Looking Back and Moving Forward: How psychological and demographic factors affect consumer behaviors amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

By analyzing survey data collected from 857 U.S. adults, and applying the decision tree analysis, this study explores how psychological and demographic factors may affect consumer behaviors amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Protection motivation theory (PMT) and consumer demographics theory provide the theoretical foundation for this study. Decision tree is used for data analysis because it is a powerful predictive analytics method. There are a number of important findings. First, the result of decision tree analysis suggests that perceived threat/concern is the most important demographic factor that predicts consumers’ overall online shopping behavior. Second, education is the most important predictor for consumers’ online grocery shopping behavior. Third, perceived threat/concern is the most important predictor for consumers’ panic buying/hoarding behavior. Fourth, age is the most important predictor for consumers’ work from home behavior. Finally, race is the most important predictor for consumers’ spending more time watching TV behavior. The results support PMT and consumer demographics theory. This study brings additional insights into consumer behaviors amid the pandemic.