVID-19 changed Italian consumers' behavior

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

Shedding light on the impact of financial literacy for corporate social responsibility during the COVID-19 crisis: managerial and financial perspectives

Shedding light on the impact of financial literacy for corporate social responsibility during the COVID-19 crisis: managerial and financial perspectives

How Covid-19 changed economic and health-related worries in Italy

Disaster response: The COVID-19 pandemic and insider trading around the world

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