Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak Risk Perception on Willingness to Consume Products from Restaurants: Mediation Effect of Risk Attitude

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak caused huge losses for the catering industry. The outbreak’s influence on consumers’ risk perception and risk attitude was an important factor for these heavy losses. The aim of this study was to investigate the change in epidemic risk perception, risk attitude, and the consumers’ willingness to consume products from restaurants during the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. The study collected 502 questionnaires at the end of 2021, and structural analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 20.0 statistical programs. The results showed that consumers’ awareness of the coronavirus pandemic (consumers’ epidemic risk perception) had a significant positive effect on their decision-making behavior under uncertain conditions (risk attitude); consumers’ decision-making behavior under uncertain conditions (risk attitude) had a significant negative effect on their willingness to purchase from restaurants; consumers’ awareness of the coronavirus pandemic (consumers’ epidemic risk perception) had a significant negative effect on their willingness to consume products from restaurants; and risk attitude played a mediating role in the influence of consumers’ epidemic risk perception on their willingness to consume products from restaurants. This study can provide guidance and reference for restaurants on how to deal with the epidemic situation, help them undertake risk prevention work and reduce losses, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the restaurant.

Impact of COVID-19 Risk Perception on Residents’ Behavioural Intention towards Forest Therapy Tourism

“…Fourth, there is a significant mediating role of attitude between perceived emotional risk and behavioural intentions, which is consistent with the findings of Zhao Li, Wangbing Liang et al [105]. Individuals with perceived emotional risk during the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic have increased positive attitudes towards forest therapy tourism, leading to more behavioural intentions.…”

Risk Perception of COVID-19 as a Cause of Minority Ethnic Community Tourism Practitioners’ Willingness to Change Livelihood Strategies: A Case Study in Gansu Based on Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory

“…This study complements the research results between risk perception of COVID-19 and livelihood strategy change intention as one of the subjective factors of the object, and is also a response to the necessity of dynamically and quantitatively considering the impact of livelihood strategy change from other subjective factors outside the sustainable livelihood framework pointed out by Sun et al (2020) [13]. This conclusion to some extent supports Li's (2022) conclusion that risk perception of COVID-19 has a significant impact on consumers' willingness to consume products from restaurants [52], and Zhao's (2022) conclusion that risk perception of COVID-19 significantly and positively predicts individuals' hoarding behavior [17]. It provides a theoretical explanation for the willingness of tourism practitioners in ethnic communities to change their livelihood strategies with tourism as the main livelihood strategy.…”

Research on the Impact of Media Credibility on Risk Perception of COVID-19 and the Sustainable Travel Intention of Chinese Residents Based on an Extended TPB Model in the Post-Pandemic Context

“…In the last two years, China entered the post-pandemic era, which means that the COVID-19 pandemic is largely under control in China, but has not subsided and may break out in a small scale or even large-scale event at any time [1][2][3]. However, studies have shown that COVID-19 has triggered a wide range of travel fears [4][5][6][7][8]. Moreover, the continuous variation and mutation of COVID-19 reflects its capricious nature, with the internet being flooded with mass amounts of false information about the COVID-19 pandemic [9][10][11], which may also lead people to panic, fear, or hesitation to travel.…”