ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has created shifts in consumer behavior. Beauty customers who normally purchased products in physical stores shifted to purchasing online. Because beauty products are sold at various types of retailers, beauty customers have multiple options for online purchases. This study focused on factors related to beauty that may change group behavior (social norms) using objectification theory and the theory of reasoned action. Broad conceptualizations of beauty and body appreciation and their effect on social norms that in turn affect customers' purchase intentions with omnichannel beauty retailers were analyzed. A series of hypotheses were developed and empirically tested. Trust in online retailers was also analyzed as an indirect effect on purchase intention. 756 participants completed the online survey through Amazon MTurk. The findings show that broad conceptualizations of beauty have no significant effect on social norms, but body appreciation does have a negative effect on social norms. Trust was also shown to have an indirect effect on purchase intention. These findings demonstrate that people's views of their body can also impact group behavior. When individuals have a positive body image, their individual perception outweighs the group's social behavior, which in turn affects their purchase intentions. © 2022 Korean Scholars of Marketing Science.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has created shifts in consumer behavior. Beauty customers who normally purchased products in physical stores shifted to purchasing online. Because beauty products are sold at various types of retailers, beauty customers have multiple options for online purchases. This study focused on factors related to beauty that may change group behavior (social norms) using objectification theory and the theory of reasoned action. Broad conceptualizations of beauty and body appreciation and their effect on social norms that in turn affect customers' purchase intentions with omnichannel beauty retailers were analyzed. A series of hypotheses were developed and empirically tested. Trust in online retailers was also analyzed as an indirect effect on purchase intention. 756 participants completed the online survey through Amazon MTurk. The findings show that broad conceptualizations of beauty have no significant effect on social norms, but body appreciation does have a negative effect on social norms. Trust was also shown to have an indirect effect on purchase intention. These findings demonstrate that people's views of their body can also impact group behavior. When individuals have a positive body image, their individual perception outweighs the group's social behavior, which in turn affects their purchase intentions.
ABSTRACT
Drawing from the theories of protection motivation (PMT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study aims to understand the role of psychological distress (i.e., feeling disconnected) in retail consumer's attitude and behavior toward online shopping during COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of the data set collected from an online survey (n = 839) shows that the experience of online shopping at big-box retailers during a pandemic provides not only a novel experience for consumers (i.e., the TAM perspective) but also a coping mechanism to mitigate the risk of infection (i.e., the PMT perspective). The result indicates that the experience (i.e., utility and enjoyment) of online shopping positively influenced consumer attitudes toward it while protection motivation (i.e., severity, self and response efficacy) also has positive effects on the attitude. Furthermore, feeling disconnected (i.e., less connected/more connected/no difference) moderated the effects on consumers’ attitudes to the online service. The study finds that the experience of online shopping at big-box retailers during a pandemic provides an implication that consumers’ hedonic and utilitarian values and their protection motivations cater to the social and psychological condition within the extended theoretical framework. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd