The role of political ideology on variety-seeking behavior during crisis-induced threats: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic

In an era marked by heightened political polarization and escalating crises, our study provides timely, empirics-first insights into how political ideology influences consumers’ variety-seeking behaviors when they experience crisis-induced threats—specific events that are perceived to endanger physical and financial well-being—versus normal conditions. We advance knowledge by investigating the interplay between political ideology, variety seeking, and crisis-induced threats using a large-scale dataset of over 32 million U.S. grocery transactions before and during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as county-level voting results. In doing so, we seek to answer three questions: (1) How does political ideology influence variety seeking under normal conditions? (2) How do crisis-induced threats influence variety seeking? and (3) How does political ideology influence variety seeking under crisis-induced threats? Our findings reveal that, under normal conditions, conservatives show greater variety seeking than liberals. Yet, during crisis-induced threats, conservatives decrease their variety seeking, whereas liberals increase theirs. These results complement existing studies that, using lab experiments and surveys, have identified various mechanisms––oftentimes competing––that influence variety seeking. We advance this work with externally validated and robust empirical evidence on how consumers’ variety seeking behaviors change substantially during crisis-induced threats versus normal conditions. These insights provide retail practitioners with marketing-relevant insights and strategies, tailored to the political composition of their consumer base, that can enhance their crisis preparedness and responses.