If tomorrow never comes: the impact of anxiety, materialism and attitude on consumption behavior in a pandemic

Abstract

Purpose This research aims to examine the impact of consumers’ anxiety on the three types of consumption activities (sharing, hoarding and regular buying) during the coronavirus pandemic. Further, it aims to investigate the moderating role of materialism on anxiety and how attitude toward the pandemic affects consumers’ consumption behavior. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted to test the proposed research model. The data were analyzed using SmartPLS and PROCESS tools. Findings Higher levels of anxiety lead to less sharing and more hoarding of resources but do not impact consumers’ regular buying intentions. A positive attitude toward an external event such as lockdown and intrinsic materialism can help individuals to cope with the anxiety successfully. Furthermore, consumers are more likely to share and less likely to hoard when they develop a positive attitude toward pandemic. Research limitations/implications Future research can explore the role of health-efficacy and attitude toward health as coping strategy toward pandemic. A longitudinal research can explore the gradual changes in consumers’ attitudes and consumption behavior. Practical implications Governments, marketers and policymakers should focus on reducing consumers’ anxiety and to build a positive attitude toward pandemic to avoid the issues of hoarding and enable sharing of resources with others. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on terror management theory and crisis management during a pandemic using a consumption context.

The influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors on e-WOM behaviour: The role of psychological impact during the time of COVID-19 crisis

“…And, extraversion is also associated with well-being and loneliness when the curfew was imposed during the pandemic. Likewise, research also revealed that a higher level of materialism was highly related to attitude towards anxiety and lockdown [ 232 ]. Though materialism and extraversion had an impact on the usage of social mobile applications [ 233 ], people used social media to involve themselves to disclose information and stay connected during the Covid-19 pandemic.…”

“…In addition, Tata et al [ 32 ], developed an integrated model applying personality traits, and intrinsic-extrinsic motivational drivers in predicting e-WOM behaviour. Later, knowing the significance of consumers' behaviour during the pandemic, Mishra et al [ 232 ], argued the moderating role of materialism on the association between anxiety and attitude towards consumption. Arguing in the same line, Moldes et al [ 243 ], observed the increase in level of materialism during the pandemic owing to anxiety, stress, and excessive media consumption.…”

The influence of social drivers on using ride-hailing services

“…Literature review reveals that infodemic adversely impacted several sectors such as transportation, tourism, education and healthcare. The ridesharing sector is yet another one that has suffered the effects of infodemic despite ride-hailing companies' assurances about following standard operating procedures and taking safety precautions (Mishra et al ., 2022).…”

Unethical customer behaviour: causes and consequences

“…For retailers, such behaviours represent additional financial risks in already challenging crisis-dominant environments (Ferraro et al, 2022;Raassens et al, 2021) as they disrupt operations, waste resources, cause stress and negatively impact customers' shopping behaviour. Looking at the most recent crisis situation, media reports reveal that customers did not always behave as desired, displaying patterns of hoarding behaviour (Gupta et al, 2021;Mishra et al, 2022).…”

“…Looking at the most recent crisis situation, media reports reveal that customers did not always behave as desired, displaying patterns of hoarding behaviour (Gupta et al. , 2021; Mishra et al. , 2022).…”