Consumers’ lodging intentions during a pandemic: empirical insights for crisis management practices based on protection motivation theory and expectancy theory

Purpose Drawing on protection motivation theory (PMT) and expectancy theory, this study aims to investigate consumers’ lodging consumption intentions during a pandemic crisis. Design/methodology/approach The research survey was conducted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (August, 2020) in the USA to investigate consumers’ lodging intentions amidst the pandemic crisis. PLS-SEM and multiple regression were conducted to explore answers to proposed research questions. Findings The research finds that, during the pandemic crisis, consumers’ lodging consumption intentions are subject to both their internal protection motivation evaluations and the external prevention practices implemented by the lodging facilities regardless of property types and travel purposes. Notably, the research finds that consumers are willing to make efforts and pay extra for a safe stay at lodging facilities. Research limitations/implications This research contributes to the literature regarding the applications of PMT and expectancy theory from a crisis management perspective, and it provides implications and guidelines to the crisis management practices in the lodging industry. Originality/value The current research examines the specific protection motivation appraisal factors and prevention practices significantly impacting consumers’ decisions in terms of willingness to stay at various lodging facilities (hotels and non-hotel homestay/short-term rental properties) for different purposes (business and leisure) and to pay premiums for a safe stay.

The Effect of Downsizing Packages of Energy-Dense, Nutrient-Poor Snacks and Drinks on Consumption, Intentions, and Perceptions—A Scoping Review

The single-serve packaging of discretionary foods is becoming increasingly popular, but evidence is limited on whether smaller package sizes can reduce food intake. The aim of this scoping review is to assess the effect of reducing the package size of energy-dense, nutrient-poor (EDNP) snacks and drinks on consumption, intentions, and perception, and to examine the effects of potential moderators or mediators. The search was conducted in six selected databases and grey literature sources, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for the scoping review process (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. After screening 5562 articles, 30 articles comprising 47 intervention studies were included. Twelve of 15 studies found a significant effect in lowering the actual or intended consumption when a single smaller package was offered compared with a single larger package. When the total serving size was held constant between varying package conditions, such as a multipack, single package, or unpackaged, the results on the actual and intended consumption were inconsistent and varied according to the presence of moderators. Overall, these findings suggest that an overall reduction in the size of a single package is a more promising strategy than providing multipacks to reduce consumption. Changes to the current food environment to promote single smaller packages of EDNP snacks and drinks are necessary to support the better selection of appropriate portion sizes and reduce consumption.

CONSUMER ENVIRONMENT RESPONSIBILITY AND CONCERN ON GREEN CONSUMPTION: UNAVAILABILITY OF ECO-PRODUCT MODERATION

Since the emergence of negative issues about the environment, caused human awareness level began to emerge. The green lifestyle is now starting widely applied by the people. The purpose of this study is to build a research framework, which helps companies to generate green consumption intention through the predictors of environmental responsibility mediated by environmental concern and moderated by green product unavailability. This research is classified as quantitative that used associative design with case study approach on Nutrifood company. The research model used is Structural Equation Modeling with questionnaire survey method to compile data from 269 people who know and have looked for Nutrifood products in Indonesia. The findings of this study reveals that environment concern is an important precursor and intermediary that helps encourage green consumption intention through consumer environment responsibility. The green products unavailability has moderating role between environment responsibility and green consumption intentions.

Critical criteria for enhancing consumption intention in restaurants during COVID-19

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to illustrate the different systems controlling coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and curbing the impact of the virus on the hospitality economy. The author’s clarified the critical attributes of the government, organization management system and consumer behaviour using mediation-moderation models and demonstrated how those critical attributes influenced customer consumption intention during COVID-19 in Taiwan.Design/methodology/approachDue to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this research is mainly distributed through online questionnaires through Facebook and other social media channels to recruit volunteers. Second, the pre-test survey used 100 questionnaires collected from juniors and seniors from a university in northern Taiwan to make predictions. Third, this study also conducted a questionnaire validity analysis, which identified 9 criteria and 34 items. Fourth, the questionnaire collected samples for a total of three months. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses in a sample of 1,098 consumers in Taiwan.FindingsThis study considers government, enterprise and consumer levels and conducts relevant factor analysis from consumers’ perspectives to understand the changes in consumer behaviour under COVID-19 influence. Regarding mediation, this study finds that information and communication mediate the relationships between crisis management and COVID-19 impact. Regarding moderation, this study exposes the critical moderating part of human resources, that hygiene and safety strengthen the relationships between COVID-19 impact and attitude towards life and that perceived anxiety strengthens the relationship between attitude towards life and consumption intention.Practical implicationsDuring COVID-19, restaurants should cooperate with the government to reduce the risk of community infection. Therefore, the government also needs to cooperate with restaurant companies to enhance the industrial economy, actively communicate with consumers and provide correct and sufficient information. At the same time, restaurant enterprises also need to have sufficient human resource arrangements, hygiene and safety planning to eliminate consumers’ doubts.Originality/valueThese findings indicate that consumers’ consumption intention to eat out is affected by the COVID-19 impact and attitude towards life. This research also confirms that perceived anxiety has a mediating effect on the relationship between consumer attitudes towards life and consumption intentions. To improve the restaurant economic process, they should consider solutions to reduce consumers’ perception of the COVID-19 impact and fear of eating out.

Consumers Purchase Intentions of Green Electric Vehicles: The Influence of Consumers Technological and Environmental Considerations

The purpose of the current study is to explore barriers influencing consumers’ intention to adopt sustainable electric vehicles (EV) based on the modified theory of planned behavior (TPB) model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were employed to analyze the research model, using 262 valid responses. The findings of the current study explored how attitude (ATT), subjective norm (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) significantly influenced users’ sustainable consumption intentions. The finding also explored ways in which environmental concern significantly influenced ATT, SN, PBC, and sustainable consumption intention of the users. Not only measurements of vehicle performance, namely safety, reliability, and range, but other factors, such as purchasing price, charging facility, and maintenance and battery cost also influenced consumers’ sustainable consumption intentions. The predictive power of the proposed model (R2 = 63.5) was better than the original TPB (R2 = 53.6). Results also indicated that Taiwanese are primarily concerned about the greenhouse effects on the environment, which reflected their sustainable consumption intentions. The conclusions of the current study could assist government and policymakers in designing sustainable programs, which could improve consumers’ sustainable consumption intentions to prevent further air pollution and reduce CO2 emissions from the transportation sector.

Sustainable meat consumption intentions: conceptualisation, scale development and validation

PurposeThis study aims to propose and validate a new, comprehensive scale of sustainable meat consumption intentions (SMCI) from the Pakistani consumers' perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe SMCI scale was developed in four phases, following a mixed-methods approach. Phase 1 generated a pool of items through an extensive literature review and seven focus groups. Phase 2 established the face and content validity of the items. Phase 3 resulted in scale purification in Study 1 (n = 222), followed by Study 2, using exploratory factor analysis (n = 412) to derive an initial factor structure, along with reliability assessment and confirmatory factor analysis (n = 310) to test the theoretical structure. Phase 4 validated the results (n = 355).FindingsThe results from the three studies yielded a ten-item, three-dimensional SMCI scale: “meat detachment”, “meat curtailment” and “organic meat purchase”.Originality/valueNo study at present fully measures the aspects of sustainable meat consumption in Muslim market segments and emerging economies. The formation of the SMCI scale is an important academic contribution that identifies three facets of consumers' SMCI.

CONSUMERS’ UPDATING, POLICY SHOCKS, AND PUBLIC DEBT: AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT OF STATE DEPENDENCIES

We assess the impact of fiscal and monetary policy shocks on US survey-based consumer expectations within states of low and high public debt. Following an unexpected increase in government spending, consumption intentions rise in the low-debt state and fall in the high-debt state. Overall, such a shock has adverse effects on expectations in high-debt states. Similarly, contractionary monetary policy shocks induce pessimistic expectations in the high-debt state but not in the low-debt state. The estimated responses suggest that higher public debt fuels considerations regarding its repayment, giving rise to state dependencies in the updating of expectations in response to both fiscal and monetary policy shocks.