Conformity Consumer Behavior and External Threats: An Empirical Analysis in China During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jianan Li, Xiaotong Jin, Taiyang Zhao and Tiannv Ma

SAGE Open, 2021, vol. 11, issue 3, 21582440211032152

Abstract: Conformity consumer behavior refers to a preference of using the behaviors or expectations of others as a guideline for one’s own consumption patterns. Significant characteristics of conformity consumer behavior have been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has greatly hindered resource allocation and pandemic management. Nonetheless, the reasons why a public health emergency, exemplified by COVID-19, triggers conformity consumer behavior remain unclear. This study proposes and tests a theoretical framework to explore the psychological mechanisms of conformity consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that pandemic severity positively affect conformity consumer behavior, sense of fear plays a mediating role between pandemic severity and conformity consumer behavior, and sense of control does not play a moderating role. This implies that fear drives conformity consumer behavior and people may tend to consume in this way when they perceive a strong sense of fear no matter how strong their sense of control is. The conclusion will help managers to guide consumer behavior during social crisis and emergencies.

Keywords: external threats; sense of fear; need to belong; conformity consumer behavior; sense of control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440211032152 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:21582440211032152

DOI: 10.1177/21582440211032152

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in SAGE Open
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().