Purchase experience during the COVID‐19 pandemic and social cognitive theory: The relevance of consumer vulnerability, resilience, and adaptability for purchase satisfaction and repurchase

Abstract

This study explores consumer behavior during the pandemic through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT). Using the SCT framework and assessing the pandemic as an environmental set, this study strives to fill the gaps in the underexplored impacts of the personal processes of consumer vulnerability, resilience, and adaptability on the behavioral processes of purchase satisfaction and repurchase. The research results show that consumers are self‐efficacious to a degree when it comes to purchase decision making in the context of pandemics. Vulnerability and resilience directly influence the purchase satisfaction and indirectly influence the repurchase intention via satisfaction. Furthermore, purchase satisfaction positively affects the repurchase intention. In addition, research results show that consumer adaptability to online shopping moderates the relationship between consumer resilience and purchase satisfaction. These findings have practical implications in terms of marketers’ communication strategy development.

Changes in purchasing patterns in the beauty market due to Post–COVID‐19: Literature review

“…Retailer's online sales, which have both online and offline stores, increased 133% as of January 2020 34 . Through the interaction of social media, web shopping established strong relationships with various product purchasing activities of social media followers, revealing that marketing potential appeals to companies and brands 35 . In social media (influencers, microcelebrities), the application of stars to new phenomena is another pattern of purchasing activity and has become a social issue 36 .…”

Coping with crisis: The paradox of technology and consumer vulnerability

“…While the studies mentioned above focus on internal characteristics, other scholars have argued that all consumers can experience vulnerability, not only disadvantaged groups (Shi et al, 2017). Their studies emphasise external factors that can elicit states of vulnerability such as market place discrimination (Wünderlich et al, 2020), the natural environment, for example, disasters and pandemics (Milaković, 2021), marketplace and service interactions (Echeverri & Salomonson, 2019), societal problems and economic conditions (Koos et al, 2017). The notion of vulnerability can also be understood as both cognitive, for example, poor consumer choice attributable to a limited information processing ability and behavioural levels of vulnerability resulting from cognitive responses, for example, favourable responses to fraudulent activities, avoidance of interactions with store personnel, etc.…”

“…Notwithstanding the lack of consensus on what constitutes a state of vulnerability and its impacts on consumers (Echeverri & Salomonson, 2019;Hill & Sharma, 2020;Stewart & Yap, 2020), there have been several important developments. These include defining vulnerability beyond personal characteristics and the market activities that impact consumer vulnerability and recognizing that vulnerability is a complex, multidimensional, transitory and context-specific concept (Brennan et al, 2017;Milaković, 2021;Scott et al, 2020). The current COVID-19 pandemic has induced an adverse setting causing consumer vulnerability and/or resilience that affect consumer consumption decisions (Milaković, 2021).…”

Social Media Marketing as a Branding Strategy in Extraordinary Times: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…These factors have been found to mediate the relationship between a consumer's ability to cognitively assess the threat and their behavior [8]; hence, those who experience high levels of fear and perceive the situation to be very threatening will stay home and do their shopping online. Although many consumers indicate that they will most likely continue to shop online, even after stores reopen [49,50], consumer who prefer shopping in physical stores are also forced to adapt to online shopping [10]. This change in consumer behavior is quite demanding for businesses, as they must turn to new methods to reach and engage with all consumers shopping online [50].…”

“…Although many consumers indicate that they will most likely continue to shop online, even after stores reopen [49,50], consumer who prefer shopping in physical stores are also forced to adapt to online shopping [10]. This change in consumer behavior is quite demanding for businesses, as they must turn to new methods to reach and engage with all consumers shopping online [50]. When examining the adaptability of consumers to new ways of buying during a pandemic, research shows that increased consumer adaptability weakens consumer resilience and enhances purchase satisfaction [51].…”