Impact of the Perceived Threat of COVID-19 on Variety-Seeking

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced our daily and social lives as well as our consumption patterns. This paper focuses on the relationship between the COVID-19 threat and variety-seeking. Based on several theories, including reactance theory and terror management theory, we predict that the perceived threat of COVID-19 will increase the tendency to choose more and different options in multiple choice settings. Firstly, two empirical studies demonstrate that variety-seeking in food and stationery choices is enhanced as people's perceived threat from the disease increases. Study 3 further suggests the boundary conditions of the above pattern in that the type of decision (i.e., multiple option selections across different brands vs. within the same brand) will moderate the impact of the perceived threat on varietyseeking. Specifically, when the decision involved choice across different brands, participants showed higher variety-seeking under high (vs. low) perceived threat. However, the opposite pattern was true when the decision involved choice within the same brand. This research offers a deeper understanding of how variety-seeking can be changed by the perceived threat of COVID-19.

Nudging to Reduce the Perceived Threat of Coronavirus and Stockpiling Intention

“…Participants in the car accident information II condition did not report the perceived threat of car accidents; they reported only their perceived threat of the virus after reviewing the provided information. At the end of the survey, all participants were asked to rate their perceived threat of the two items, based on B€ ohm and Pfister 2005and Kim (2020), using the same scale: "In your opinion, is coronavirus a serious threat?" and "In your opinion, how life-threatening is coronavirus?"…”

Effects of COVID-19 on preferences for private dining facilities in restaurants

“…Then they were asked to indicate how they perceived the threat of the virus on four items (e.g., what are the chances of you getting infected with the coronavirus?) based on Kim (2020) and Kim et al (2020) along 7-point scales (1 = extremely low, 7 = extremely high; Cronbach's α = 0.80). Second, participants were asked to imagine that they were booking a restaurant and found that one option was a private dining restaurant, as shown in Fig.…”

The moderating role of childhood socioeconomic status on the impact of nudging on the perceived threat of coronavirus and stockpiling intention

“…After that, participants were asked to rate their perceived threat on two items (e.g., “In your opinion, is coronavirus a serious threat?”) based on Kim (2020) and Kim and Lee (2020) on a seven-point scale (1 = not at all serious/not at all life-threatening, 7 = very serious/very life-threatening, Cronbach’s α = .744). However, only participants in the COVID-19 + car accident condition were asked to rate their perceived threat of car accidents before rating their perceived threat of the virus along the same scale (Cronbach’s α = .774, n = 98) in order to make the salient comparison between two statistics.…”