The Mediation Effect of Online Shopping Habits on Personality Traits and Intention to Recommend; the Covid-19 Effect

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has transformed conventional buying to online shopping habits. Despite the importance of customers’ future behaviour, insufficient studies have highlighted the role of online shopping habits on the intention to recommend. The study investigated how the Big Five Personality Traits (BFPT) influence online shopping habits, the relationship between habit and intention to recommend, and the habit as a mediator by applying the convenience sampling method. A total of 347 usable data were collected online and analysed using structural equation modelling with the Smart Partial Least Squares (Smart PLS) software. The study found that agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism positively affect online shopping habits, but not openness. Furthermore, online shopping habits positively impact the intention to recommend and mediate the relationship between the BFPT and the intention to recommend. The study also provides valuable information for conventional stores and online platform managers to develop marketing strategies to retain and attract new customers. Moreover, the study discussed the limitations and future research recommendations.

Did morality help consumers protect others while shopping during pandemic?

“…This individual‐level reasoning might be guided by their personality traits and the morality shaped by those traits. However, only a few studies indicated the role of personality traits influencing consumer behavior amid the pandemic (di Crosta et al, 2021; Ngah et al, 2022). It is still unclear how personality traits may influence the intentions for online and in‐store shopping and if morality mediates the relationship between personality traits and the intentions for shopping online or in‐store.…”

“…Using the TRA (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and the big 5 personality model (John et al, 1991), we predict some relationships. Agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism positively influence online shopping intentions (Ngah et al, 2022). Since people with higher neuroticism experienced higher stress during the pandemic due to the fear of contracting the virus (Liu et al, 2021), they may prefer to shop online.…”